Hedingham School & Sixth Form, Essex
Y9 students spent five lessons simulating five separate trading days in the world of the stock market. Students were divided into House teams and started with funds of £50,000. After five days students had a mixture of success, but all teams made a profit. The lead changed four times with the winning team coming from third to win by making profits of over £90,000.
Students used the Stock Market Challenge resource, which tracked each team’s progress, and teams had to react to TV and radio broadcasts that changed the conditions for individual stocks in their portfolio. Students soon found out that if they did not react to news regarding their shares then they would quickly find that they would either lose money or miss out on the opportunity to make profits.
The series of lessons served as a great opportunity to reinforce many mathematical terms and concepts as well as beginning to get students to develop an understanding of the knowledge and skills relating to a particular industry sector, with its direct relevance to the world of work. The current Year 8s can look forward to see if they get their names on the trophy this November.
Mark Bouckley, Assistant Headteacher
You can read more on the school's website at:
http://www.hedingham.essex.sch.uk/Press%20Releases/Press%20Releases/Maths%20is%20Everywhere.htm
