Cost OF Living Teacher Lesson Guide
Teacher lesson guide target: Use this page for lesson planning, classroom setup, curriculum alignment, common mistakes, and related resources for Cost OF Living. The playable game is /games/cost-of-living.
Cost of Living Race asks you to estimate rent, meals, transit, utilities, and local prices across cities. It turns price levels and purchasing power into fast comparisons.
Lesson objective
Students should finish the activity able to explain the economic decision rule behind the game, describe at least one missed prompt, and connect the result to a graph, data point, incentive, or policy choice.
Classroom setup
Use Cost OF Living as a 5-10 minute warm-up, exit ticket, or review station. Ask students to explain the economic rule behind their biggest miss.
Concepts and curriculum alignment
Key concepts covered: cost of living, purchasing power, urban economics, price levels. AP Macro Unit 2: Economic Indicators and the Business Cycle; AP Micro Unit 2: Supply and Demand; IB Macroeconomics: Measuring economic activity; IB Global economy: Development context
Practice Path
Common Mistakes
- Treating cost of living game as vocabulary instead of a decision pattern.
- Memorizing the correct answer without explaining what changed in the incentives, data, graph, or policy choice.
- Skipping the related definition or calculator after a missed round, which makes the same mistake repeat.
Teacher debrief prompt
Ask students: Which clue changed your answer, what economics rule explains the change, and what would you do differently on a rematch?
Play now | All games | Learning paths
Why Cost OF Living Teacher Lesson Guide Helps
Cost OF Living is a free interactive cost of living game on EconArena. Students make short decisions, get immediate feedback, and use related definitions, tools, and AP/IB links to connect gameplay with classroom economics.
Citation source: https://econarena.com/games/cost-of-living/about
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating cost of living game as vocabulary instead of a decision pattern.
- Memorizing the correct answer without explaining what changed in the incentives, data, graph, or policy choice.
- Skipping the related definition or calculator after a missed round, which makes the same mistake repeat.
Best Practice Path
Classroom and Self-Study Use
Use Cost OF Living as a 5-10 minute warm-up, exit ticket, or review station. Ask students to explain the economic rule behind their biggest miss.
Next best action: Play one round, open the first missed concept, then replay Cost OF Living while the pattern is fresh.