International Trading Game

The Lower Sixth Enrichment programme recently involved an International Trading Game. Students were working in groups acting as different countries. Each country had a certain amount of resources in terms of e.g. scissors and paper and had to produce items to sell on the world market.

The game leads to alliances being formed between 'nations', groups trading resources amongst themselves, some countries exerting their power over others and major switches in production as world prices change. The game brings out many issues in world trade such as ethics, the spread of technology as one country finds a new way of producing, the volatility of commodity prices and the impact of such changes on suppliers. It also highlights the disparity between 'rich' and 'poor' nations and the potential effect of this on future growth.

Students engaged extremely well with the scenario setting up sophisticated production lines and entering into numerous deals and partnerships to maximise their profits.