This post was updated on 3/17/2026.
Let’s face it — keeping students engaged while teaching economics can be hard. One strategy that has proven successful is the use of games and experiments to help teach economics concepts while keeping students interested.
The history of economics experiments and games in the classroom
Experiments were first used in the economics classroom by Edward Chamberlain as far back as the late 1940’s. These activities have students connect the economic theories they’re studying to real-world applications, which leads to increased interest, critical thinking and real learning.
While economics experiments are great for capturing students’ attention, it takes a fair amount of time and effort on the instructor’s part to design and implement them in the classroom. The solution: using premade experiments created and supplied by a digital provider. When Nobel Prize winner Paul Romer created Aplia in the early 2000’s, he knew that providing experiments and robust homework assignments would be a real plus for instructors. The basic experiments provided by Aplia were incredibly popular — instructors found them simple to implement and easy for students to use.
Years later, Cengage launched MindTap, integrating Aplia homework assignments into select MindTap Courses. MindTap, Cengage’s Learning Platform, gives you everything you need to guide your students’ learning experience with trusted content, interactive assignments and AI-powered support.
MobLab in MindTap Courses for Principles of Economics
Thanks to Cengage’s exclusive partnership with MobLab, a provider of powerful activity-based learning, select MindTap Courses, including Principles of Economics, offer an incredible suite of immersive economics experiments at no additional charge.
MobLab delivers powerful activity-based learning by combining cutting-edge technology with a suite of games and surveys. You can set up, run and monitor activities in a matter of minutes, and access student-generated data in real-time.
Here are just a few of the economics games you can try in your classroom (click on each to see game description and instructions):
- Interest Rates and Inflation
- Insurance Markets
- Asset Market (Bubbles & Crashes)
- Price Discrimination
- Competitive Market with Tax, Subsidy and Price Controls
How to start using MobLab experiments in your MindTap Course
With a few simple clicks, you can easily add games and experiments into the MindTap Learning Path. These activities have helped many instructors increase class participation, student feedback and retention of material. The result is a dynamic, comprehensive and fluid educational experience.
Watch this quick-start video tutorial on how to easily use MobLab in your MindTap Course for Principles of Economics.
Additional Resources
- Christopher Roby shares his experience teaching with MobLab in MindTap
- For support or questions about MobLab in MindTap Courses for Principles of Economics, contact:
