This is a complete lesson plan about the functions, problems, and regulations of the banking system. It also explores the money multiplier and how banks create money by loaning out their excess reserves. (This lesson is part of a larger unit on The Financial Sector.)

THIS DOWNLOAD INCLUDES:

1) Warm Up Activity -- students are given roles to simulate how banks create money.

2) PowerPoint Presentation -- contains the lecture and is a guide for all activities.

3) Note Sheet -- students fill out a note sheet during the lecture.

4) Class Activity -- students calculate data using the formulas for the money multiplier.

5) Quiz -- Assesses student understanding of the included learning targets.

6) Homework -- analyze the characteristics of two historical bank runs.

7) Teacher Materials -- includes a detailed lesson plan, answer keys, and a "Read Me" document explaining how to use the materials included.

TOPICS FOR THE LECTURE:

1) The role of banks

2) Bank runs

3) Bank regulation

4) How banks create money

5) How to calculate data using the money multiplier

6) The money supply and the monetary base

If you would like to see one of my PowerPoint slideshows to get a feel for my style, check out my free download here. To allow for Differentiated Instruction, I have included three different versions of the note sheet, class activity, quiz, and homework. Also, all of the items in the download come with an answer key.

This lesson is the fourth day of a seven-day unit on The Financial Sector that was designed using national standards from the Council for Economic Education. It should take about 90 minutes, which is perfect for the block schedule, but it can also be easily split in half for classes that run closer to 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Banking System - Lesson Plan and Activities by Nick Samsal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.