Classroom Resource

The Dust Bowl Primary Sources

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

6, 11

Overview

In this lesson, students investigate a series of primary documents to address the question: What caused the Dust Bowl? The teacher will use a PowerPoint to establish background information and to introduce the Central Historical Question. Then, students will read and analyze five other primary documents about the Dust Bowl to answer the essential question. 

The website includes lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, primary source documents, and student graphic organizers. Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials. 

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 6

SS10.6.5

Explain causes and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the United States.

Unpacked Content

UP:SS10.6.5

Vocabulary

  • depression
  • economic failure
  • Hoovervilles
  • migration
  • Dust Bowl
  • New Deal
  • Tennessee Valley Authority
  • river systems

Knowledge

Students know:
  • What caused the Great Depression and the effect it had on the people of the United States.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Examine cause and effect to see relationships between people, places, ideas, and events.
  • Use map skills to locate places of historical significance.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were many causes and effects of the Great Depression on the people of the U.S.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 11 - United States History II

SS10.US2.6

Describe social and economic conditions from the 1920s through the Great Depression regarding factors leading to a deepening crisis, including the collapse of the farming economy and the stock market crash of 192[A.1.a., A.1.b., A.1.d., A.1.f., A.1.i., A.1.j., A.1.k.]

Unpacked Content

UP:SS10.US2.6

Vocabulary

  • assess
  • identify
  • analyze
  • Great Depression
  • stock market crash
  • overproduction
  • speculation
  • Smoot-Haley Tariff Act
  • John Steinbeck
  • William Faulkner
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Bonus Army
  • Hoovervilles
  • Dust Bowl
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Jim Crow
  • Japanese Internment
  • Southern Tenant Farmers' Union

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The social, political, and economic conditions from the 1920s through the Great Depression.
  • Social and political factors and policies that were influenced by and that contributed to the deepening crisis during the Great Depression.
  • Economic factors and policies that contributed to the beginning of the Great Depression and the deepening crisis as the Great Depression continued in the United States and globally, including the effects of overproduction, stock market speculation, restrictive monetary policies, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
  • The ways authors' works during the Great Depression were influenced by and influenced the social, political, and economic realities of the time.
  • The impact of the Great Depression on class, region, race, and gender relations during the time period of the 1920s to the 1940s.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Analyze the social, political, and economic conditions of a specific historical period.
  • Determine and evaluate the factors that contributed to a specific historical period.
  • Evaluate works of art and literature from a specific time period in order to determine their impact.
  • Determine central ideas of primary and secondary sources.
  • Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were various political, social and economic conditions that contributed to the Great Depression.
Link to Resource
https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/dust-bowl

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

Stanford History Education Group
Accessibility

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.stanford.edu/site/terms/

Approved Date

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