About This Lesson
This activity starts student understanding of what banks are, how interest rates are calculated using the simple interest formula, and how loans are made. Students are playing the role of a bank where they are given scenarios of individuals seeking loans. The student bank only has $1,000,000 to loan out, but are given choices of people to whom they can loan totaling more than that amount. The teacher gets to decide which loans are paid and which are not, and the students then calculate how much profit or losses they actually made.