Where Can Kids Learn About the Stock Market?
Many business and political leaders feel that better education is crucial for keeping America competitive in the global economy and for solving the long-standing structural faults in the country's finances. The stock market, and investing in general, are crucial areas for young students to gain exposure as they develop into responsible employers, employees, and citizens -- and starting early can be a big part of investment success.
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Play games. Students learn best when they're fully engaged, and they're most engaged when they're having fun. A crucial aspect, of course, is that the game is geared toward the appropriate age and developmental level. However, quite often, the same basic activity, like stock picking, can be modified simply and subtly altered in appearance to work across grade levels. Wally's Stock Ticker and the Stock Market Game are classic examples.
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Learn the history of the stock market. A particularly effective way is to take current events and trace them back to relevant and significant points, so that history is connected with the student's lives. Also, historical figures can become inspirational role models. Web encyclopedias and periodicals like Young Biz can be a good place to start, but in general, the teacher will have to be creative in adopting the material to the students.
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Map across skills. A particularly effective way to present complex ideas like a stock market can be to map them across various subject areas. For example, a grade level appropriate math lesson can incorporate stock market principles, from fractions, decimals and percents for the youngest learners, and calculation of derivatives and standard deviation for the most advanced. A site like "Math in Daily Life" illustrates this principal for elementary students.
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Tips & Warnings
There's probably no substitute for primary resources such as field trips to stock exchanges or brokerage houses, or for Career Day presentations by stock market professionals, or even relevant sections of newspapers and magazines. Absent these, however, or in addition, the Internet provides the best, most reliable source of information about the stock market for children.
