Overview
This economy is a complex entity that grows over time and incorporates many facets of classroom life. It is electronically based and needs no paper “token” money. The monetary denomination takes the form of a “credit”. The teacher (who is also the banker, the government [judge, jury, and Lord High Executioner] and the broker of commodities) has unlimited credits. He (I’ll use the male pronoun in all necessary cases from now on because I’m a “he”) can award and penalize at will; however, careful notes must be taken and data must be entered into a computer spreadsheet each day.
It is difficult to award credits for interactive lesson participation. A system of checkmarks that equal (x) number of credits can facilitate building a rewards system for lesson participation.
The teacher should not be afraid to spend ten or fifteen minutes allocating credits periodically as they are earned. This is not a waste of time. Also, I have found that using a wagering system (completely elective for students) is of tremendous advantage when the goal is 100% student participation. The wagering system will be explained later (Gambling Option). This also teaches students that gambling can cost them dearly. Most students participate in my system though, because it favors the gambler, not the house (purposely though).
The Economy pays students to arrive at school on time, and penalizes them for being late. It pays them for completing homework and penalizes them for not doing so. It rewards excellence on exams (and in my case, penalizes failures in cases of tests that have clear study options), as well as excellence in class discussions, group work and long-term projects (with penalizations for the deadbeats who refuse to put out the proper effort).
Behavior can be easily modified with this economy. It is rare to find the student who (at least eventually) does not care about their account balance. That student will be quite difficult to deal with anyway. There are remedies for this type of student as well, which will be discussed later.
An advantage to utilizing this economy is that students are motivated to read large numbers as well as know their place value. It also bolsters real life economic awareness. I’ve had many parents tell me that their children now have a better understanding of what things cost and what they can afford in the real world than they did before experiencing this system. Each week, students are required to read their balance out loud. I give bonus credit to those that are reasonably close and extra bonus points to those that are right on the money.
Students learn economic awareness. They need to be cognizant of the growth of the economy and the relationship between average student holdings and how much they should charge/pay for items during marketplace. Marketplace is a time in which students can buy and sell items in trade with each other. This will be explained in detail later (Auctions/Marketplace).
Let your economy grow. Do not be afraid of large numbers. At the end of an average year, the richest student has several trillion credits.
At the end of the year I bring a number of high demand items and auction them off. I bring enough so that only the top half of the class can afford to buy. The object is for a student to be the richest for the longest time and end up the last day with an amount closest to zero. I award a special prize to that student.
Following are what you need to get this thing going, as well as the steps to make it work. Feel free to change anything here accept for the computer. I am sure that this cannot be done without the use of a spreadsheet of some sort. I use Open Office Spreadsheet. Once you learn what you need, it is quite simple to use.