The business class depicted in this video is utilizing a simulation software called Capitalism Plus. The software allows students to manipulate the economic forces on a virtual product and see the results. For example, students are able to adjust the price of a given hypothetical product, shampoo for example, and the software outputs adjusted data for supply, demand, revenue, etc. In this way, the students are able to see the effects of market forces in a visual and interactive way. Capitalism Plus is a nice way for students to interact with the class content, but the greatest strength of this lesson is the teacher's integration of other technologies to increase the lesson's authenticity and make connections across contents.
As the students work in Capitalism Plus daily, they record data from their activities in Microsoft Excel. They must then create visual representations of the data using the graphing technologies embedded in Excel. The graphs are transferred to a simulated corporate web page, which each student creates and maintains using another Microsoft program. The web page must also include daily press releases and information for stockholders (also created by the students.) The daily work must incorporate three words from a vocabulary list, and students have an opportunity to practice effective writing and communication. The students are also involved in mathematics through their data collection and analysis.
I would suggest that the school take advantage of these cross curricular activities. A math teacher might team up with this business teacher to double dip some of the activities into a statistics unit, and an English teacher might capitalize on the students written products.
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