National Auctioneers Association, American Farm Bureau Foundation release “Auction Adventures” online learning game for kids

The National Auctioneers Association has teamed up with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, with generous funding from the National Auctioneers Foundation, to launch a new My American Farm game along with supporting resources for two separate age groups, thirdthrough-fifth graders and fifththrough-eighth graders. The new online game, “Auction Adventures,” gives students a close look at how auctions work and the many different opportunities within the auctioneering industry. “We are proud and excited to have this unique opportunity to connect students with the NAA, its members, and the auction industry,” said NAA Board Chairman Scott H. Shuman, CAI. “This online resource’s videos, information, and game format will give children a positive introduction to the auction world. “Thank you very much to the National Auctioneers Foundation for its support of this strategic, educational undertaking.” The educational concept game of offering was origi- an nally brought to the NAA table by Shuman, who wanted to create a promotional portal for the NAA and auction industry to youth as a way of generating future interest in both the organization and auction. “Our audience Adventures chance fluency third- as to playing strengthen they through will learn have Auction fifth-grade the about math the that different take place kinds each of day,” auctions said Christy Lilja, executive director of the Farm Bureau Foundation. “We’ve also created a fifth-grade lesson plan that will help students enhance English Language Arts skills as they read profiles of real auctioneers, then communicate about the different types of auctions highlighted. In addition, we have three lesson plans for middle school students to learn about careers within the auctioneering industry,” she added. “Welcome to the auction!” Kids are asked to solve math questions and select the correct answer from a bidder. With every correct answer selected, a “commission” goes into the player’s wallet. The commission increases as each round’s difficulty increases. After player, selecting the student their then avatar moves their player to different levels. Each level represents a different asset class or environment. At each stop, there are 10 math questions for students to answer. Once the level is complete, a video pops up on the screen and rolls through a quick education lesson given by an NAA member and expert in that specific asset category. At the end of all levels, players are then taken to “Listen to an Auctioneer!”, where they can watch and listen to bid calls from Sara Rose Bytnar, CAI, AARE, AMM, Dustin Rogers, CAI, CAS, and Kendall Nisly, the 2017 IAC and IJAC champions, respectively (the newest champions at the time the game was developed). Then, at the very end of the game, players are awarded a downloadable “Jr. Auctioneer Badge”, which sums up their game experience and also introduces them to several key auction elements including: “Mastering Your Auction Chant”, how to properly introduce themselves at the start of an auction, and a QR code that takes the student to the NAA YouTube channel. The Auction Adventures game is accessible at www.auctioneers.org under the “Content & Tools” section, as well as along with other agricultural -based learning resources at www.myamericanfarm.org/classroom