Minecraft
Preparation
Lesson Narrative
Students will analyze the dangers of unregulated financial advice on social media ("FinTok"). They will dissect pump-and-dump schemes, evaluate source credibility, and learn to detect conflicts of interest in financial content. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to construct economic claims based on verifiable data rather than influencer hype.
Learning Goals
• Analyze financial media for bias, motivations, and conflicts of interest.
• Identify the mechanics of a "pump-and-dump" scheme.
• Evaluate the credibility of financial sources.
Student Facing Learning Goals
• Let's figure out how to spot financial scams and fake gurus on social media.
Student Facing Learning Targets
• I can explain how a pump-and-dump scheme works.
• I can spot hidden biases in financial videos.
• I can verify if a financial claim is actually true.
Required Academic Standards
National Jump$tart Standards:
• Financial Responsibility and Decision Making (Standard 1): Take responsibility for personal financial decisions.
Glossary Entries
Pump-and-Dump: An illegal scheme where scammers buy cheap assets, hype them up online to artificially inflate the price, and then sell them for a massive profit before the crash.
Fiduciary: A professional legally obligated to act in your best financial interest, not their own.
Conflict of Interest: A situation where an influencer or advisor gives advice that secretly makes them money at your expense.
Disclosure: A legally required statement revealing any financial compensation an influencer received for a post.
Lesson
Warm Up
3.8.1: The Free Advice
Launch: Have students stand in randomized groups of 3 at vertical whiteboards. Present the prompt verbally or project it. Give them 4 minutes.
Synthesis: Select two groups to share. Establish the core rule of the internet: If the advice is free, YOU are the product.
Student Facing Task
A social media influencer posts a video saying, "This secret crypto coin is going to explode next week! Buy it now!" The video has 5 million views.
1. Why would someone give away a million-dollar secret for free?
2. How does the influencer actually make money off this video?
Activity 1
3.8.2: The Pump and Dump
Launch: Keep students at whiteboards. Project the scam timeline. Give groups 8 minutes to run the analysis.
Synthesis: Have the class observe the boards. (Teacher Key: 1. 1,000,000 shares x $1.00 = $1,000,000. 2. The followers lost 99% of their money). Explain that scammers need "exit liquidity"—they need naive followers to buy at the top so the scammer can cash out.
Student Facing Task
Look at this timeline of a "Pump and Dump" scheme:
• Day 1: Influencer buys 1,000,000 shares of a worthless penny stock for $0.01 each.
• Day 2: Influencer tells 5 million followers it's the next big thing.
• Day 3: Followers rush to buy it, driving the price up to $1.00.
• Day 4: Influencer secretly sells all their shares at $1.00.
• Day 5: With no more hype, the stock crashes back to $0.01.
1. How much cash did the influencer walk away with on Day 4?
2. What happened to the followers' money on Day 5?
Activity 2
3.8.3: Spotting the Fiduciary
Launch: Present the two profiles. Give the whiteboard groups 8 minutes to debate the legalities.
Synthesis: Facilitate a class debate. (Key: The Fiduciary must act in your interest. The TikToker gets paid a commission by the app when you sign up, meaning they want you to trade often, even if you lose money). Differentiate between entertainers and fiduciaries.
Student Facing Task
You need advice on what to do with your savings.
• Profile A: A licensed "Fiduciary" financial advisor who charges you a $100 flat fee.
• Profile B: A TikToker offering a "Free Masterclass" if you use their affiliate link to sign up for a trading app.
1. Legally, which person is required to give you advice that benefits YOU?
2. What is the hidden "Conflict of Interest" for Profile B?
Lesson Synthesis
Lesson Synthesis (5 min)
Narrative: Bring the class back to their seats. Review the student-facing learning targets. Summarize: "Influencers are paid for engagement, not for being correct. Always follow the money—how does the person giving the advice get paid?"
Cool Down
3.8.4: The Disclaimer Check
Narrative: This exit ticket serves as a formative assessment on media literacy and legal loopholes.
Teacher Rubric: A successful response must articulate that the creator is using that phrase as a legal shield to protect themselves from lawsuits. If their followers lose all their money taking the advice, the creator can claim it was "just for entertainment purposes."
Student Facing Task
Why should you immediately be suspicious of a financial video if the creator uses the phrase "This is not financial advice" at the very beginning of the video? What legal loophole are they trying to use?