Lesson kit
2008 financial crisis worksheet, answer key and lesson plan
Grades 9 to 12 · one 30-minute period · Economics, Personal finance, US History: the 2000s
Try the game first (7 minutes)1. Share the game with your class
Students open the game page only. The answer key is not on it.
2. Print
One student sheet each. The answer key prints on its own.
New games and kits come out through the year. Get them by email
2008 financial crisis: lesson plan (30 minutes)
Students will be able to
- Describe what happened to US stocks between the October 2007 record and the March 2009 low.
- Explain why trouble with US home loans spread to banks and to the whole stock market.
- Explain why nobody living through the crisis could know where the bottom was, even after the rescues.
Lesson steps
- 5 minutes. Hook: ask the class what they would expect to happen to stock prices after Congress passes a $700 billion bank rescue. Write the answers on the board.
- 10 minutes. Play: each student plays one run on their own device and fills in the "during play" part of the worksheet.
- 5 minutes. Replay: students play again and choose differently at one moment of their choice.
- 10 minutes. Debrief: compare the two runs, go back to the board, and use the discussion questions. Collect the exit ticket.
Discussion questions
- In August 2007 a French bank froze funds it could no longer value, yet two months later the S&P 500 closed at a record. Why might the stock market shrug off warning signs for a while?
- Bear Stearns was sold with help from the Fed in March 2008, but nobody stepped in to save Lehman Brothers in September. Officials later said they lacked the legal power to save Lehman; critics say they chose not to. The next day the government rescued the insurer AIG. What problems can come from deciding rescues one company at a time?
- Congress passed a $700 billion rescue in early October 2008, and the S&P 500 fell 18% the next week. Why might a rescue fail to calm people right away?
- On October 13, 2008 stocks jumped 11.6% in one day, yet the lowest close was still five months away. What does that say about judging a crash by one day’s move?
- Stocks began rising in March 2009 while unemployment kept climbing. Why can the stock market and the jobs news move in different directions?
Exit ticket
Name one thing people in October 2008 could not have known, and one choice in your run you would explain differently now.
Teaching with Market Rewind? Open the answer keys and get new kits by email
Free, for teachers. Tell us where you teach and every answer key opens. One email when a new game and kit is ready. Students never need an account.
Creates a free account (16+)
2008 financial crisis: student worksheet
Play at stockcram.com/tools/stock-market-game/2008-financial-crisis. You get pretend money and only the news people had each day. When the game stops at one of the moments below, answer before you continue.
- S&P 500:
- an index that tracks the share prices of 500 large US companies.
- Bond:
- a loan to a government or company that it pays back, with interest, by a set date.
- Dividend:
- a share of a company’s profit paid in cash to the people who own its shares.
- Mortgage-backed bond:
- a bond paid from the monthly payments on many home loans bundled together.
- Investment bank:
- a bank that helps companies raise money and trades for itself and its clients, like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.
- Bankruptcy:
- a court process for a company that cannot pay what it owes.
- Federal Reserve (the Fed):
- the US central bank. It sets a key interest rate and can lend to banks in a crisis.
While you play
- At “A French bank freezes funds it can no longer value”What did you choose? How worried did this news make you?
- At “Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy”What did you choose, and what did you expect to happen next?
- At “Stocks fall 18% in a week, despite the rescue”The rescue became law a week ago. Why do you think stocks kept falling?
- At “Stocks close at their lowest since 1997”How far below the October 2007 record is the market now? Is this the bottom?
- At “Stocks are up 36% from their March 9 close”Write down your balance. Did the rise from the March low feel like the end of the crisis?
- At the end screenWhat was your final balance? What would it have been if you had changed nothing? The end screen shows both.
After you play
- Many of the biggest falls and lowest closes came after the government’s rescues. Give two examples from the game.
- How did trouble with US home loans reach banks in other countries?
- From the October 2007 record to the March 2009 low, how far did the S&P 500 fall, and how long did that take?
- How long did it take the S&P 500 to close above its October 2007 record again?
- Exit ticketName one thing people in October 2008 could not have known, and one choice in your run you would explain differently now.
StockCram Market Rewind, stockcram.com/tools/stock-market-game/2008-financial-crisis. Educational simulation with pretend money, not investment advice. CC BY-NC 4.0: free to copy and share with credit, not for sale. More free lesson kits: stockcram.com/tools/stock-market-game/for-teachers
2008 financial crisis: teacher answer key
ShowHide
Figures are the closing levels of the S&P 500 that the game uses, prices only. Questions about a student's own choices have no single right answer; the notes say what really happened next.
Answer keys are for teachers. Sign in and tell us where you teach, and the key opens right away. Free.
Creates a free account (16+)
StockCram Market Rewind, stockcram.com/tools/stock-market-game/2008-financial-crisis. Historical data is shown for teaching; past performance does not indicate future results. CC BY-NC 4.0. More free lesson kits: stockcram.com/tools/stock-market-game/for-teachers
Privacy for schoolsAll lesson kits
The lesson plan and worksheet are CC BY-NC 4.0: free to copy and share with credit to StockCram (stockcram.com), not for sale. Used it in class? Tell us how it went. Educational only: the game uses pretend money and is not investment advice.