Teacher Instructions
Resource Name
The Government Game
Brief summary
An in-class Economic simulation game. Students are presented with 28
possible macro-economic policies and must choose a selection of 12 of
these in order to keep unemployment low, inflation low, growth
positive, debt low but keep them popular with the public.
Purpose
To revise and enhance understanding of macro-economic policies and
how they affect objectives for the government. The game challenges
students to understand how the different macro-economic objectives
are linked and how policies can have a contradictory impact on
different objectives.
Length of activity
60 to 75 minutes
Resources needed
The Powerpoint file ‘The Government Game (Gold).pptm’. This file
contains the student worksheets needed to undertake the game.
Note: This activity has embedded ‘macros’. You will be prompted when
opening the Powerpoint file to enable these macros – you must enable
the macros for the file to work.
You will need to print out a worksheet for each of the participating
students (using the ‘Rules’ on slide 14 and the policy sheet on slide 15).
You are able to edit this game. The table on slide 3 contains the scores
given for each policy. You can edit the scores for individual policies and
even the policies themselves in Normal mode. After editing the table,
run the slideshow from this slide (shift + F5) and click the ‘Click here
after editing’ button.
Limitations
1. The game does not always reflect an accurate effect on
the actual changes in inflation, economic growth and
unemployment. The figures used are simplistic and
sometimes exaggerated to enable students to grasp the
type and degree of change that may occur.
2. The changes do not reflect any realistic time lag that
would genuinely occur with real life economic policies –
this should be pointed out to students very clearly.
Extension activity:
Looking for an idea to aid differentiation within your class? If you wish
to extend the understanding and research of any particular group of
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students within your group then ask them to come up with their own
policies and their impact on economic indicators. These students can
then customise the game accordingly before using the new version as a
game for the whole class (see below).
Running the activity
Separate your class into 5 groups and give them a country to run (Blue,
Red, Green, Yellow and Purple).
Run the ‘Instructions’ from slide 2 and explain the purpose of the
game.
Hand out the worksheet and explain the teams should keep a record of
their progress as the game in under way.
Start the game from slide 1 (press space bar), click on ‘Start New Game’
and confirm that you wish to start a new game. This will initially take
you to the scoreboard screen.
Ask the students to read through the possible polices and start to
formulate a plan for how they are going to achieve the game objectives
of keeping a high Government Score, have a positive rating in the polls
and keep government debt to below 10%.
The students can then send a representative up to the tutor running
the Game (one at a time) and have their initial policy ideas inputted
into the Government Game program.
Note: now ensure that the screen is not viewable by all students.
To enter the policy choices first select the country by clicking on its
name from the scoreboard screen (alternatively, you can click on the
coloured round buttons). In the country’s policy view, click on the
number of the policy on the list on the right-hand side of the screen –
pressing this number will change the scores (and the number will
disappear so cannot be used again).
When each of the teams has given you their first policy, you can show
the whole class the current scores. If you press the space bar, the
scores will temporarily disappear off the screen – now turn the
projector back on and use the space bar to reveal the scores one at a
time.
Continue this with each of the teams for all 12 months making sure
that they note their scores onto their score sheet (they can note the
change in inflation, unemployment, economic growth, Government
Score, debt level and poll rating).
The winning team is the team with the highest government score at the
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end of the 12 months, assuming that the teams won their general
election (to lose the general election they must have a minus score in
the poll ratings). Should there be a draw, the team with the highest
government score and poll rating will win the game. Should there still
be a tie use the ‘lowest’ level of debt as the deciding factor.
Enhanced use of the Government Game:
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You can set a limit on the type of policy that the government
can use. On the Student worksheet (slide 15), there are two
columns at the end of the main table entitled ‘Fiscal’ and ‘NonFiscal’ – limit your students to using a maximum of 6 of each of
these policy types.
Set the game parameters as a student activity. The policies
used within the game and the impact of each policy on the
economic objectives are fully customisable.
o Use slide 16 to set an activity asking the students to
give their own levels of ‘impact’ for each of the policies
on the macro-economic and political objectives
o Use slide 17 to set an activity asking the students to
devise their own policies and determine their level of
impact.
For both of these activities the teacher can then alter the
Powerpoint file by inputting any changes into the table on slide
3 and following the instructions on slide 3.