Date: 1994

Grade Level(s): 9, 10

Subject(s):

• Social Studies/Economics

Objective: To introduce students to the ups and downs of the stock market

Materials:

• newspapers
• Worksheet N (listed below)

Distribute Worksheet N, which asks students to record information about specific stocks and answer questions about each.

Follow-Up: Have each student "buy" a stock and follow its progress for a week or longer. Each day have students chart the stock's movement, up or down. At the end of the week, have students calculate whether they would have earned or lost money if they sold their stocks. How would they have felt if they had used real money to buy the stock? Ask the class to think about why and when people might buy stock. (When they want to invest portions of the money they have saved; when they can afford to do so; when they are in a position to leave sums of money invested for long periods of time; etc.)

Worksheet N

A. Directions: For this assignment, report on the current value of the following stocks from the New York Stock exchange.

Stock	Abbreviation	High	Low	Close	Net Change
Borden	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Chrysler	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Citicorp	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Dart/Kraft	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Delta Airlines	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
General Mills	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Goodyear	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Pan American	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Polaroid	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....
Revlon	.....	.....	.....	.....	.....

B. Directions: Now using the information above, answer the following questions:

1. On the day you recorded the information, what stock was worth the most?

_______________________________________________________________________

What was its closing price?

_______________________________________________________________________

2. What stock was worth the least?

_______________________________________________________________________

What was its high?

_______________________________________________________________________

3. Which stock experienced the greatest gain?

_______________________________________________________________________

How much did it gain?

_______________________________________________________________________

4. What stock experienced the greatest loss and how much did it lose?