Janet Westgard, Newberg High School, Newberg, OR

THE STOCK MARKET GAME

Appropriate for grades 9-12.

OVERVIEW:  Tell each student to imagine they have $100,000.00 to
invest in stocks traded in the securities market.  We use the New
York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, the Northwest
Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and metals.  Bonds, mutual funds, options,
futures and others like this do not work as well as there is
little movement within the time frame of the game.

Encourage students to diversify their stock holdings or portfolios
by choosing some stocks from industries that are high risk and
others that are more likely to guarantee a steady on their
investment.  They may also choose favorite consumer products or
choose at random.

A variety of resources may be used to help students make their
choices.  Publications put out by Moody's and by Standard & Poors
are available through many public libraries.  Some brokerage
houses will supply these materials to classes.  I get mine through
the local branch of Edward D. Jones Company.  Each January, one
issue of Forbes magazine is devoted to an analysis of American
industries.  I find the Wall Street Journal a helpful tool for
students in selecting stocks for their portfolios.  A stockbroker
can also be invited to talk to the class.

Once students have chosen stocks to buy, each can prepare their
portfolio and chart the weekly status of the stocks they have
purchased.  Stock quotations in the Sunday Oregonian are a weekly
summary.  At the end of the 10 weeks each student will chart/graph
the progress and determine their profits and losses.

I act as stockbroker for the game.  My office hours are Tuesdays
and Thursdays and I charge 1% of the sale price and 1% of the
purchase price for my fee.  They have to fill out the form using
that day's quotes and then I change their portfolios.

My students are allowed 15 minutes each Monday at the beginning of
class to complete their portfolios and get my initials on them. 
In this way I know they are doing it weekly.  Each student is
responsible for their own portfolio and I only grade them at the
end of the game.  Their grade is dependent upon how many initials
of mine they collected and how well the graphed their stocks.

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this activity is to give students a
working knowlege and vocabualry of the stock market.

OBJECTIVES:  Students will be able to:

 1.  Analyze and compare the performance of different stocks as
     reported in the financial pages of a newspaper.

 2.  Read a daily stock market table.

 3.  Simulate stock market purchases.


ACTIVITIES:  

 Day 1:

     Have all students bring the same Sunday Oregonian to class.
     (The Sunday issue prints the full quotes.)  All students need
     to have the same issue in order to learn how to read the
     quotes and also to purchase their stocks for the game.


     Explain the different columns of the quotations.  Check
     students understanding by giving them a worksheet which has
     different stocks listed and request them to find different
     quotes (i.e. P/E for IBM, Last for Chrysler, 52-wk low for
     AT&T, etc.).

 Day 2:

     Go over the quotes again as a quick review.  Explain to
     students how to purchase stocks using the formulas:
                                   
     $ Last / $20,000.00  = # of shares that can be bought.
        (round figure amount)

     # of shares that can be bought
   X $ Last                        
     New Balance (amount shares actually cost)

     Give students a worksheet asking them to purchase $20,000.00
     worth of different stocks using the last price quoted in
     order to practice using the above formulas.

 Day 3:

     Have students read financial magazines, Wall Street Journal,
     etc. to get ideas on investing and selecting stock.  They
     must have selected five (5) stocks.

 Day 4:

     Pass out portfolios.  Students can invest any sum but they
     must invest five (5) and have not more than $100,000.00 total
     invested in all five.

 Day 5:

     Complete portfolios.  Explain to students they must list and
     refigure balances each Sunday for the next nine weeks.  At
     the end of the game the students will sell the stock at the
     last quoted price, graph the performance of each stock and
     figure profit and/or loss both on each stock and the total
     $100,000.00.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS NEEDED:

Portfolios:

Each portfolio has three blue pages and five yellow pages.  The
blue pages are for listing the stock quotes out of the paper and
the yellow pages are for keeping a running total of each stock
investment.  The students calculate the worth of their individual
stocks each week by using the net change column.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:  During this week we also go through the
chapter in out text on corporations and how corporations obtain
funds.  The stock market game set up is part of that learning
rather than a separate unit.