During the 1920s, the stock market appeared to be a dream come true for many investors. From 1925 to 1929, the average price of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange more than doubled. People thought that this "bull market" would go on forever.

Then on October 29, 1929, later nicknamed "Black Tuesday," the stock market crashed. On that day, the market fell by $14 billion. By comparison, the entire budget of the U.S. government that year was $3 billion!

For this activity, imagine that you have $10,000 to invest in the stock market. Write down a list of 10 stocks (companies) you might consider investing your imaginary money in.

Then, use a site like Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com

to help you determine which stocks are your favorites.

Pick five of the 10, and write down your rationale for selecting each of the five. Divide your imaginary $10,000 among these stocks. Chose carefully, as you will have to live with your decision for a month.

Each day for four weeks, keep a logbook (or a computer printout from the Yahoo site) noting the price of each stock. You might also want to note the degree of change from the previous day (e.g. + 5/8, - 2, and so on).

At the end of each week, discuss your gains and losses with other classmates.

At the end of the month, see which students gained and lost the most imaginary money on the stock market. What surprises did you find? What did this experience teach you about the stock market?

Other useful stock market sites to consider:

The Good News Bears Stock Market Project
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/RSE/RSEyellow/gnb.html