FTE MobLab Activities

FTE has partnered with MobLab so you can run your favorite classroom activities virtually!

With an easy-to-use platform, step-by-step instructions and ready-to-go presentation slides, you can bring active learning to your virtual classroom!

Set up your MobLab teacher account at www.moblab.com and contact Nathanael at MobLab to learn how to get your high school classroom set up with MobLab and the FTE MobLab playlists.

The Fish Game

In this lesson, students catch fish in the classroom lake, first, when the fish are owned in common, and then, when fish are owned privately.  They experience first-hand a tragedy of the commons and examine the incentives at play with different types of property rights.  Virtual Lesson Instructions & Slides

The Orange Market (In the Chips virtual alternative)

This lesson simulates a market for oranges. Students, acting as buyers and sellers, will experience the competitive nature of markets. As a result, they will see how competition influences the price of goods and the decisions of buyers and sellers. Virtual Lesson Instructions & Slides

The Global Orange Market (Tic-Tac-Toe Tariff virtual alternative)

This lesson simulates a global market for oranges. Students, acting as buyers and sellers, trade in an open market and then in a market with a tariff.  They experience gains from trade, and explore the impact of trade barriers. Virtual Lesson Instructions & Slides

The Ultimatum Game

This classroom activity simulates the Ultimatum Game, a simple 2-person experimental interaction used widely by researchers investigating the nature of self-interest. The simulation experience sets the stage for discussing whether capitalism can be “good” for the poor in an ethical and moral sense, as well as in terms of material well-being. The lesson incorporates research into what is sometimes called the “selfishness axiom” – that “. . . individuals seek to maximize their own material gains in . . . interactions and expect others to do the same” (Henrich, Economic Man), and prompts thought-provoking discussion. Finally, debriefing questions guide students in exploring the implications of the ultimatum game research for the widely-held belief that capitalism promotes uncaring, unethical, selfish behavior.   Virtual Lesson Instructions & Slides