I brought electronic Monopoly for Ben to play. Ben wasn't feeling up to it...

We researched the origins of the game of Monopoly. Ben noted the irony was that the game was originally a warning about capitalism and its major downsides, but it was then bought by a company that had a monopoly over board games - an excellent insight!

Ben was ready to take his final exam early, so I let him. He had some questions along the way. I guided him to think back to the Nearpod lessons we had viewed and discussed. Ben scored an 83% on the final exam. As a reward for completing his coursework and Stock Market Game, for the next two days, we will play Electronic Monopoly that I will bring from home.

We discussed what topics will be on the final exam. Then, Ben went over his Stock Market game and made updates to his profits and losses.

Ben used the time to update his stocks and determine his profits and losses. We discussed that I will create a review sheet and Nearpod for him. He will study 5/20 & 5/21 and the exam will be on 5/22.

Ben worked on updating his Stock Market Game. I walked him through the process of determining the profit or loss for each company's stock for day one. Ben was able to work independently on determining the profit or loss for each of his stocks. Ben indicated that one of his stocks brought him a surprise profit and that it helps to invest in pyramid schemes. :-)

Ben started out by exploring the Nearpod lesson titled "The Roaring Twenties". He learned that The Roaring Twenties was dominated by fashion. The decade from 1920 - 1929 was referred to as the "Roarin' 20s". This decade saw financial prosperity, mass consumerism, prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance, the onset of flappers, and redefined American culture. The edge reached international cities including Berlin, London, Paris, and Sydney while attempting to recover from World War I. Mass production made technology readily available. Consumerism and entertainment/leisure were at an all-time high. The automobile became abundant with the invention of the Model A and Model T. The radio became a primary source of entertainment leading companies to market to consumers. In 1927, the Federal Radio Commission was established to regulate. Cinema also became very popular. Moving pictures were shown in theaters for the low price of $0.25. Silent movies were all the rage putting Charlie Chaplin on the map. In 1927, silent films gave way to talkies, movies with actual sounds. Animated cartoons were born and Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat came to life. Also in 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew on his first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Infrastructure was needed and indoor plumbing along with sewer systems were developed. Ben scored a 100% on his quiz.

We explored the Nearpod for "Black Tuesday". BT was on October 29, 1929. The stock market collapsed. Banks tried to purchase blocks of shares in an attempt to patch the panic. 16 million stocks were traded. Gold became indispensable. $8.5 billion was out on loan. There was a major overproduction due to crop sharing and failing farms led to Black Tuesday, per Ben. People lost trust in the banks and began withdrawing gold. We are in for trouble since we are currently at 40% and the Great Depression was 11%.
I let Ben spend the rest of the period researching for his Stock Market Game. Today he gets to buy shares and track them for 5 business days.

We started out by watching and learning from a Nearpod lesson called "The Market Economy." Ben expressed that he feels intrinsically motivated as the lesson asked. Ben was able to conduct a virtual reality VR of Wall Street. What happens on Wall Street? Brokers are on the trading floor watching oil, gold, the DOW, and time. Clients are called "the dog", but they are the ultimate decision makers. The lesson gave a review with a fill in the blanks assessment. Ben scored 100%. Next, there was a supply and demand quiz. Ben scored 100%. Then, Ben used the drawing tool to create a fountain pen, a paintbrush, and his Ben logo. After that, Ben determined that he needs food, water, and shelter to survive. Ben scored a 100% on the overall quiz.

We started out by going to Nearpod for "Time to Climb" to review information presented during the Great Depression section. Ben did not like the timer on the game and expressed that he didn't want to play the game nor anything like Kahoot. Point taken.
We switched gears and focused on the Stock Market Game. We focused on the percentage of change first. Ben was comfortable using the calculator to determine the change in the stock. He continued filling information on his WebQuest. He looked at Year-to-Date highs, lows, and changes. Next, he determined the 42-week highs and lows. He began realizing that the Advanced Micro Devices, AMD, had the best return.