Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Waymaker:
Simulation Instructor Resources
Tips to encourage student use of simulations
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These simulations can be used with no direct involvement or even set up from an instructor, but
they also are designed to provide a shared context for extended conversations.
These simulations are not meant to be realistic. Nor are these simulations are not assessments.
These are more like interactive diagrams, often with levels and objectives.
These simulations contain different models. Some interactions are microcosms, analogies, or
abstracted scenarios. In other cases, they are more similar to extended examples, or labs. Some
of the simulations are a bit more like quiz-show challenges.
Often, students last answer appears in the upper left of the screen.
Number pads/keyboards can completely control the simulation. The number correlates with
the student option.
Play around. These simulations are short to encourage replay. Some humor and some Easter
eggs are there to be found.
Students, players, people, and users are all terms used interchangeably.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation Placement
Simulation
Demand for Food Trucks
Supply of Food Trucks
Food Truck and Changes in Equilibrium
Managing Food Truck Supply and Demand
Chair the Fed
Ethics
The Rise of the Business Guru
Maximizing Utility
Perfect Competition
International Trade
Income Distribution
Intro to Business Module
Economic Environment
Economic Environment
Economic Environment
Micro Module
Supply and Demand
Supply and Demand
Supply and Demand
Coming Spring 2016
Macro Module
Supply and Demand
Supply and Demand
Supply and Demand
Coming Spring 2016
Financial Markets and System
Link to Federal Reserve SIM
Business Ethics
Accounting and Finance
Utility
Maximizing Profit
Globalization, Trade and
Finance
Income Distribution
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
Globalization, Trade and
Finance
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Demand for Food Truck
Overview
Intro to Demand exposes the user to the basics of the demand curve. It uses a food truck with a line as a
microcosm.
In this situation, the player can raise or lower the cost of a drink, or have the sun come out or go behind
a cloud, to change demand and generate a standard demand curve.
The demand is visualized dynamically by the length of the people in line (with shadow highlights). The
traditional demand curve in the bottom right of the screen serves as a mini-map to reflect the situation,
with a yellow highlight showing the exact current position.
In this situation, different kinds of characters are waiting in line, and others are not. As the price goes
up, only the thirstiest and those with the most money remain.
The interface is very simple, and allows for the player to navigate towards to objective, stated clearly, to
find a situation where demand = 7, which is only achievable if the sun is out, and at a price of $1.50.
There are some other subtle elements as well regarding the differences of consumers. In the conditions
above, a female is dragging a male to get a drink. As the price goes up, the male decides it is not worth
it, leaving a thirsty but unhappy female still in line.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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Temperature shifts the demand curve. For a mnemonic device, higher temperature moves the
curve to the right.
To find the situation where the number of people in line equals seven, make sure the sun is out.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Supply of Food Trucks
Overview
This simulation exposes students to the logic behind a basic supply curve, and why higher volume leads
to greater cost.
It puts the student in the situation of having to assemble enough food (through trucks and trailers) to
feed a growing number of people, with each addition of volume costing more.
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Level 1: Feed 30 people. Best solution: 1 truck.
Level 2: Feed 40 people: Best solution: 1 truck, one trailer.
Level 3: Feed 100 people. Best solution: 3 trucks, one trailer.
It also presents at the end, albeit in a non-interactive way, a shift of the supply curve to the left, with the
reduction of free parking from 1 to 0.
The learning is all implicit, not explicit.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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The “voice” of the onscreen character could be Jarvis, while the player could be Tony Stark.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Food Truck and Changes in Equilibrium
Overview
This simulation follows the other two simulations of demand and supply, bringing the concepts
together. It allows the player to change some attributions of supply and demand in a microcosm of a
park which impact the price of lunch. The goal of the simulation is to make the price of lunch rise as
high as possible by setting variables the right way.
This simulation is discoverable. This means that the player can try different things and see an
immediate effect. When the high point is identified, the player can step through a market correction.
Note: In this scenario, raising the admission price of the park does not reduce the number of people at
the park, such as might occur at a family gathering or a local sports event.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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The conditions of the market correction can be dissected and discussed in more detail.
The visual “levers” around park admission and truck parking align with the direction of the shift
of the demand and supply curve respectively.
Some players will try everything, but with a little bit of thought, or even contained
experimentation of individual variables, the right answer can be found very quickly.
Question for discussion: Why does charging the food trucks for parking raise the price of lunch?
The answer is five.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Ethics
Overview
The simulation Ethics presents the player with five scenarios, playable in any order, that show how
ethics can play out in business settings, from one-on-one situations to major crises. The format is a
series of “Choose your own adventure” style scenarios. Because they are short, they encourage
replaying.
The point is also to expose students to a high level business context, including terms, in larger
organizations, and put forth jobs they may not have thought about.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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Encourage students to play out the wrong scenarios, as well as the right.
These simulations are easy and intuitive to engage. These do not involve numbers, math, or
charts. They may appeal to some students that find much of the rest of the material too
abstracted.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: The Rise of the Business Guru
Overview
The Rise of the Business Guru exposes the user to break-even analysis.
The simulation has four levels:
Level 1
Exposes the user to a very simple variable revenue/no expenses framework, and introduces
a basic graph.
Level 2
Exposes the user to a very simple, fixed cost break-even analysis.
Level 2a
Presents and foreshadows a variable cost and fixed cost model. This level is optional.
Level 3
Introduces, in an interactive way, a variable cost structure.
Level 4
Introduces an interactive puzzle with both fixed and variable costs. After a bit of interactive
introduction, the user has to tweak a business model to meet the conditions of one of two
loans. When the student is tweaking and meets the requirements of the small venture fund,
the simulation alerts the student. The simulation will not alert the student to the
environmental loan, making it a bit harder.
The story is framed, tongue-in-cheek, by a sycophantic fan recounting the rise to power of someone,
called The Guru, who is played by the student.
This simulation, especially around Level 4, bridges lecture and practice.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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Level 3 shows two alternative funding models, buying T-shirts from a low-wage country or
made-in-the-US. The choice does not impact the simulation. But due to margins, there is a
tremendous difference between these two options ($1155 vs. $286). The player is invited to
compare the two, but not forced to. It may be worthwhile to point out the differences, and
figure out why.
In Level 4, a bit of work and focus is required on the part of the student. Level 4 also starts
anticipating the kind of work a student would have to do on a real business plan.
Don’t just bang around in Level 4. Think about every decision.
In Level 4, go to dedicated Contribution Margin view often. This view also has the specifics for
the business loan as a reminder.
Also in Level 4, meeting the requirements for the business loan is easier, in part because the
simulation tells you when you have. Meeting the requirements for the environmental loan is
harder because the simulation does not prompt the student when the conditions are achieved.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Maximizing Utility
Overview
This simulation focuses on marginal utility.
The first interaction is a microcosm that puts the player in the role of an animal making decisions around
the utility of various food and water options. This is followed by comprehensive interactive debriefing
of the first interaction. This includes an introduction to production possibility frontiers (although the
name is not used). It also focuses on the concept of the margin.
The simulation, in its examples, tries to show that this decision is critically important of allocations to the
survival of animal, person, or corporation.
The final part of the simulation takes the user through a more rigorous process that factors in price as
well as marginal utility. This simulation bridges lecture and practice, and is optional but highly
recommended.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Perfect Competition
Overview
This simulation allows students to bridge presentation and practice in the area of profit and losses with
the average cost curve. It expands upon the raspberry example from the previous page.
Part I strives to desensitize people who may be nervous around graphs to get the hang of how to read
them. It provides a series of “which is greater” challenges, each one being a bit harder than the one
before.
Part II has three levels that strive to help students understand how to read specific portions of a graph,
and understand their implications, based on the raspberry example from the previous page. As with the
Part I, it both requires attention but is very forgiving.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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Despite the subject matter, and the relative length, this is an easy simulation. It is more focused
on exposing the student to material in their context than requiring demonstrations. This also
makes it very easy to deploy.
This simulation also has a lot of humor. Some students may see many ways they can lead to the
demise of their animals.
The production possibility frontiers can be named and explored in more detail in extrasimulation work.
This simulation is of medium complexity. It feels a bit like an interactive lab. There is a lot of
humor in the fringes.
In Part I, remind people that there are only 12 answers required, and each are binary.
In Part II, there are two non-intuitive answers. For identifying profit in Part II-2, the correct
answer is no box (or, profit = 0).
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
For Part II-3, where profit is negative, the answer is this:
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Part IIa is simply an interactive sandbox model of Part II. There is no need to recommend it, but
it is there if someone wants to further explore the model.
It may be interesting (i.e. diagnostic) to watch how a student engages Part I. Some students
may get quite far and others may hit walls early on.
Part I should provide a model where students essentially teach themselves. They should
discover things without being told, and infer rules. Even when answers are easy (and there are
often multiple clues to the answer), the opportunity to look at and try to read a chart, even
when some of the terms are unfamiliar, is valuable.
The advanced levels are interesting and worth exploring for the intrepid. They are sudden death
with no ability to redo without replaying all of Part I.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: International Trade
Overview
This is a fairly long simulation that is challenging in places conceptually.
This simulation takes players through several components of figuring out the logic of international trade.
It presents places to engage and learn about production possibility frontiers, opportunity costs, graph
views and chart views, comparative advantages, and absolute advantages.
The warm-up exercise is highly encouraged, and takes students through some of the thinking of
identifying relative advantage in a non-competitive setting of two housemates divvying up chores for an
upcoming party. It may provide the best microcosm for the model of international trade presented in
this book.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
The rest of the simulation explored different aspects of a trade between two fictional countries,
Coastland and New Vista. This simulation bridges lecture and practice.
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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This is a dense simulation. The complexity of the material means that this simulation can be
engaged multiple times, and each time students can learn a bit more.
Strongly encourage student to do the first warm-up exercise.
The simulation does not cover how the trade price was determined between Coastland and New
Vista. The answer, 1 Crate of Glassware = 5 Boots, is exactly the half-way point between the
two opportunity costs for Glassware in terms of Boots (6 and 4), show in this part of the
simulation:
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
Simulation: Income Distribution
Overview
Income distribution focuses on multiple aspects of what impacts how much a worker is worth from an
employer perspective.
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Players can engage the simulation from an employee perspective, first making hiring decisions
based on diminishing returns, then predicting some broader influences on salaries by outside
trends.
Players can also engage the simulation as an employee, realizing the importance of education
and differentiation, and then also predicting broader influences of salaries of different issues
Instructor Tips and Tricks
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Anyone who engages the simulation as an employee will be asked if they are sure they want to
be an employee. The answer to the question is a set of synonyms that serves as a predictablerandomizer to differentiate between success and failure in a later higher risk job seeking option.
This simulation, despite its length, is pretty simple, and so should not require much support.
There are two, completely different sections, employer and employee. These have separate
interactive sections, and then separate questions at the end.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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Waymaker: Simulation Instructor Resources
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The simulation tees up several interesting conversations.
o The employee path also sets up, but does not address, discussions about education,
debt, and the role of public assistance.
o The employer path sets up issues around diminishing returns and capital.
The simulation reinforces the past concept of marginality.
Every employee you hire causes the next employee to ask for more. Every employee you don’t
hire causes the next employee to ask for less. The best way to play the employee is not hire the
first employee and then hire the next two.
Please attribute to Clark Aldrich for Lumen Learning as the creator of this work.
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