From the 5/6 Classrooms

Marketing Manoeuvres Incursion

On Monday the 17th of October and Tuesday the 18th of October we had an incursion about marketing. The Grade 5/6 students were presented with “needs and wants.” We had to tell the difference between “needs and wants” and sort them into different groups. For example, food is a need and a new bike is a want. Next, we played a game called Supply and Demand. There were 16 people and 16 dots on the floor and everyone had $100. It was sort of like musical chairs. The presenter removed one of the dots at random times whilst the students walked around them. Each time he took away a dot, the supply went down and the demand went up. He would ring a bell suddenly and everybody had to quickly stand on a dot; whoever did not manage to stand on a dot was out. They would hand their money to someone else and whoever ended up with the most amount of money at the end of the game won.

For the second and last activity, students participated in a game that involved building with Lego. The purpose of this game was to teach us how demand and supply works. The students split into groups and formed a circle around a table where they would build the chosen shape. The team colours were red, green and blue. 

A buyer, (part of the group), a consumer, (not part of the group), and a seller (not part of the group)  also had an important role in the game. The buyer would go to the seller and buy Lego for the team to build with. Once they had brought back blocks, the team would build as many buildings as they could, and then they had to put them into different categories; mountains, city, beach.

Eventually, when the time ran out, the consumer would count the buildings in each of the categories. The Linked Incursions Instructor would explain the worth of each building depending on what place they were put in. (For example, 1 building in mountains may be worth 5 dollars, while in the city only 2 dollars.) The instructor would add up all the points after each of the three rounds. 

In each round there would be a different price for each setting. The instructor explained how the demand changes and how supply and demand are usually opposites and change all the time.

When the demand is high, supply is low, price is high. 

When the demand is low, supply is high, price is low. 

This incursion taught us how money, demand and supply works in real life. We leant about working to earn money, how you manage money and the importance of your personal needs and sometimes getting being able to get something you want! We had lots of fun learning about Marketing Manoeuvres by playing fun games and are excited to learn more about this topic!

Written by Perry, Josh, Katia and Anastasia 6PT