Classroom Activities for a Business Class

Formal business classes exist mainly in high school subject choices and include becoming familiar with and learning various business practices and entrepreneurship. Many students feel that business concepts are confusing and are not very interesting, thus integrating interactive activities promotes student participation while learning facts and procedures used in everyday business affairs. Real-world applications of business ideas aid in the transformation of students to business professionals when entering adulthood.

Develop scenarios for business students and arrange the class into groups of four or five. Groups can read over the written situations and determine adequate business interactions centered on ethical behavior in the workplace. The students may act out the scenarios with two alternate endings to involve all class members in deciding which ending is the appropriate action taken when facing a difficult business position. Teachers may grade the oral presentation or allow for only an interactive discussion of each ethical scenario.

Business plans can be complex to write, thus starting students with business plan basics will aid each when venturing into adulthood with their money-making ideas. Instruct the class on business plan parts and what each section entails. Allow students to follow a model business plan when constructing their own. The activity can be done individually or in groups, encouraging each student within the group to develop a different section then compiling all writings into one plan. Give each group or student a different type of business to plan for such as a home-based business, a child's play center, a fast-food restaurant or a financial planning service.

Conduct a stock market simulation within the classroom to introduce investing practices to the business class students. The activity can be a year long, weekly activity or can quickly be accomplished in one or two class periods. The teacher decides how the stock market behaves when individual students use a portion of their make-believe funding to invest into separate company examples. Give students a faux background on each company before deciding which to put money into. Another option is to follow the stock market via the Internet, using real company choices, and calculate the increases and decreases in each student's investment portfolio.

Group students into sets of three or four and allow each to devise a sample business to include the business name, the product or service they are selling, how many people each business employs and what types of materials are necessary for producing the good or service. The business instructor gives each group a fake starting amount in their business bank account for use in everyday operative expenses. The groups will keep an accurate account of funding entering or leaving the business account, through profit and expenses.