At the start of second semester, AP World History classes at Amador began their semester-long business game to help students understand important lessons about each of their study units.

“I thought it would be interesting for the students to manage something throughout the second semester that connects with what we’re studying in each unit. In the Industrial Revolution, you’re making decisions as any business owner would during the time. You’ve gotta decide what’s best for you as a business owner and what’s best for the future,” said AP World History teacher Christopher Murphy.

For the game, groups of students created companies that they will lead by making critical decisions. Students will act as business owners and make choices depending on the time period the class is learning about, where different events and inventions can play a key role for each company.

“I really like the idea of this business game because it makes the class more fun to be in and helps me better understand things like the impact the time period had on the government and economy,” said Shlok Sharma (‘25).

Starting from the first day of second semester, students have been waiting to be apart of a more creative aspect of the class and to learn more from this game. 

“I found [the game] really creative and I was really excited to be a part of it. I think it’ll be really fun in the long run and definitely help in the semester because it’s a way for us to visualize and be a part of how it was back in the day. It helps us to really understand how everyone was taking part of history in a different level of depth,” said Arnav Dhole (‘25).

The AP World teachers created this game last year, and started it off as an idea for students to manage something that connects with what they learn. Regardless of in-game consequences, talking between friends and the different teams can make choices less shocking and lower the competitive spirit. 

“I’ve noticed through the start of the game that people just share what decisions they make in the game and that sometimes ruins the surprise. I like to compete with my friends to see who can make the most money, so it gets boring if we all know how much we will make,” said Sharma.