UNIT PLAN
Jennifer Bjorngaard
Jill Jackson
Holly Kunick
Kati Loersch
Jennifer Reynolds
Sara Yaden
Introduction
Topic: The Stock
Market
Grade level: 6th
- 8th
Length of time with students: 45 minutes to an hour
Materials & resources:
- The
internet
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Calculators
- Pencils
- Paper
- Handouts
(worksheets)
- Final
project rubric
Goals: By learning about the stock market, students will be
able to pick out reliable companies to invest their money in someday. The lessons are designed to introduce
students to the basics of how the stock market works through the integration of
economics, business, language arts, critical thinking, and mathematics.
Students will also be able to understand how to read stock symbols, charts and
terminology. In short, students
will ideally leave the class understanding basic knowledge about the stock
market and how investing creates wealth and financial security for all.
Standards & Benchmarks:
Language Arts
Standard
1, 2, and 3 - Meaning and Communication
Standard
4 - Language
Standard
6 – Voice
Standard
7 – Skills and Processes
Standard
11 – Inquiry and Research
Standard
12 – Critical Standards
Social Studies
Standard
III.2 – Ideals for American Democracy
Standard
IV.1 – Individual Household Choices
Standard
IV.2 – Business Choices
Standard IV.4 – Economic Systems
Standard
IV.5 – Trade
Standard
V.1 – Information Processing
Standard
V.2 – Conducting Investigations
Standard
VI.2 – Group Discussion
Mathematics
Standard III.1 – Collection, Organization, and
Presentation of Data
Standard
III.2 – Description and Interpretation
Standard
III.3 – Inference and Prediction
Standard
V.1 – Operations and their Properties
Standard
V.2 – Algebraic and Analytic Thinking
Assumed Skills: Students
are expected to know basic knowledge about the economy. They are also expected to know how to
use computers and the Internet to research information.
Skills to teach: Students
will be taught how to achieve economic security by learning the following
skills…
- How
to find and read company stock symbols
- How
to calculate profits and loses,
- How
to successfully invest money
- How
the media effects stock prices
- How
to trade stocks
- How
to make their own company
The 5 Senses:
Sight – Students will use their sense
of sight by going on their field trip and
researching on the Internet. They
will also use sight when constructing
their product for their final project.
Hearing – Students will listen to a
voice recording of Peter Lynch reading “Chapter
1: The Miracle of St. Agnes” in his
book Beating the Street. They will also use sound when creating
a jingle for their company
during the final project.
Smell – Students will be able to use
the sense of smell when creating a product
that is food or some sort of fragrance for their final project.
Taste – Students will be able to taste
the food made by a group for the final
project.
Touch – Students will be able to use
their sense of touch when they are creating
their company’s product for their final project.
Social Studies Disciplines: Economics, History and Business
Core
Democratic Value: LIBERTY:
This includes personal freedom, political
freedom and economic freedom.
·
Economic Freedom –
the right to buy, sell and trade private property and the right to employment
without the government interfering.
Academic Disciplines:
Mathematics, Language Arts and Critical Thinking
Technology used:
Students will use computers and the Internet to research the history of
different companies and to compare and contrast different stock information.
Field Trip: Students
will be taking a field trip to the Daimler Chrysler Headquarters
in Detroit where the students will basically be given the same
tour as a potential investor would be given.
Controversy: It used
to be that people could only trade on the stock market through brokers. Now,
with online trading, people can do it themselves for less, but they lose some
of the benefits of trading through a broker. Which is better? Students will look at both sides of the
issue and decide for themselves.
UNIT SCHEDULE
Week 1
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Welcome to Wall Street
Objectives:
Students will demonstrate their
understanding of basic terms and ideas associated with the stock market.
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Piggy Bank
Stocks
Objectives: Students will determine the
overall performance of the stock market during their lifetime and make
predictions about future performance.
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Stocks are
Everywhere!
Objectives: In this
lesson, students will turn their knowledge of everyday products into a useful
way of choosing stocks.
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Week 2
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Find that
symbol
Objectives: SWBAT
find stock symbols by company, industry, and country.
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Finding
Stock Quotes
Objectives: SWBAT search the internet & the Wall Street
Journal to find stock quotes/
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Begin using
Value Line
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Week 3
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Do Your
Homework
Objectives: Students will understand how to properly research a stock before investing
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Continue
Research
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Virtual Stock Exchange
Begins
today!
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How does news
influence stock prices?
Objectives: Students will
understand that news &
business events can effect stock prices.
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Research
& Meet with Group Day
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Week 4:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Stock Market
Field Trip
To: Daimler Chrysler in Detroit
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Research
& Meet with Group Day
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Controversy:
Broker vs.
Going Solo
Objectives: Students will decide whether it’s better to buy
stocks through a broker or do it
their own.
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Catch up day
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Research
& Meet with Group Day
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Week 5:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Final
Project:
Make Your
Own Company
Objectives: SWBAT use the information they learned from previous
lessons to create their own company
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Turn in
portfolios & work on Final Project
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Work on
Final Project
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Work on Final
Project
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Work on
Final Project
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Week 6: Company
presentations on Day 1 and that’s a wrap!
The Bulletin Board
Welcome to Wall
Street
Grade level: 6 - 8
Subjects: Economics, Language Arts
Time period: Two 45 – 60 minute class periods
Objectives: Students will demonstrate their understanding of basic
terms and ideas
associated with the stock market.
Rationale:
S.S. Standard IV.1 –
Individual Household Choices
S.S. Standard IV.2 –
Business Choices
S.S. Standard V.1 –
Information Processing
Materials:
Pencils
Edited HowStuffWorks.com
Article “How Stocks and the Stock Market
Work”
Accompanying
Worksheet
Procedure:
Opener: Begin with a question: “How do we get
money?” The students will
offer up answers, most of which will involve some type of work. Present this
scenario: “Let’s say you work – you baby-sit, have a paper
route, etc. – and you save up $100.” Ask them what they can buy
with $100 to keep it real for them. “So, you could just spend the $100 on
“x” and what have you got? An object worth $100.” Ask them if they could sell that object
to someone else for $100 – most might say yes. Ask if they could see that object to someone in a year for $100. Fewer will say yes. Ask the same question
for 5 years, and if anyone says yes, explain why it wouldn’t be (object
is used, someone new and better might be available by then, etc.)
Then,
ask this question: “What if you could take that $100 and turn it into
$200?” Ask what they could buy with that. Next, ask about $400 and what
they could do with that. Finally,
get to the real question: “How can you make your money grow like that? Is it possible?” Field a few answers before writing
“The Stock Market” in big letters on the board.
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Ask the students what
they know about the stock market. Write their answers around “The Stock
Market” that is written on the board in a web fashion.
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Hand out copies of the
edited HowStuffWorks article along with a worksheet. Students should be
directed to read the article and answer the questions on the worksheet.
Assessment:
Terms
and ideas presented in the article and reflected in the answers should be
discussed in the next class period to assure that everyone has a basic
understanding of what the stock market is about.
Name: _________________________________ Date: _______________________
How Stocks and the Stock Market
Work
1. How does a
company figure out its profit?
2. What is a
company’s book value?
3. Why would someone want
to buy shares
of a business?
4.
A
business has 20 shareholders (people who own shares of the business) and the
business’s profit for a given year was $100,000. What is the amount of the dividend each shareholder
receives?
5.
How
is the stock market like a supermarket?
6.
What
are the three major stock exchanges in the U.S.?
7.
What
is a stock broker?
8.
What
are OTC stocks?
What does OTC stand for?
Piggy Bank Stocks
Grade
level: 6 – 8
Time
period: Two 45 – 60 class
periods
Subjects: Economics, business, language arts, math
Objectives: SWBAT -
- Determine
the overall performance of the stock market during their lifetime and make
predictions about future performance.
- Construct
and draw inferences from graphs that summarize data from real world
situations.
Rationale:
SOC.
IV. 3. 2 - Different forms of economic measurement.
Materials:
CNNfyi article, "Piggy
bank stocks"
Internet access
Graph paper
Procedures:
1. Ask students about their knowledge
of the stock market. Find out if any students follow any stocks, and why or why
not.
2. Read the CNNfyi article "Piggy
bank stocks." Then ask students:
- Why is
14-year old Helen Adeosun interested in the stock market?
- How are
some schools getting students interested in investing in the stock market?
- What are
stocks?
- What is
the Dow Jones industrial average? What other stock averages are closely watched
on Wall Street?
- How does
the stock market serve as an indicator of the U.S. economy?
(The next part of
the lesson will probably carry over into the next class period)
3. Identify the year in which most of
your students were born. Distribute graph paper and pencils. Divide the class
into small groups. Assign each the task of finding out what the closing number
was for the Dow Jones industrial average on the last day of various specific
years since the students were born through 1999. This will most likely be done
using the internet and visiting a finance web site such as yahoo! finance
(http://finance.yahoo.com)
4. Call out each year and have each group reveal its
number. Write that number, along with the corresponding year, on the board.
5. Have each group use all the
data to prepare a graph illustrating the Dow's performance over all the years
studied. If possible, have students calculate the percentage change (up or
down) for each year.
Assessment:
Have each student write a
short essay reflecting on what they found while researching their given year
and constructing their graphs. In
the same essay, they can offer their predictions for the Dow's performance five
years from now.
Stocks are
Everywhere!
Grade Level: 5 - 8
Subjects: Economics, business,
language arts, social studies
Time Period: Two 45 – 60
minute class periods
Materials: Internet access,
library, and daily products at home or stores
Objectives: In this lesson, students will turn their
knowledge of everyday products
into a useful way of choosing stocks.
Rationale:
Social Studies/Strand IV/Content Standard 4/Benchmark 1
Identify examples of markets they experience in daily life.
Background: When
people choose stocks, they usually want to buy the popular brand names. However, if they look for companies
such as Pizza Hut, Oreo cookies, or Kleenex, they won’t be able to find
them. These products are not listed
in the newspaper because they are not their own company and are, instead, part
of a larger company, also known as the parent company. For example, Tricon Restaurants
International owns Pizza Hut, Nabisco owns Oreo cookies, and Kimberly-Clark
Corporation owns Kleenex.
Once students find the parent company of a product, they can buy shares of stock
of the larger company and indirectly own the product they like or use
daily. However, some companies
that make popular items are not public and, therefore, no stock can be bought. Some larger companies such as Sony,
McDonald’s, and Microsoft are already their own company. In this exercise, students will gain
more knowledge of the products and companies in which they have had firsthand
knowledge.
Activities:
- Group students individually or in groups of 3 to 5.
- Have the students list about ten products
they use daily or have first hand knowledge of, but are not obviously tied
to the name of the company, such as IBM, Yahoo, Starbucks, or
AT&T.
- Have the students try to find the parent companies of
the products listed. Here are
some suggested methods:
- Look at the label of the actual
product.
- Search on the Web
- Check out books in the library,
such as The Dow 40,000 Portfolio: The Stocks to Own to Outperform
Today's Leading Benchmark, by David
Elias.
- Check local newspapers.
- Talk to adults.
- Once students find the parent
companies, have the students record them and tell how the companies were
found. Some companies will be harder to find because another company
may yet own the company that makes the product. For example, McNeil
Consumer Products Company makes Tylenol, but Johnson & Johnson owns
McNeil Consumer Products.
- After students find the parent companies, they can
research the company by looking at the company Web site or a finance web
site to decide whether it will be a good buy or not.
Next:
·
Have students list the
large companies based in the city where their school is located. Check the business section of the local
newspaper for local companies with stock offerings.
·
Have students interview
parents, neighbors, relatives or friends who may work for big companies with
stock offerings. Possibly invite
them as a guest speaker for the class.
Here are some suggested products and their parent companies:
Finally, students will choose 10 stocks based on their
firsthand knowledge or through their friends or relatives about these
companies. Then, students should visit the Web site of these companies to learn
more about the business of the company.
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Company Name
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Symbol
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Industry
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Earnings Growth (%)
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Reasons for picking
the stock
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2
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3
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4
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5
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It is important that students choose one company in each
industry for diversification, meaning not putting all eggs in one basket.
Assessment:
Look
over the charts that the students filled out to see that they found the
necessary information and stayed on task. A ü+, ü, ü- type
of evaluation would suffice.
Find That Symbol
Grade Level: K-12 and
up
Subjects: Economics,
business, language arts, social studies
Time Period: One class
period with homework
Resources: Internet
access, paper, pencils
Rationale: Standard
IV.4 – Understanding Economic Systems
Objectives: In this
lesson, using the Internet students will learn and practice finding stock
symbols by company, industry, and country. Stock symbols are necessary to find
company information such as stock charts, news, and financial data on the
Internet.
Background: The stock
symbol, a unique name assigned by stock exchanges worldwide, is used to
identify a company’s stock. Students should not confuse the stock symbol
with the abbreviated name usually found in the financial section of most
newspapers. Here is a sample of
the stock symbol for various corporations worldwide:
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Company Name
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Stock Symbol
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Stock Market
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Microsoft
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MSFT
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Nasdaq, US
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Hewlett Packard
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HWP
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NYSE, US
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General Electric
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GE
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NYSE, US
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Citigroup
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C
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NYSE, US
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MPhase Technologies
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XDSL.OB
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OTC, US
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Fidelity Magellan
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FMAGX
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Mutual Funds, US
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Bouygues
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1250.PA
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Paris
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Siemens AG
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723610.F
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Frankfurt
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Vodafone
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VOD.L
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London
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Laidlaw
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LDM.TO
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Toronto
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Telebras
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TELB4.SA
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Brazil
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Telstra
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TLS.AX
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Australia
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TelMex
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TELMEXL.MX
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Mexico
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Golden Harvest
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1132.HK
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Hong Kong
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Nintendo
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7974
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Japan
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Procedure:
- Students
will find the stock symbol of companies that they researched in
“Stocks are Everywhere” using Yahoo! Finance
(http://finance.yahoo.com) under symbol lookup or alphabetical listing.
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Company Name
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Symbol
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Market
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Agilent
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US
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Venator Group
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US
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McDonald’s
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US
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Pixel
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US
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Coca-Cola
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US
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Disney
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US
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Gillette
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US
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Tricon
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US
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Adobe
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US
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- Students should find the stock
symbols by industry under Research
in Yahoo! Finance.
- For each industry, have the students find the top
three companies and their symbols.
Industry: Internet software
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Company Name
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Symbol
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#1
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#2
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#3
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Industry: Fiber Optics
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Company Name
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Symbol
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#1
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#2
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#3
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Industry: Telecommunications Equipment
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Company Name
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Symbol
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#1
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#2
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#3
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Industry: Telecommunications Wireless
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Company Name
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Symbol
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#1
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#2
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#3
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Industry: Computer Network
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Company Name
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Symbol
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#1
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#2
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#3
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Use Yahoo! Finance and look under World Finance to
find the following stock symbols by country.
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Country
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Company Name
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Symbol
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Australia
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News Corp
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Australia
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Telstra Corp
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Canada
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Dominion Bank
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Canada
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Kasten Chase Applied Research
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France
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PEUGEOT
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Germany
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VOLKSWAGEN
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China
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QINGDAO SODA
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Hong Kong
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HONGKONG.COM
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Japan
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Sony (6758)
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Mexico
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TLEVISA CPO
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Singapore
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DBS LAND LTD
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United Kingdom
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British Telecom PLC
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United Kingdom
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Cable and Wireless PLC
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United Kingdom
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British Aerospace PLC
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Assessment:
Look
over the charts that the students filled out to see that they found the
necessary information and stayed on task. A ü+, ü, ü- type
of evaluation would suffice.
Finding Stock Quotes
Subject: Economics, Language Arts
Grade: 6 - 7
Time: Two 45 – 60 minute class periods
Goal: Students will use different means of
looking up stock quotes of various companies.
Objective:
²
The
students will search the internet and find stock quotes on certain
companies.
² They
will find stock quotes in the Wall street journal on the same companies they
found on the Internet.
Rationale:
² MI-S.K-12.01.01: All students will ask questions that help them
learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate
methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information;
communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct
previously learned knowledge. (Constructing New Scientific Knowledge)
² MI-SS.4-6.04.04.01
* Explain how prices are determined in a
market economy and how they serve as a means of allocating resources.
Materials:
² Wall
Street Journal
² Internet
access
² Other
Newspapers with stock quotes
² Question
sheet for the students to answer.
Procedure:
1.
As a class review how to search for topics on the Internet or
in the Wall Street Journal (if needed).
2.
Have the students choose their companies to research.
3.
Students research and collect their data on the companies they
chose. (http://finance.yahoo.com/)
4.
Fill in the question sheet for their company.
5.
As a closure for the lesson have them report their findings
according to their research.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed on how
well they work on the assignment and whether or not they complete or try to
complete the work they have been given.
Adaptations:
For the students who have special
needs it might be helpful for them to work with a partner. You could also
simplify the questions or how much they have to research.
Name: ________________________________________ Date:
_________________________
Stock Market Quotes
Company Name:
______________________________________________________
1.
What is the
name of the stock exchange on which your company is presently trading?
2.
How much
would students have to pay for one share of the company if they bought the
stock at this moment?
3.
What was
yesterday’s closing price for your company?
4.
How many
shares of your company were traded since the market was open this morning?
5.
How many
shares of your company are traded daily on average?
6.
How much
did your company earn per share in the last year?
7.
Does your
company pay a dividend?
8.
If students
bought 10 shares of your company at the lowest price of the year and sold it at
the highest price for the year, how much money would they make?
9.
If students
bought 100 shares of the company at the current price but missed the chance to
buy the shares at the lowest price for the day, how much more money would they
have to pay?
Value Line
Before the
students can get into “buying” stocks, they need to research the
companies they have in mind. Knowing how to read stock quotes is a good start,
but they really should know to look into the company’s history. They can
do this by using Value Line surveys.
These one-page surveys have all sorts of information on every company
you can think of for the past 10 years – how much money they’ve
made, lost, and other financial statistics that are updated on a regular
basis. There are charts that have
kept track of their progress as well as a description of the company, what they
own, how many people they employ, and how to contact them.
The books full of
these surveys can be found at the circulation desk in any library, so they
should be available in the school’s library. If they are not, perhaps you can make a request that
you’re library have them before you start this unit. It’s not
advisable to take a field trip to a local library to get them because you will
want the kids to always have access to these if they should want to research
another stock. The other option, assuming there is internet access in the
classroom, would be to go to www.Valueline.com
and download a 60-day free trial program that make the Value Line surveys
available to you online.
Once the student knows which company they’re
looking for, it’s very easy to look it up on Value Line. There is a large index that can be used
to find which page the company’s Value Line survey. When they find it,
simply make a photocopy of it and you’re all set. With the online
version, you would just print it up or, to save ink and paper, save it on a 3
½ floppy. Students should be instructed to look for about 5 or 6
companies – there’s no need to overdo it.
When the students get these, they
are ready to move on to the next lesson….
Do Your Homework
Grade level: 5
– 8
Subjects: Economics,
Math, Critical Thinking, Language Arts
Time period: One 45
– 60 minute class period to teach the process
This
activity will be repeated in other class periods as needed
Objectives: SWBAT pick good stocks to put into their portfolio
by doing some research
first; they will understand how to properly research a stock
Rationale: SOC. IV. 4. Benchmark 1
– Markets kids experience
SOC. IV. 4.
Benchmark 3 – The impact of business decisions
Materials: Value Line sheets, Stock Research Worksheets,
calculator, pencils
Procedure:
Opener: The teacher compares picking companies for their
portfolio to picking players for a winning baseball team. You’re not
going to just pick someone because you saw them hit a ball good once or
twice. You’d want to look at
things like their batting averages, what teams they’ve played for, and
how long they’ve been playing. You look into their history. You have to do the same in picking companies for a
good portfolio.
- Pass
out calculators and ask students to get out a pencil to prepare for the pending
activity.
- Hand
out the Stock Research Worksheet to each student along with a Value Line Survey
on one company so that each student has the same one. This will be the sample
so the students can learn altogether how to fill it out.
- Go
through the worksheet with the students step by step, making sure everyone is
looking at the right information on the Value Line sheet.
- For
the math portion on the last page, the average growth rate you’re shooting
for is 10% – 15%.
- Once
the worksheet is completed, if there are no questions or confusion about
anything, let students complete a worksheet for each of their companies.
- When
they finish each one, students should be asked to write on a piece of paper a
short paragraph answering this question: “Is this a good company to
invest in? Why or why not?”
Assessment:
Look over the students’ work, which would include the
worksheets and the paragraphs, to see if they understood what was taught. If
there a lot of mistakes, go over it again with another Value Line Survey and
correct any misconceptions.
Stock Research
Worksheet
Company
name: _____________________________________________
Symbol: _____________ Current price/share:
________________
Which
Market (circle one)? NYSE NASDAQ AMEX
1. What does the company do / What do they
make? Write a brief description.
Option: Draw a picture of what the company does
/ makes
2. Describe the quality of the products or services the company
offers.
Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor?
How do you know?
3. Does the company have room to grow? Can it expand? How or why?
4. Does the company have any competition
right now? What about in the future? Are there any existing companies that
could challenge this one?
5. Growth Rate for the past 5 years.
Growth rate: current
year sales
-
previous
year sales
sales
growth for that year
Divide that by the current year’s sales
to get a percent
Year Sales
Growth
_____ ___________
_____ ___________
_____ ___________ Add these 5 numbers and
divide by 5 to get an
_____ ___________ average growth rate
_____ ___________ Average:
________________
6.
What is the
company’s financial position? Good or bad?
Note:
Being in debt is not a good thing
Total
Assets – Total Debt = Financial Position
The Virtual Stock Exchange
Time period: One
class period to teach it
It
will be used again during multiple class periods
After doing their research, students should then be either
put into groups of 3-4 members or allowed to choose their own. In these groups,
they will compare their research worksheets and be asked to answer the
following question:
- Of
all the companies researched in the group, which ones seem to be the best
choices?
Then, break the news to them that the groups they’re
will be their own “investment clubs” for the next few weeks. They
will pick stocks together, keep track of their portfolio, and decide together
which stocks to buy and which to sell. They should pick a name for their group,
and when they do, they can open an account on The Virtual Stock Exchange (http://www.virtualstockexchange.com).
The Virtual Stock Exchange is a website that, after you
register for free, you get an “account” of $500,000 to
“invest” in the stock market. It works very much like an online
trader, only it’s done with fake money. You can only buy and sell during market hours, and it keeps
track of how much you have invested in a given company and follows the
market’s numbers, so it seems very real.
Each of these “investment clubs” would have an
account on this website and only the members of that club would know the
password to their account. The groups would meet twice a week for 20 minutes of
the class period to discuss the status of their portfolio, and students could
always research new companies any time they wanted to bring up to their group.
Stock Research Worksheets would always be available to them.
If the classroom does not have internet access, students
could go somewhere that does, such as the library. If that isn’t a
possibility, then they could just do it the old-fashioned way and look at the
newspaper everyday.
At the end of a given amount of time, the groups will turn
in their portfolios and a grand prize can be awarded for the portfolio that
made the most money. There can be
other prizes offered as well if you don’t want to leave other students
out, such as: The Most Diverse Portfolio, The Most Interesting Portfolio, etc. There could even be two grand prizes
for the best and worst portfolio, so at least if a group went “broke,”
it isn’t all bad.
How Does News
Influence Stock Prices?
Grade Level: 6 and up
Time
Period: One class period
Subjects: Economics, business,
language arts, and social studies
Resources: Internet
access and/or newspapers
Rationale: Social
Studies/Strand IV/Content Standard 4/Benchmark 1
Explain
how prices are determined in a market economy
Objectives: Students
will learn that economic news and business events can change the price of a
stock. They will see that the unexpected events that benefit or harm the
company will in turn move the company’s stock price up or down.
Certain internal and external factors will affect share prices. By
learning about the relationship between business events and share prices,
students will be able to form a strategy in buying and selling stocks for the
classroom stock game and final project.
Background: A number
of factors influence stock prices.
Some internal factors include:
·
Earnings growth
·
Sales growth
·
Product release
·
Leadership changes
·
Lawsuits pending
Also, some external factors change the share prices:
·
New market competition
·
Economic news such as
interest rates and inflation
·
Government policy
changes
Activities:
- Teachers will select news from newspapers or Web
sites like Yahoo!, MSN, CBS Market Watch, and the Wall Street Journal
interactive edition.
- Next, the teacher will read the
business news concerning a specific company or the general economy to the
students.
- Then, the teacher will ask questions about how these
events would influence the share price of the company or the stock market
in general. There will be
four typical answers:
·
Share prices will
likely increase
·
Share prices will
likely decrease
·
Share prices will
likely be unchanged
·
Not enough information
to determine
Assessment:
After the questions have been read and the students have
answered all the questions, there will be a discussion of each answer and the
reasoning behind it.
Name:
____________________________________ Date:
_________________________
How Does News Influence Stock Prices?
1. After the meeting of the Federal Reserve’s open
market committee, Chairman Alan Greenspan declared an increase of 0.25% in
interest rates. Share prices of the real estate companies and home builders
will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
2. U.S. productivity sees 6.4% increase, the largest
gain since 1992. Share prices of General Electric, IBM, and 3M will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
3. Oil prices hit $34 per barrel, the highest since the
Gulf War. Share prices of United, South West, and Delta airlines will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
4. Judge Jackson rules that Microsoft has a monopoly on
PC operating systems. Share price of Microsoft will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
5. AMD begins shipping a microprocessor that achieved an
industry milestone with a clock speed of one gigahertz, processing one billion
bits of information a second, the computer industry's equivalent of breaking
the sound barrier. Share price of
AMD will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
6. Because businesses no longer fear Y2K, PC shipments
are expected to rise 20% from the first quarter a year ago. Share prices of
Dell, Intel, and Compaq will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t
determine
7. Al Gore claims he invented the Internet. He is leading the polls and will most
likely become the first president of the new millennium. Share prices of
Yahoo!, AOL, and eBay will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
8. Yahoo!’s “Surprise Earnings” news
reported that Procter & Gamble, maker of Crest toothpaste and others,
projected that earnings will be 21% below the Wall Street experts’
(analysts) estimate due to higher expenses. Share price of P & G will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
9. AOL surprisingly announces the mega merger with media
giant Time Warner, signifying the growing power of Internet companies. Share prices of Yahoo! and Earthlink
will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
10. The co-chairman of Citigroup, John Reed, announces
his retirement. The successor,
Sandy Weill, will become the sole CEO.
Robert Rubin, former Secretary of Treasury, will likely take over the
top job in 2 years when Weill retires.
Wall Street experts think Reed’s retirement is a positive to the
company. Share price of Citigroup
will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
11. President Clinton announced that U.S. and Britain
agreed to openly share data from a project to map human genes. Shares prices of the biotech stocks
will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
12. Yahoo! held talks with eBay about various forms of
partnership and a possible merger.
Share price of eBay will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
13. Sears and America Online unveiled a wide-ranging
strategic alliance that includes cross-marketing and promotional
agreements. Share price of Sears will
likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
14. The strike of Boeing’s engineering and
technical workers has delayed some testing and production of the F-22
fighter. Share price of Boeing
will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
15. Intergraph's antitrust suit against Intel was
dismissed. Share price of Intergraph will likely:
·
increase
·
decrease
·
unchanged
·
can’t determine
Answers to
“How Does News Influence Stock Prices?”
- Share prices will
likely decrease. If the Federal Reserve declares an
increase in interest rates, mortgage payments will increase. This increase will cause housing
to be less affordable, therefore hurting share prices of real estate
companies.
- Share prices will
likely increase. Companies such as General
Electric, IBM, and 3M will be more profitable as a result of higher
productivity. The companies
will be able to make more while having a lower cost to produce the
product.
- Share prices will
likely decrease. The airline companies will have to
pay a higher fuel cost. They
will not be able to pass along the increased cost to consumers or raise
the cost because of the increase in fuel prices.
- Share price will
likely decrease. Because the judge declares a
monopoly on Microsoft, the government will likely put penalties on
Microsoft. Also, hundreds of
private pending lawsuits are arising against Microsoft.
- Share price will
likely increase. AMD beat industry leader Intel for
the fastest microprocessor and will also take market shares away from
Intel.
- Share prices will
likely increase. Because of increased shipments,
companies will have an increase in sales and, therefore, profits.
- Share prices will
likely increase. If Al Gore becomes the next
president, he will likely have policies favorable to Internet businesses.
- Share price will
likely decrease. Changes in share prices are
greatly tied to earnings. In
addition to P & G’s reported poor earnings, Wall Street
doesn’t like downside surprise earnings.
- Not enough
information to determine. The announcement of the merger is too early to
determine whether it will have any impact on Internet companies like Yahoo
and Earthlink.
- Share price will
likely be unchanged. All three management are
well-respected industry leaders.
The retirement of any one will not affect the operation of the
company because all are competent to take over the job without any
problems.
- Share prices will
likely decrease. The private sector will be
competing with the huge amount of resources and research as a result of
the government-funded labs.
- Share price will
likely increase. eBay will likely be the target
that Yahoo will acquire.
- Share price will
likely increase. The alliance will likely cause an increase in
Sears’ sales because of the exposure on the Internet to the 22
million AOL users.
- Share price will
likely decrease. The strike will likely affect Boeing’s sales
and delivery of products to the government.
- Share price will likely be
unchanged. Intergraph will not be able to get any
compensation from Intel.
Stock Market Field Trip
We will be going to:
Daimler Chrysler
2101
Conner Avenue
Detroit,
MI 48215
(313)
956-7580
We will meet in the conference room
on the first floor with Mr. Kunick.
He will tell us how Daimler Chrysler is doing financially and what
products are doing well. Mr.
Kunick will also tell us why we should invest in Daimler Chrysler stock. After the meeting we will go on a plant
tour of approximately ½ hour.
We will see in this plant how they make Jeep Cherokees. After the plant tour we will meet back
in the conference room and Mr. Kunick will give each student a miniature toy
Jeep Cherokee.
Before the field trip: Students will know about the stock market, how to
read stock quotes and students will already have reviewed off the website
Daimler Chrysler stocks.
After the field trip: Students will be asked if they would or would not
invest in Daimler Chrysler stock, and write a short paper telling why or why
not, based on what they have learned about the economy, companies, and the
stock market.
Controversy:
A
“Broker” Handles Your Money?!?
Grade level: 6 - 8
Time
period: One 45 – 60 class period
Materials: Pencil,
paper
Subjects: Economics,
Language Arts, Critical Thinking
Objective(s): Students
will take positive and negative information and decide whether
it’s better to buy stocks through a broker or do it on their own.
Rationale: Soc St-IV. 1. 3. – Analyze the reliability
of information when making economic
decisions.
Background: Up until
the mid-nineties, people really couldn’t buy and sell on the stock market
without going through a broker.
Then, with the innovation of online trading through web sites such as Ameritrade
and Scottrade, people can now trade on
the stock market on their own for a lot less money, but they have to go without
the services and benefits of going through a broker, so which is better?
Procedure:
Opener: The teacher
asks the class, “What’s another way of saying you have no
money?” Ideally, someone will say the word, “broke.” Then ask, “Does anyone remember
what a broker is?” If they’ve forgotten, explain
that a broker is someone who works at an investment firm and handles
people’s money. Some raised eyebrows and quizzical looks will probably
result.
- Begin
by putting two columns up on the board, one labeled “pros” and the
other “cons” (or go with “good” and “bad”
if they’re not familiar with the other).
- Explain
that one column is for good reasons to go through a broker, and the other is
for good reasons not use a broker.
- Since
the kids will most likely not know about what’s good or bad about using a
broker, the teacher should simply list the reasons one by one, perhaps
alternating back and forth between the two columns to give an even perspective.
It will look something like this:
|
Pros:
-
Brokers have years of
education and experience in making stock trade decisions
-
Brokers act as advisors
to make you the most money on your portfolio
-
A broker may have more
knowledge of which companies are doing well & which are not
|
Cons:
- It costs $25 - $150 per trade with a broker;
it’s only $5 - $10 online
- Brokers sometimes get commission from certain
companies for telling their clients to invest in them.
- YOU have access to the same information: quotes,
stats, everything!
|
- Discuss
the “pros “ and “cons” as you’re writing them up
on the board, and end by identifying what they both have in common –
neither is a sure thing.
- Students
will then be asked to compose a short essay answering this question: Is it
better to buy and sell on the stock market through a broker or do it on my own
online? Why?
Assessment: The
students’ essays will be checked for three things: whether they
definitely chose one side, adequately explained their reasoning,
and whether they understood what was taught.
Final Project: Make Your Own Company
Grade Level: 6-8
Time Period: Five to six 45-60 minutes class periods
Objectives: In this lesson, students will use the
information they learned from previous lessons to create their own company, so
that when asked, students will be able to sell stock to other classes learning
about the stock market in their school.
Rationale:
Short term: Learning how to build a company and
entice potential buyers will help students understand how the American economic
market system works.
Long term: Learning the up’s and
down’s of the stock market will help aide students in the future when
they are ready to invest their money in a stock or in our economy.
Michigan Content Standards
Social Studies
Strand IV – Economic Perspective
Standard IV.1 –
Individual and Household Choices
Standard IV.2 –
Business Choices
Standard IV.3 –
Role of Government
Standard IV.4 – Economic
Systems
Standard IV.5 –
Trade
Strand V – Inquiry
Standard V.1 –
Information Processing
Standard V.2 – Conducting
Investigations
Standard VI.2 – Group
Discussions
Materials:
Value line sheets (without a company name)
Pencils
Newspapers
Magazines
Pencils
Company cards:
- Food,
clothing, something that gives a scent, entertainment and a useful
innovation.
Building material for group’s product
Final project rubric
Anticipatory Set:
Motivation: I will increase enthusiasm by telling students they
will have a chance to make their own company and see how the stock market works
by selling stock for their company.
Restate Objective: I will begin the introduction to this
final project by reviewing what has been learned about the economy and stock
market with students.
Students will then be able to sell stock to other students by creating a
company of common interest from the company card and value line their group
randomly picked.
Procedure:
Day 1 – Monday (Opener):
- Discuss
as a whole class what has been learned over the past couple of weeks.
- Hand
out final project rubric.
- Review
what is expected of each student to complete project.
- Break
students up into groups of 4 to 5.
- Have
each group randomly pick a company card and value line sheet.
- Allow
students to trade company cards, if necessary.
- Allow
groups to brainstorm and discuss ideas.
Day 2 - Tuesday:
- Allow
students to continue to brainstorm using ideas from magazines, newspapers,
etc…
- Have
each group submit at least three ideas they have for their company.
- I
will help groups that did not submit any ideas.
Day 3 - Wednesday:
- Groups
are expected to make a final decision about what company they want to
create.
- Each
group will submit their company’s name, their company’s
product, and a drawing of their company’s product (if feasible).
- Groups
will discuss the supplies they may need to make their company’s
product.
Day 4 - Thursday and Day 5 - Friday:
1.
Groups will begin working on all the criteria listed in the
final project rubric.
2.
Students will be instructed that anything not finished in
class, will have to be completed over the weekend.
Weekend:
Finishing touches are made to the final project.
Day 6 – Monday (Closure):
- Groups
will set up their company presentations.
- Another
class or classes will be brought into the room.
- Groups
will then try to persuade students entering the room to buy stock in their
company by giving a short presentation about their company and the product
their company sells.
- Students
entering the room will be encouraged to buy stock in a company that truly
interests them.
- Tallies
will be made to see which company received the most stock.
- Students
will then make a bar graph to represent the stock that was bought for each
company.
- Students
will be congratulated on a job well done with goodies and refreshments
provided after the presentations.
Assessment: Students will be assessed and evaluated
on their understanding of the stock market by successfully completing the final
project. Grades will be given
according to how well students worked in groups and followed the final project
rubric.
This
information will help you when putting together your group’s
company. Your group is to design a
simple company and a product your company sells. Products should be geared towards people in your own age
group. Your group will then want
to think of as many ways to entice potential buyers (people who will want to
invest in your company) as possible.
Your group will want to use these questions as a guideline to finish
this project:
- Is your company a variation of your group’s
original thought?
- Does your company have a name?
- What does your company sell? (Your product)
- Does your company have a flyer or poster introducing
your company and product?
(Visual Aide)
- Does your company have an appropriate jingle? (Advertising)
- Does your company have a stock symbol?
- Did your group fill in your company’s name and
background information about your company on your value line sheets?
- Does your group have a 3-dimensional product of your
own creation?
- Did your group make a product and company according
to your group’s company card?
- Is your product age appropriate for potential
buyers? (Remember your goal
is to sell stock to other classmates!)
I will be available for questions and comments at all
times. Make sure to follow this
rubric and above all HAVE FUN!
Resources:
Lynch, Peter.
“The Miracle of St. Agnes.” Beating the Street. Simon & Schuster. 1993.
Ameritrade
http://www.ameritrade.com/
CNNfyi.com – Piggy Bank Stocks
http://www.cnn.com/2000/fyi/news/07/05/piggybank.htm
How Stuff Works – Stocks and the Stock Market
http://www.howstuffworks.com/stocks.htm
The Motley Fool
http://www.fool.com
Stocksquest: A Global Stock Market Game
http://stocksquest.thinkquest.org
Value Line Investment Survey
http://www.valueline.com
The Virtual Stock Exchange
http://www.virtualstockexchange.com
Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com
