1 August 2012
Dear Educator:
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and American Public Media
are introducing lesson plans to accompany Budget Hero®, the dynamic game that
lets every player act as the national budget czar. Launched 2011, Budget Hero is
based upon the same economic model and data used by the Congressional Budget
Office. With more than 120 policy options, players struggle with the confounding
choices that confront public policy makers when they move beyond the world of
partisan sound bites.
Budget “heroes” find they must configure and reconfigure policy options to earn
badges reflecting their political priorities. They face the compromises built into
deciding where to raise revenue or cut future spending in support of such goals as
energy independence, a strengthened health care system, or increased economic
competitiveness.
The game, which provides information about the pros and cons of each policy
option, along with the sources for supporting data and opinions, has been used
by teachers across the United States. Based on comments from many of these
teachers, the Budget Hero team at the Wilson Center and American Public Media,
in partnership with Teachers College, Columbia University, offers lesson plans to
further support the use of Budget Hero in high school classrooms. Teachers College
faculty and doctoral students have prepared the civics and economic lesson plans
introduced here. The civics lesson is built upon discussions and activities that
encourage students to reflect on the values, priorities, and assumptions underlying
their game choices. The economics lesson encourages students to think more
critically about the unintended consequences of decisions to tax, spend, or borrow.
Teachers and students can upload their experiences with the game at www.
teachbudgethero.org. We hope you and your students find Budget Hero to be both
educational and enjoyable.
Sincerely,
The Budget Hero Team at the Woodrow Wilson Center,
American Public Media, and 360Kid
ECONOMICS
LESSON
3
Can a Country “Win”
Budget Hero?
INTRODUCTION
Fair warning: Students who come to this lesson with the notion that economists can accurately
forecast the future and direct budgetary decisions to precisely the correct economic outcomes will
be sorely disappointed. Questions about how much money the government should raise through
taxation and what the government should spend its money on largely relate to strategy—longterm goals and major objectives based on values and priorities and decided through politics,
taking into account the objectives of competitive opponents and collaborators—as opposed
to tactics—the more immediate actions that lead to the strategic outcome (Glaeser, 2010).
Economics as a science has less to say about the former than the latter. Because economics is
the study of how people make choices, deal with scarcity, and respond to incentives, it can give
us insight into how decisions shape incentives, and thus help predict people’s longer-term and
indirect behavioral responses.
Thus, this lesson will not teach students how to “win” Budget Hero, or how to make economically
“correct” decisions about taxation, spending, and borrowing. Rather, it will encourage students to
think more critically about the unintended consequences of political decisions. In other words,
this lesson is more about the how than the what or the why of budgetary decisions.
KEY TERMS
The following terms and concepts are used in this lesson:
Behavioral responses, Ceteris paribus, Incentives, Strategy, Tactics, Unintended consequences
STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND
‰Budgetary decisions reflect people’s underlying values, priorities, assumptions, and long-term
social, political, and economic goals. These shape people’s strategy when playing Budget
Hero, but economics offers more insight into tactics, taking into consideration the potential
unintended consequences of one’s choices.
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BUDGET HERO Economics Lesson
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
‰Use the economic framework of incentives to predict the consequences of an action, including
possible long-term and unintended consequences.
RELATED CURRICULUM STANDARDS
Council for Economic Education’s Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics
Content Standard 1: Scarcity. Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people cannot have
all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.
Content Standard 4: Incentives. People usually respond predictably to positive and negative
incentives.
Content Standard 16: Role of Government and Market Failure. There is an economic role for
government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its
costs. Governments often provide for national defense, address environmental concerns, define
and protect property rights, and attempt to make markets more competitive. Most government
policies also have direct or indirect effects on people’s incomes.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
‰A computer with Internet access attached to an LCD projector OR copies for the class of three
Budget Hero cards printed from the game (a printable set of Budget Hero cards is available
here: http://teachbudgethero.org/site/assets/files/1012/bhcombined_cards.pdf)
What Is Budget Hero®?
Using the economic model developed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Budget Hero
is a computer game developed by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Science Technology and
Innovation Program (STIP) and the Public Insight Network team at American Public Media using
the economic model developed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It simulates a national
budget based on the user’s fiscal policy decisions. The program is designed to educate students
and citizens about the underlying budget issues and organizations many American students and
citizens know little about (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, n.d.).
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BUDGET HERO Economics Lesson
Day 1 of 2
ENTRY
This lesson assumes students have played through Budget Hero at least once. Prior to the lesson,
either in class or for homework, depending on available time and technology, students should
do a “cold” run-through of Budget Hero with no guidance.
LESSON STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Strategy vs. Tactics
Ask students to quick-write for 1 minute in response to three questions:
xDid you win Budget Hero?
xHow can you tell?
xHow did you do it?
After the quick-write, divide the class into those who believe they won and those who believe
they lost. The two groups should stand on opposite sides of the room and try to find a partner
who had the opposite outcome; obviously, it is very likely that there will be more of one group
than another. In this case, groups of three can form to ensure that every group has a mix of
students who feel they’ve won and lost the game. Partnerships or groups should then compare
and contrast how they define and measure winning and what steps they took to achieve the
outcome they did. Students will then compare and contrast Budget Hero to another strategy
game of their choice (it can be a board game, video game, or other type of game, as long as it
involves strategy and not just skill or luck), guided by the following questions:
xFor which game was it easier to tell if you won or lost? Why?
xFor which game was it easier to describe how you achieved the desired outcome? Why?
xFor which game was the outcome more predictable? Why? How much do you know about
the outcome of Budget Hero?
One person in each group or pair should take notes on the discussion, and another person should
be prepared to report key thoughts and findings to the class. After a few minutes, encourage
groups to share-out their thoughts with the class, including different definitions of success in
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BUDGET HERO Economics Lesson
Budget Hero, different pathways to winning, and ways Budget Hero is a very different game from
other games. Things you may wish to draw out or emphasize in the discussion include:
Ž The definition of success in Budget Hero is vague and often ambiguous. It is shaped in
part by your choice of badges, which reflect your values and priorities. It can be difficult
to fully see the consequences of your choices and actions; you only know when the
government goes bankrupt.
Ž To take an example of a very simple game for comparison, success in tic-tac-toe is
much clearer. This is because tic-tac-toe has only one clear objective. Furthermore, your
opponent in tic-tac-toe is quite obvious—it is a simple game of competition. It is not at
all clear against whom you are competing (or with whom you are cooperating) when
playing Budget Hero.
Ž There is a difference between your end goal—your strategy—and the individual steps you
take to get there—your tactics. It is much harder to discuss strategy than tactics because
the goals of the game are so varied, reflecting a variety of values, priorities, and opinions.
Strategy is more the subject of civics and politics. (Note to teacher: The subject of a
nation’s overarching political and economic strategy is explored in greater depth in the
civics lesson).
Ž This lesson will focus more on the tactics—given your end goal (and, in the case of tic-tactoe, taking into account what your opponent does), what is the best and most efficient
way to get there? Economics can give us greater insight into tactics for Budget Hero by
evaluating some of the consequences of our actions, including unintended ones.
Predicting Unintended Consequences, or How People Respond to Incentives
Inform students that economists often use Latin phrases. One favorite of economists is ceteris
paribus, which means holding all else equal. In other words, to simplify and focus analysis,
economists like to start by changing just one thing at a time, assuming everything else will stay
the same. Of course, they are not so naïve as to believe this is the way the world actually works;
they are aware that one change often feeds directly or indirectly into another. Analysis that
incorporates these indirect effects and behavioral consequences is more complex than ceteris
paribus analysis, but it can help generate useful predictions about the unintended consequences
of our choices and actions.
Give students 5 minutes to quick-write about a time in their own lives when they experienced
something along the lines of a domino effect or snowball effect—when one action rapidly led
into another, and so on. Invite a few volunteers to share their stories in no more than 30-second
summaries, jotting down the sequence of events for each on the board (A -> B -> C and so on).
Ask the class if they notice any patterns or similarities that can be used to help predict these
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BUDGET HERO Economics Lesson
domino effects of unintended consequences. Draw students out on the causal mechanisms; the
following line of questioning is suggested to guide their thinking:
xWhat was the immediate change/effect from the first action?
xWhat are some more general effects of that initial change, such as changes to the underlying
context or “system” in place? (This question should be adapted to be more specific to the
context described by the student.)
xHow did that change affect what other people wanted to do? How did it change how other
people perceived the situation and responded?
xLooking at the entire chain of events, could you possibly have seen the final outcome from
the beginning if you had looked at the situation differently? If so, what clues would lead you
to that conclusion?
Emphasize the importance of the third question; the key to understanding unintended
consequences and making predictions about them is to understand how actions shape people’s
incentives. Although the world is an unpredictable place, people generally respond predictably to
incentives, or the things that make them want to do certain things and avoid others. Therefore,
predicting an unintended or indirect effect of an action (the essence of the final question above)
requires thinking about how the direct effects of our actions will influence what other people do
or do not want to do; that part of the model is generally the most predictable.
Now, demonstrate to the class how this logic may apply to an example from Budget Hero. If a
projector and Internet access are available, use them to project the card of your choice; otherwise,
choose a card in advance to print and make copies to distribute to the class.
Example of Modeling Using Budget Hero
Choose a card—this example uses “Cut R&D at the Department of Defense.” With the class, read
through the card description, including the Pros, Cons, and Impact. Ask the students what the
immediate effect of this change would be; they might say there would be less high-tech weapons
research. Trace out on the board how that might lead to a longer sequence of events using a path
diagram, connecting cause and effect relationships with arrows, as follows:
Cut R&D -> Less high-tech weapons research -> Scientists are laid off -> Decrease in demand
for scientists in labor market -> Reduction in salary for scientists -> Increased opportunity cost of
becoming a scientist -> Fewer students studying science -> Reduction in supply of scientists ->
Salary increases, but for a lower quantity of jobs -> Fewer scientific discoveries in other fields
Point out that the key connections here have to do with incentives—cutting R&D money reduces
the incentive to study science provided by the salary and job opportunities, leading to a predictable
outcome.
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BUDGET HERO Economics Lesson
Now, students should practice on their own. Choose another Budget Hero card to show or
distribute to the class. Challenge students to come up with the longest possible and plausible
chain of economic events that can follow from a single choice. Invite the three students with the
longest chains to present theirs to the class, and have the class vote on which chain strikes them
as most plausible, based on the use of incentives.
Day 2 of 2
ASSESSMENT
Students will play Budget Hero once again, this time wearing an “economist hat.” This means
students should pay special attention to the questions regarding tactics discussed in this lesson:
How do people make choices? How do incentives shape those choices? Where do those incentives
come from? Students should keep careful notes of how their impressions of the game may have
changed based on the discussions and activities of the previous day’s lesson (and also simply
from playing a second time). They should pay particular attention to the following:
xDid their goals or strategy change?
xDid their tactics change?
xDid the way they perceived and questioned information in the game change?
xHow would they judge the credibility of the information in the game, including the Pros,
Cons, and Impacts listed on the cards?
xDo they feel they were any more or less likely to “win”? Why? Does this matter?
FURTHER ENGAGEMENT
Students can offer suggestions for improving the game to better inform tactical decision making—
what else would they like to know?
Note to teacher: You can upload what your class learned playing the game and share that with
other students across the United States by going to www.teachbudgethero.org.
REFERENCES
Glaeser, E. (2010, November 16). Economics offers tactics, not strategy. New York Times. Retrieved
from http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/economics-offers-tactics-not-strategy/
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. (n.d.). Teach Budget Hero. Retrieved from
http://teachbudgethero.org/
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CIVICS
LESSON
3
What Should Our
Priorities Be When
Managing the Federal
Budget, and Why?
INTRODUCTION
Why does the U.S. federal government provide $525.4 billion to the Department of Defense and
$8.3 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency (Whitehouse.gov, 2012a, 2012b)? Is there
a reason that Social Security receives one of the largest shares of governmental funding? Do the
competing views on funding various federal departments and programs simply reflect different
assessments of the cost of the programs, or do they also reflect different visions of what kind of
country we want to be? Simply put, what do the decisions we make about the federal budget say
about who we are as a people? The provenance of civics involves understanding, analyzing, and
negotiating the different points of view about the scope and role of government. It also requires
thinking about the way decisions are enacted within the governmental system and how they
impact the country in general. This lesson and the game Budget Hero are designed to encourage
students to engage in these questions to deepen their understanding of the lasting political,
social, and economic dilemmas our country faces.
Many students know little about governmental and nongovernmental organizations that shape
policies that impact our entire nation. Students who have not yet been responsible for their own
expenses find issues regarding the government’s budget far removed. And yet it is their generation,
the generation on the cusp of becoming new voters, that will be most impacted by the budgetary
decisions we make today. Although it is hard to predict the future outcomes of economic policies,
students should realize the possible indirect and direct consequences of the federal government’s
actions and how they affect different political, social, and economic entities. The stakes are high,
and they will see that the challenges we face are complex. The solutions will require not only a
rugged tolerance for the ambiguities embedded in those challenges, but also a willingness to do
the hard work of analyzing the trade-offs in less-than-perfect resolutions. The goal of this lesson
is to have students understand the issues in all their complexities, be able to clarify their own
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
thinking about these issues, and, ultimately, care enough to become involved in debating these
and other public policy questions as citizens. Long term, the quality of our electoral response will
depend on our ability to get our students to dig into this material. With this in mind, students
should think about this lesson’s essential dilemma: What should our priorities be when managing
the federal budget, and why?
Budget Hero provides a unique opportunity to generate meaningful and challenging discussions
around these questions. The game actively engages students to manage and respond to the
pressing and relevant questions of the present day using authentic and recent data from the
Congressional Budget Office. It also gives them the chance to see the effects of their choices
through the written feedback the game provides. This lesson complements Budget Hero by
offering opportunities for teachers to extend learning through discussions and activities that
encourage students to reflect on the values, priorities, and assumptions underlying their choices;
this personal reflection is a starting point for engaging in a larger, national conversation about
these same issues.
KEY TERMS
The following terms and concepts are used in this lesson:
Budget, Congressional Budget Office, Deficit, Federal funding, Health care, Social Security,
Super Committee, Taxation, Tea Party
STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND
‰A sustainable federal budget requires trade-offs among a variety of priorities due to scarcity.
‰Competing viewpoints on federal funding of programs such as Medicare, Social Security,
defense, and education often reflect differing views on the role of government and the part
it plays in our lives.
‰Changes in federal funding can affect the population and distinct groups in various ways.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO
‰Examine sources of information about federal policies and discuss the short- and long-term
implications of either increasing or decreasing funding in the federal budget.
‰Identify the basic political and economic views of governmental and nongovernmental
organizations such as the Congressional Budget Office; the Congressional “Super Committee”;
and the Democratic, Republican, and Tea Parties in the federal budget process.
‰Engage in an interactive experience involving researched policies that encourages thoughtful
analysis to make strategic fiscal choices.
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
RELATED CURRICULUM STANDARDS
NCSS’s National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
6. Power, Authority, and Governance. Social studies programs should include experiences
that provide for the study of how people create, interact with, and change structures of power,
authority, and governance.
Center for Civic Education’s National Standards for Civics and Government
I.A. What Are Civic Life, Politics, and Government? Why are government and politics
necessary? What purposes should government serve?
II.D. What Are the Foundations of the American Political System? What values and
principles are basic to American constitutional democracy?
III.B. How Does the Government Established by the Constitution Embody the Purposes,
Values, and Principles of American Democracy? How is the national government organized
and what does it do?
V.A., B., C., and E. What Are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy? What is
citizenship? What are the rights of citizens? What are the responsibilities of citizens? How can
citizens take part in civic life?
REQUIRED MATERIALS
‰A computer with Internet access attached to a monitor or an LCD projector (a printable
set of Budget Hero cards is available here: http://teachbudgethero.org/site/assets/files/1012/
bhcombined_cards.pdf)
What Is Budget Hero®?
Budget Hero is a computer game developed by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Science Technology
and Innovation Program (STIP) and the Public Insight Network team at American Public Media
using the economic model developed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It simulates a
national budget based on the user’s fiscal policy decisions. The program is designed to educate
students and citizens about the underlying budget issues and organizations many American
students and citizens know little about (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, n.d.).
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
Day 1 of 2
ENTRY
Personal Choices and Background Knowledge Builder
The activities that follow assume that students have played through Budget Hero at least once and
have a summary sheet that describes their actions and results. Teachers can choose to introduce
the game in multiple ways; for example, some teachers may wish to briefly model the format
and rules of the game in class and have students complete a round of the game for homework. If
time and a sufficient number of computers are available, teachers may choose to have students
play through during class.
Ask students the following questions:
xHow did you start the game?
xHow did you deal with the first major choice—whether to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to
expire in 2012?
LESSON STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Ask students to write a brief paragraph describing which badges they chose and why. When
students are done writing, invite a few students to share their responses. Some scaffolding
questions to consider:
xWhat three badges did you choose?
xWhat were some of your reasons for choosing them?
[Students’ answers will vary, and may include their own personal beliefs, which could be shaped by
group membership or political ideology; a desire to choose challenging badges; choosing badges that
simply sounded interesting; or choosing badges that seemed unfamiliar and gave them an opportunity
to learn something new.]
xDid you read the information about each badge prior to selecting it?
xDid a badge or information about a badge confuse you in any way? If so, how?
xHow easy was it to obtain the necessary requirements for the badge?
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
Discussion
This part of the lesson will discuss how students played the game. Ask students to discuss their
choices in pairs or small groups.
xUsing the badges, how many cards did you use?
xWhat were the most/least interesting cards?
xWhy did you choose them?
[Students’ answers will vary, and could include to reach a goal, to save money, based on personal
beliefs, because they sounded interesting, or because they were ideas/policies they had not heard
about.]
xHow much and how often did you tax?
xDid you read how the tax policy you chose would impact the economy?
xBased on your decisions, did the size of government grow or shrink (according to the gauge)?
xHow would the taxes you chose impact U.S. citizens?
Introduction to Roles and Building Background Knowledge on the Game
For further exploration of the game, students will need some background information. Based
on students’ prior knowledge and learning styles, you could present the necessary background
knowledge to complete Day 2 activities including the role play. This information could be
presented as a mini-lecture or a reading, as appropriate for the reading level and preferred learning
styles of the class. Suggested background information:
Ž Congressional Budget Office (CBO): The CBO provides analysis of economic and budget
policies for Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The office
develops estimates of how much certain proposals will cost the federal government and
how these proposals might affect the economy, both now and in the future. For more
information: www.cbo.gov.
Ž Super Committee (“Super Congress” in Budget Hero): The Super Committee is a joint committee
(containing members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate) established
by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The goals of the committee center on developing
a plan to eliminate $1.5 trillion of the federal deficit over a 10-year period through a
combination of spending cuts, reforms to entitlement programs like Medicare and Social
Security, and changes to the tax code to raise additional revenue. For more information:
www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/08/04/all-about-so-called-super-committee.
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
Ž Tea Party: The Tea Party is an organization that originated in 2009 and is generally
recognized as conservative and libertarian. Members believe in lower tax rates for
individuals and companies, a less progressive tax structure, less government spending,
reduced national debt, and less regulation for businesses and banks. For more information:
www.teapartypatriots.org.
Ž Pork barreling: Pork barreling is a process through which legislators serve their own political
interests by directing government spending to programs that benefit some subset of their
own constituency.
Closing
To finish the day, students should write a short response paper addressing the following questions
based on their experience playing Budget Hero:
xHow would you be affected if the government implemented your Budget Hero policies? If
the government did execute your policies, would you modify them in any way? If so, what
would you change?
xAs a player, how did the potential effects of your actions on yourself and others guide your
decisions? Why? What other factors did you consider?
Homework
Tell students to prepare for the second day of activities by playing Budget Hero again, this time
from the perspective of one of the groups studied in the background knowledge section. How
would certain organizations/groups play Budget Hero? What policies would they implement,
and how would they tax citizens?
Assign students to role-playing groups before the conclusion of Day 1. Students can be placed in
groups of three to six depending on the class size. Students also can be placed in groups based on
different areas of background knowledge. Groups to choose from include:
Ž Super Committee (“Super Congress”)
Ž Tea Party
Ž “Green” parties
Ž Democrats
Ž Republicans
Ž President Obama and his cabinet
Ž Other political/governmental organizations
Remind students to use their notes from class as well as to conduct outside research if they need
help understanding a group’s beliefs/goals in regards to the national budget.
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
Day 2 of 2
Choices from an Organization’s/Group’s Perspective
Discuss how students played Budget Hero when thinking about it from an organization’s/group’s
perspective. Have a whole-class discussion using the following questions as a starting point:
xHow did you play Budget Hero when thinking about it from an organization’s/group’s
perspective?
xDid you choose the same badges? Why or why not?
xWere you more mindful of the consequences of your actions this time?
Creation of Platforms and Speeches
Students should gather into groups with other students who chose/were assigned the same role
for homework. Based on their choices during the Budget Hero homework from Day 1, each
group should create a 3-minute political campaign speech that lays out a platform of domestic
and foreign policy priorities. The group should first briefly share the choices that best represent
the views of the group they were assigned. Then, they should translate the budgetary actions
into a statement of goals and beliefs about what kind of country the group would like us to
be. Finally, they should synthesize these priorities into an engaging and persuasive 3-minute
political campaign speech modeled after speeches they have seen in the media. You may wish to
bring in text excerpts or video clips of model campaign speeches as an example.
A representative of each group should present the group’s speech to the class. After each group
has presented its speech, ask the class to vote on the most important priorities. Use the board or
overhead projector to list the priorities (badges) the class voted as the most important.
ASSESSMENT
Ask students to write a paper for homework answering the following questions:
xHow did playing from a different perspective—that of a particular group, as opposed to your
own personal preferences—change your view on the trade-offs inherent in the budgetary
process?
xDid you think differently about priorities, or what you must give up in order to achieve certain
outcomes?
xStudents should begin brainstorming and outlining their paper during class. This can be done
individually, in small groups, or as a whole class.
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BUDGET HERO Civics Lesson
Students will complete the final draft of the paper for homework, providing further evidence
addressing the essential dilemma. Suggest that they remember the badges and think of them as
priorities.
Note to teacher: You can upload what your class learned playing the game and share that with
other students across the United States by going to www.teachbudgethero.org.
REFERENCES
Whitehouse.gov. (2012a). Department of Defense. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/
sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/defense.pdf
Whitehouse.gov. (2012b). Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from http://www.
whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/environmental.pdf
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. (n.d.). Teach Budget Hero. Retrieved from
http://teachbudgethero.org
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