GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

TOPIC / SUBJECT MATTER: Economics, Finance, History

TIME ALLOTMENT: 2-3 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:
Using video segments from the PBS series THE ASCENT OF MONEY, this lesson teaches high school students about the role of banks both in history and the present day. Students will learn about key financial concepts that contributed to the evolution of banks. Those concepts will then be applied to modern banks and the services they provide. As a culminating activity, students will be introduced to the concept of creditworthiness.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Define the terms “credit” and “interest”
• Explain the evolution of money lending to banking
• Detail the role of modern banks and the services they provide
• Analyze criteria banks use to determine creditworthiness
• Understand the roots of the modern banking system
• Recognize how personal choices and decisions affect one’s creditworthiness

STANDARDS

National Standards for Economics
Standard 4: Role of Incentives

• People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.

Standard 5: Gain from Trade

• Voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain. This is true for trade among individuals or organizations within a nation, and among individuals or organizations in different nations.

Standard 10: Role of Economic Institutions

• Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy.

Standard 11: Role of Money

• Money makes it easier to trade, borrow, save, invest, and compare the value of goods and services.

Standard 12: Role of Interest Rates

• Interest rates, adjusted for inflation, rise and fall to balance the amount saved with the amount borrowed, which affects the allocation of scarce resources between present and future uses.

MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEO

Clip 1:

Establishing Credit, Earning Interest

Clip 2:

Borrowing Time

Clip 3:

First Bank of the Medici

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

WEBSITES
CitiFinancial: Resource Center: All About Credit
http://www.citifinancial.com/resourcecenter/allaboutcredit_lender.php
This Web site from Citibank details criteria for granting a loan or issuing a credit card.

What’s Up in Finance? It Costs What?! Credit Card Primer
http://www.thirteen.org/finance/games/itcostswhat_creditcard.html
In this learning interactive from THIRTEEN, users learn about the basics of using credit cards.

What’s Up In Finance? It Costs What?! Case Files
http://www.thirteen.org/finance/games/itcostswhat_casefiles.html
In this learning interactive from THIRTEEN, users read about and understand different ways of dealing with credit card debt.

MATERIALS

For each student:
• Creditworthiness Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)
• Weekend Trip Invitation (PDF) (RTF).

For each pair/group of students:
• Chart paper and markers
• Computer with access to internet

For the class:
• Creditworthiness Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• Bank Services Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• Computer with access to internet
• Projector and screen

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Make copies of the Student Organizers.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Lesson plans for THE ASCENT OF MONEY were created by the LAB@Thirteen, Thirteen’s Community and Educational Outreach Department.

GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

TOPIC / SUBJECT MATTER: Economics, World History, Personal Finance

TIME ALLOTMENT: Three to four 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:
In this media-enhanced lesson utilizing clips from the PBS series THE ASCENT OF MONEY, students will be introduced to the concept of insurance and the role it has played in determining the world’s political and economic landscape since its inception in the 18th century. An Introductory Activity will explore students’ own attitudes toward insurance, asking whether they regard it as a right or a privilege.

The Learning Activities will begin by explaining the origins of the modern insurance fund, with an online activity to help students understand the law of averages upon which insurance is founded. The expansion of insurance from a privately purchased (and often unaffordable) privilege to a state-sponsored right is explored through the narrative of modern Japan, whose militaristically motivated pre-World War II policies of universal health care helped lay the foundations for the postwar “welfare state”—a socialistic model that came to be widely adopted throughout much of the industrialized world. Finally, the history of modern Chile is used to illustrate how some of the inherent shortcomings of the welfare state came to be addressed—for better or worse—by a return to a system of privatized, capitalistic insurance which has come to define much of modern economic conservatism.

A Culminating Activity asks students to compare and contrast the insurance systems of several different nations based upon what they’ve learned throughout the lesson about the relative pros and cons of varying approaches.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Explain how the first modern insurance fund was created
• Define Bernoulli’s Law of Averages
• Describe the origins and foundations of the modern welfare state
• Describe the shortcomings of the welfare state and how they have been addressed by Milton Friedman and other conservative economists
• Compare and contrast the insurance systems of several modern nations

MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEO

Clip 1:

Who Bears The Risk?

Clip 2:

The Birth of Insurance

Clip 3:

From the Cradle to the Grave

Clip 4:

Trickle Down Economics

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

WEBSITES
Ken White’s Coin Flipping Page
http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/flip/
A simple site demonstrating Bernoulli’s Law of Averages through a coin-toss simulator.

The Uninsured in America: The U.S. vs. Other Nations
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/health/uninsured/international.html
A PBS “Online Newshour” site featuring a comparative breakdown of health insurance systems in six different countries.

STANDARDS

National Standards for Economics
Standard 4: Role of Incentives

• People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.

Standard 10: Role of Economic Institutions

• Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy.

Standard 15: Growth

• Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and in the health, education, and training of people can raise future standards of living.

Standard 16: Role of Government

• There is an economic role for government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs. Governments often provide for national defense, address environmental concerns, define and protect property rights, and attempt to make markets more competitive. Most government policies also redistribute income.

Standard 17: Using Cost/Benefit Analysis to Evaluate Government Programs

• Costs of government policies sometimes exceed benefits. This may occur because of incentives facing voters, government officials, and government employees, because of actions by special interest groups that can impose costs on the general public, or because social goals other than economic efficiency are being pursued.

Standard 19: Unemployment and Inflation

• Unemployment imposes costs on individuals and nations. Unexpected inflation imposes costs on many people and benefits some others because it arbitrarily redistributes purchasing power. Inflation can reduce the rate of growth of national living standards because individuals and organizations use resources to protect themselves against the uncertainty of future prices.

Standard 20: Monetary and Fiscal Policy

• Federal government budgetary policy and the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policy influence the overall levels of employment, output, and prices

National Standards for History
World 5-12 Standards

Era 7 – An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914

Standard 5D
The student understands transformations in South, Southeast, and East Asia in the era of the “new imperialism.” Therefore, the student is able to:

• Analyze Japan’s rapid industrialization, technological advancement, and national integration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Standard 6A
The student understands major global trends from 1750 to 1914. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Assess the importance of ideas associated with nationalism, republicanism, liberalism, and constitutionalism on 19th-century political life in such states as Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, the Ottoman Empire, China, and Japan.

Era 8 – A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945

Standard 1A
The student understands the world industrial economy emerging in the early 20th century. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Explain leading ideas of liberalism, social reformism, conservatism, and socialism as competing ideologies in the early 20th-century world.

Standard 2B
The student understands the global scope, outcome, and human costs of the war. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Analyze the role of nationalism and propaganda in mobilizing civilian populations in support of “total war”
• Assess the short-term demographic, social, economic, and environmental consequences of the war’s unprecedented violence and destruction

Era 9 – The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes

Standard 1A
The student understands major political and economic changes that accompanied post-war recovery. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Explain how the Western European countries and Japan achieved rapid economic recovery after World War II.
• Analyze connections between the political stabilization of Western European societies and the Marshall Plan, the European Economic Community, government planning, and the growth of welfare states.

Standard 2B
The student understands how increasing economic interdependence has transformed human society. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Compare systems of economic management in communist and capitalist countries and analyze the global economic impact of multinational corporations.

Standard 3A
The student understands major global trends since World War II. Therefore, the student is able to:

• Analyze causes of economic imbalances and social inequalities among the world’s peoples and assess efforts made to close these gaps.

MATERIALS

For each student:
• Computer with internet access and audiovisual projection system
• Blackboard or whiteboard
• “Who Should Pay?” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Make copies of the “Who Should Pay?” Student Organizer.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Lesson plans for THE ASCENT OF MONEY were created by the LAB@Thirteen, Thirteen’s Community and Educational Outreach Department.

GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

TOPIC / SUBJECT MATTER: Economics, World History

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:
In this media-enhanced lesson utilizing clips from the PBS series THE ASCENT OF MONEY, students will be introduced to the concepts of companies, the ownership shares offered by some companies to increase capital and distribute profits and risks, and the stock markets in which such shares are publicly traded as investments.

In an Introductory Activity, students will identify and describe the familiar companies which constitute today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average—the world’s primary index of stock performance. In the Learning Activities, students will explore the origins of companies and stock markets in 17th century Holland, learn about basic dynamics of “bull” and “bear” markets, and test their own investment savvy in an interactive stock market simulation. As a Culminating Activity, students will be asked to research the history and performance of one of the Dow Jones Industrial Average companies they identified in the Introductory Activity.

Ideally, this lesson will be integrated into a unit on basic economics covering the concepts of companies, stocks, stock markets, and the laws of supply and demand.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:
• Define and describe the thirty companies whose collective performance constitutes the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
• Explain the reasons behind the emergence of the world’s first publicly traded company and stock market.
• Describe the process by which overvalued markets can “crash” and cite examples from recent history.
• Define key terminology related to companies, stocks, and stock markets.

MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEO

Clip 1:

Birth of the Stock Market

Clip 2:

Shock Markets

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

WEBSITES
Play the Market
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stockmarket/virtual.html
A PBS-produced interactive simulation of stock investing.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Timeline
http://www.stockcharts.com/charts/historical/images2/DJIA1900.gif
A chart of Dow Jones Industrial Average’s performance throughout the 20th century.

STANDARDS

National Standards for Economics
Standard 7: Markets – Price and Quantity Determination

• Markets exist when buyers and sellers interact. This interaction determines market prices and thereby allocates scarce goods and services.

Standard 8: Role of Price in Market System

• Prices send signals and provide incentives to buyers and sellers. When supply or demand changes, market prices adjust, affecting incentives.

Standard 14: Profit and the Entrepreneur

• Entrepreneurs are people who take the risks of organizing productive resources to make goods and services. Profit is an important incentive that leads entrepreneurs to accept the risks of business failure.

National Standards for History
World 5-12 Standards

Era 6 – The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770

Standard 1
How the transoceanic interlinking of all major regions of the world from 1450 to 1600 led to global transformations.

Standard 2
How European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication, 1450-1750.

MATERIALS

For the class:
• Computer with internet access and audiovisual projection system
• “Taking Stock” Student Organizer Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)

For each group:
• Computer with internet access

For each student:
• “Taking Stock” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Lesson plans for THE ASCENT OF MONEY were created by the LAB@Thirteen, Thirteen’s Community and Educational Outreach Department.

GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

TOPIC / SUBJECT MATTER: Economics, Business, Entrepreneurship, World History

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW:
In this lesson, students will be introduced to the practice and industry of microfinance, learning how the provision of unsecured loans to low-income, small-scale entrepreneurs in the developing world has improved the business prospects and quality of life for many desperately poor people around the world. In the Introductory Activity, students will define key terms relating to entrepreneurship and business lending, and will explore “case studies” of hypothetical entrepreneurs in the developing world, brainstorming how these small business owners could potentially expand their businesses if they were to have access to monetary loans.

In the Learning Activity, students will view segments from the PBS series The Ascent of Money to compare two economic models for the global alleviation of poverty, one based on property ownership and the other – microfinance – based on unsecured lending. The students will be introduced to the concept of microfinance and will explore how the model of creditworthiness used in microfinance differs from the traditional “bank” model.

Lastly, the students will view profiles of real microloan applicants on the kiva.org website, preparing reports to present the stories and businesses of real-life entrepreneurs to their classmates.

This lesson is intended as a stand-alone resource, but also follows nicely upon the “You Can Take That to the Bank!” lesson on the Ascent of Money website.

MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEO

Clip 1:

Is property the route to wealth?

Clip 2:

Microfinance

Access the streaming and downloadable video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.

WEBSITES
CitiFinancial: Resource Center: All About Credit
http://www.citifinancial.com/resourcecenter/allaboutcredit_lender.php
This Web site from Citibank details criteria for granting a loan or issuing a credit card.

FRONTLINE/World – Uganda: A Little goes a Long Way
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/uganda601/video_index.html
A 15-minute video produced in 2006 for the PBS series “FRONTLINE/World” showcases the small business entrepreneurs in Uganda who were helped by the microfinance lending organization Kiva.org in its first year of business.

Kiva.org
www.kiva.org
Kiva.org is a person-to-person microlending web site started in 2005 by a young American couple, Matt and Jessica Flannery. The site enables individual lenders all over the world to provide localized microfinance institutions with the capital for loans to needy entrepreneurs, and allows the lenders and loan recipients to have ongoing contact through email and the internet.

STANDARDS

National Standards for Economics
Standard 10: Role of Economic Institutions

• Institutions evolve in market economies to help individuals and groups accomplish their goals. Banks, labor unions, corporations, legal systems, and not-for-profit organizations are examples of important institutions. A different kind of institution, clearly defined and enforced property rights, is essential to a market economy.

Standard 14: Profit and the Entrepreneur

• Entrepreneurs are people who take the risks of organizing productive resources to make goods and services. Profit is an important incentive that leads entrepreneurs to accept the risks of business failure.

Standard 15: Growth

• Investment in factories, machinery, new technology, and in the health, education, and training of people can raise future standards of living.

McRel Compendium of K-12 Standards
Business Education
Standard 15: Knows unique characteristics of an entrepreneur
Level IV [Grade 9-12]

• Benchmark 2.Knows that entrepreneurship relates to the capacity to take responsibility for one’s own future, to initiate creative ideas, develop them, and to carry them through into action in a determined manner.

Standard 20: Understands the financing necessary to start a business
Level IV [Grade 9-12]

• Benchmark 1.Knows factors that affect the amount of money needed to start a business (e.g., nature, size, and location of the business; current economic conditions; credit policies)

• Benchmark 5.Knows the financial statements a lender would evaluate when considering whether to grant a loan to an entrepreneur (e.g., projected income statement, cashflow statement, balance sheet)

National Standards for History
World 5-12 Standards
Era 9 – The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes
STANDARD 3: Major global trends since World War II.
Standard 3A: The student understands major global trends since World War II.

Therefore, the student is able to:
• Analyze causes of economic imbalances and social inequalities among the world’s peoples and assess efforts made to close these gaps.

MATERIALS

For each student:
• “Terms and Definitions” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)
• A description of an entrepreneur, cut from the Entrepreneur Descriptions sheet (PDF) (RTF). See the “Prep for Teachers” section, below, for instructions.
• “Profiles of Microloan Applicants” Student Organizer (PDF) (RTF)

For the class:
• Terms and Definitions Answer Key (PDF) (RTF)
• A computer connected to an audiovisual projection system, for viewing video segments

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:
• Define key terms related to entrepreneurship, lending, and microfinance;
• Understand that poverty is a wide-reaching global problem, and describe two economic models designed to ameliorate it;
• Name the criteria used by banks to evaluate the creditworthiness of a potential loan grantee;
• Describe the difference between a “traditional” bank loan and a loan given by a microfinance institution;
• Understand that poverty in and of itself is not opposed to creditworthiness;
• Give examples of entrepreneurs in developing countries who might benefit from a microfinance loan;
• Discuss the ideas and actions of the American entrepreneurs Jessica and Matt Flannery, who founded kiva.org and expanded it into a successful social enterprise.

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and Web sites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer, or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal) will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.

Prepare the “Entrepreneur Descriptions” for the class – cut out the individual descriptions along the lines so each applicant is on a separate strip of paper. Make sure there are enough strips for each student (or pair of students) to get one (multiples of each applicant are ok).

If you prefer, print out the “All About Credit” page from the CitiFinancial: Resource Center: All About Credit website for student reference in the Introductory Activity (otherwise students may visit this site online).

Make copies of the Student Organizers.

Next: Proceed to Activities

Lesson plans for THE ASCENT OF MONEY were created by the LAB@Thirteen, Thirteen’s Community and Educational Outreach Department.