Are you looking to engage your students with the upcoming election in a meaningful way? (It's only two weeks away!) The American Public Media group, which is a producer of public radio programming, has created a fantastic online game called Budget Hero.In Budget Hero, students are given the chance to manage the 3.3 trillion dollar federal budget. Tax cuts, national defense, homeland security, diplomacy, healthcare, and more -- it is all part of the "playing cards" that allow students handle exactly where and why money is being spent. But players better be careful! They have to keep track how robust important indicators are, such as national health and wellness. They must also keep an eye on the national deficit, because it is all too easy to bankrupt the budget in a mere 5-10 decades. Then where would their grandchildren be?
Budget Hero is a fun, interactive, and disturbingly difficult game to play... and it's a great chance to open young (and old) eyes to the challenges and the long-term consequences of a seemingly simple idea: balancing the budget.
