How Can Teachers Use It?
The simulation game provides a personalized experience. Students expand or trim tax breaks and spending cuts that will affect issues they feel are important. They’ll experience the concerns, frustrations, and occasional triumphs involved in trying to balance the federal budget firsthand.
Teachers can use the simulation game as a jumping-off point to talk about U.S. politics and the cause-and-effect relationship between tax and funding decisions and the national debt level. Information about how the game uses the Congressional Budget Office budget model, and forecast data can also be used to discuss probability and other similar concepts.
Additional information may be needed to explain how the major political parties are structured and who makes what decisions. But the game should help kids better understand how parties make decisions and support certain issues based on their beliefs and goals, and the effect those choices can have on the federal budget.
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What's It Like?
Editor's Note: The 2012 edition of the Budget Hero game has been retired. However, users are encouraged to visit the site to leave feedback for possible future versions of the game.
Budget Hero is a browser-based game that illustrates how U.S. federal budget money is spent. Kids select three causes that interest them from options like national security, health and wellness, and energy independence. Players then view the effect their spending increases and decreases will have on the U.S. budget deficit, surplus, and debt level over the next decade. Buildings grow and decrease in line with monetary decisions; gauges also show where the level of debt and other considerations stand.
Budget Hero also provides a considerable amount of information about spending and tax policies and programs. Users can click on each potential expense to read about the pros and cons involved in either boosting or reducing the program, and can also raise or lower taxes to try to balance the budget.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Before playing, students can watch a brief intro that explains how the federal budget and game generally work. However, the monetary and political concepts involved may be a little too complex for younger kids who haven’t learned much in school yet about the government. High schoolers, though, should be able to grasp the theories. The game can help them learn to balance their personal opinions and priorities with the factual information that’s offered to judge the risks and rewards involved in each decision.
Budget Hero often involves difficult choices. Seeing the immediate effect certain cuts or increases will have on the budget’s bottom line can help reinforce some important spending concepts, including how to balance (and stick to) a household budget and how to identify and prioritize needs over emotional arguments.
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Buildings expand or shrink when spending for various policy areas is either increased or decreased.
Kids can click on any of the tax cards to read the pros and cons of keeping or ditching the policy.
A separate site for teachers provides a few activity and lesson plan ideas.
Teachers can also use information about the research that the game is based on to teach students about data gathering, accuracy, and use.
Students choose badges for three issues they feel are important, which helps personalize the allocation decisions they make during the game.
