A New Frontier for Educational Research.

A microeconomic simulation game, called Micro-Economy, is discussed. The game approach was developed to provide students and educators an opportunity to express the aspirations, values, and principles of the people living in an environment. By following a microeconomic model, Society School, students create microinstitutions for their society at school. Several uses of the simulation in various schools are reported. Some noted qualities of the model are (1) teachers will find this model attractive because it allows them to bring real world experiences into the classroom and to demonstrate the connection between competency in traditional language and mathematics skills and success in the social system that evolves; (2) the program gives students access to new ways to think about themselves and their own competencies; (3) the model offers grounding in commercial, legal, and political practice; and (4) the central unity of the experience of institution building emerges within the domain of human values. Possible research issues are given for each characteristic. Micro-Economy is available from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich's Center for Curriculum Design for $39.00. The game and its development are described in "The Micro-Society School: A Real World in Miniature," Harper and Row, 1973, $7.95 hardcover, $2.50 paperback. (Author/ND)