Year 11 IB Economics – Playing to Learn: How Economic Games Help Decode Complex Ideas
In our Year 11 IB Economics course, we have been exploring how individual actions can sometimes harm others or the environment. Alongside this, we have studied how governments step in to address these negative impacts.
Economics invites us to think in new and exciting ways—especially when tackling abstract ideas like common pool resources or policy tools like permit trading systems. But when these concepts come alive through interactive classroom games, the learning becomes both meaningful and memorable for students.
The M&M Game helped students understand what common pool resources are. In this game, students shared a limited resource (a plate of M&Ms), and their choices determined whether the resource was depleted or sustained. It demonstrated the “tragedy of the commons”, showing how individual incentives can clash and how shared resources can run out if not managed well.
Similarly, the Permit Trading Game introduced students to one solution for pollution control. Acting as companies trading emissions permits, students quickly experienced the tension between profit maximisation and environmental responsibility.
Students shared these reflections after participating in the activities:
What does this game teach you about the ‘tragedy of the commons’?
- ‘It taught us about the non-exclusive and the rivalrous nature of common pool resources as each of us didn’t own the M&Ms and one person’s consumption meant less for others’ – Harriet Hahn (Year 11)
- ‘People can act rationally in their self interest to overuse resources, despite it’s overall detrimental impact’ – Elena Sun (Year 11)
Did anyone in the group try to use fewer M&Ms to conserve the resource?
- ‘We collectively used fewer M&Ms to make them reproduce. When we had property rights some students used even less as this would benefit them later’. Kimberly Chou
- ‘Yes, however, some decided to cheat the system after the mutual agreement’ Jenna Chiang (Year 11)
How did the opportunity to buy or sell permits influence your company’s production decisions?
- ‘Selling permits maximised my profits because the abatement costs (cost to clean up the pollution) was the lowest in the entire market’ – Yoyo Wu (Year 11)
What did the game teach you about the role of government in environmental regulation?
- ‘Governments can regulate firms to produce with greener practices to have lower abatement costs’ – Kimberly Chou (Year 11)
How might this system work differently if companies could innovate to reduce emissions?
- ‘Their abatement costs would be considerably lower meaning their incentive to produce more units of a good would be greater’ – Harriet Hahn (Year 11)
By transforming complex content into engaging experiences, economic games empower students to connect classroom learning with real world challenges.
– Helen Kondos
Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) Teacher
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