"There were significant improvements in financial literacy by both student groups surveyed... The students who had no finance or accounting courses benefited the most from the game. But the students with more business education... also showed significant improvement."
WHY PLAY GAMES?
Games like CASHFLOW are a powerful mechanism because they reflect our true behavior. As a learning tool, games enable people to 'learn by doing.' Very often, the learning process is so fun that we sometimes forget that a key purpose of playing a game like CASHFLOW and other games and is to heighten financial literacy.
GAMES ARE THE 2nd BEST WAY TO LEARN
In 1969, an educator named Edgar Dale evaluated the best and worst ways of learning. He created the Cone of Learning. Looking at the Cone, you will see that reading is the worst way to learn. Second worst is hearing words (lecture) and third is looking at pictures (movies, photographs and TV).
According to Dale, the best way to learn is by doing the real thing. For example, the best way to learn to ride a bicycle is to ride one. I do not know of anyone who learned to ride a bike by reading a book, listening to a lecture or looking at pictures of a bicycle. Unfortunately, our schools still teach via these methods. That is one reason why so many people find school boring.
According to Dale, the best way to learn is by doing the real thing. For example, the best way to learn to ride a bicycle is to ride one. I do not know of anyone who learned to ride a bike by reading a book, listening to a lecture or looking at pictures of a bicycle. Unfortunately, our schools still teach via these methods. That is one reason why so many people find school boring.
As you can see from the Cone of Learning, the second best way to learn is via simulating the real experience... also known as games. That is why the CASHFLOW game is such a powerful teaching tool. You have fun simulating the real experience of investing but you use play money. To me, it is smarter to learn the game of money with play money rather than risk your hard-earned real money. Again, games are the second-best way to learn.
-- The New York Times article on the CASHFLOW games
LEARNING RICH DAD'S LESSONS IN CASHFLOW 101 - PRICELESS!
It takes playing the games at least twice, just to understand the rules and strategies. After the second time the games become easier to play, you will have more fun and your learning will rapidly increase. If you purchase a CASHFLOW game and do not play it, it is a very expensive game. If you play it at least six times I think you will find each of these games priceless.
