Community reviews for Spent

I highly recommend this learning tool. Students realize that money does not grow on trees and how they are going to make it to their next pay check. Students are required to make a variety of spending situations with the goal of making it to the next paycheck.

I like how they see the immediate consequences of their decisions. The student sees the immediate and long term consequences of their choices. If there were resources to have them learn how to get different jobs so they can learn ways to get out of the cycle of minimum wage, that would be great. Also, resources to help students learn about different aid that is given to help families in poverty. At the end they ask for donations and most students are not able to give money. This was a turnoff. If teachers are going to use this in the classroom, maybe ask donations from the teachers but not the students. Still a good game to play to teach students what is it like to live on minimum wage and the reasons why people get stress due to money.

One of the parts that I like best is that after they make a decision it often gives them a fact that correlates with the decision, for example why so many people take up smoking when they are struggling. My students like it because it is a game. If they cannot make it through the month they keep playing because they want to see if they can do it. Afterwards I had my students complete a reflection worksheet where they recorded what job they chose, what successes and challenges they faced, and what surprised them the most.

I love it. Students were highly engaged. They wanted to try again and again. I really liked the opportunity to introduce students to real-life situations and decisions that they may normally take for granted.

This is another great game option from Games for Change. It works both on a computer and on a mobile device. The graphics are minimalist icons, but the message is strong. The students have to be able to read each prompt. The amount of reading means it does not work well for low literacy or ELL students. The game connects to social media if the students click on the Facebook or Twitter buttons. In their mind they are just part of the game, but it does violate the AUP by trying to access those social media websites on the school network. There have been times we have used the game and it has frozen on a day. The only way to solve the problem is to refresh the page, which restarts the entire game.

The scenarios are realistic, but at certain points in the game, you need to link to social media, namely Facebook and Twitter. So, since they're blocked in my school, the game can never be completed. It's frustrating.

Overall, I love this game. Finding supplemental materials for Economics is so difficult. The best part about Spent is that kids actually enjoy the game. Mine are competing against each other to see who can end the month with the most money.

I liked the ease of integrating SPENT into my class and more importantly the students were 100% engaged. SPENT allows students to build empathy and understand poverty. Subsequently, these two take-aways reinforce career exploration or personal finance topical units on money management, the importance of thinking about future goals (careers, college, etc). It would be great if there was functionality that provides teachers feedback on an individual basis. The instructor has to walk around the room to conduct formative assessments. SPENT is a tool that can be implemented quickly and have lasting impacting on students!

SPENT is a good game for providing an opening for further discussion on poverty, homelessness, and the general struggles people have making ends meet these days. The game helps develop a sense of empathy as you become invested in the character you play as while you make difficult decisions.