The lesson would work best for the middle school level as most of the readings and straight forward and easy to understand. It also offers students a way to explore the Great Depression and imagine what it might have been like if they lived during that time period. I plan to add some further resources and modify the assessment at a later date to create a better webquest. The American library of Congress also offers some great resources with depression era material.
Introduction
The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in modern history, lasting from 1929 until the beginning of World War II in 1939.The causes of the Great Depression included slowing consumer demand, mounting consumer debt, decreased industrial production and the rapid and reckless expansion of the U.S. stock market.
Task
You will look into the Great Depression in order to understand its impacts on society as a whole within the United States. Utilize the link located in "Process" to conduct your research and complete the worksheet.
- Follow the link and take notes in order to answer the questions on the worksheet.
- What are the causes of the Great Depression
- How did the Great Depression impact the whole society (Men, Women, Black, White) of the United States?
- What was the New Deal and How did it help to repair the economy of the United States?
You will use your answers to these questions and complete a 3 paragraph essay covering the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the lead up to WWI
When you have completed your essay utilize the remainder of the time to play this Dust Bowl Game, this will help to personalize the hardships that were experienced.
Process
You will first answer the questions for each of the activities listed below. Then you will take the answer to your questions and turn into a short essay. Print out the WebQuest worksheet before beginning this assignment.
- Use these resources to answer the questions on the worksheet about the Great Depression: https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history#great-depression-ends-and-world-war-ii-begins,
To better help to understand the importance of FDR's decisions you will follow this link, https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-gold-standard-contribute-to-the-great-depression, and give a short summary of the information
Thirdly, you will watch the video embedded in the history.com article titled: The New Deal: A Road to Recovery, and follow the link for the WPA, https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/works-progress-administration
Finally, you will take the information you learned and write a 3 paragraph essay.
- In the first paragraph you should explain the economic conditions and causes of The Great Depression.
- The second paragraph should consist of FDR's New Deal and the impact it had on society as a whole.
- The third paragraph should consist of what the WPA provided to Americans and what kinds of jobs that people obtained through the WPA.
Evaluation
| Webquest worksheet | The worksheet is filled our correctly and has plenty of information. | The worksheet is filled out but may be missing important information. | The worksheet is not complete and is missing information. | The worksheet is barely complete or not complete at all. | 10 |
| Historical Accuracy of Essay | The essay is historically accurate and is full of exciting and interesting facts. | The essay is historically accurate and has some exciting and interesting facts. | The essay may not be historically accurate and has only a few exciting and interesting facts. | The essay is historically accurate and has no exciting and interesting facts. | 10 |
| Quality of Writing | Essay is grammatically correct with no errors. | Essay is grammatically correct with very few errors. | Essay is grammatically incorrect with many errors. | Essay is grammatically incorrect to the point where it is difficult to read. | 10 |
| Following Directions | Follows directions flawlessly and does not need to be kept "on-task". | Follows directions flawlessly but sometimes gets "off-task". | Follows directions but often gets off-task | Does not follow directions well and is often gets off-task. | 10 |
Conclusion
The Great Depression was a difficult time for many Americans who could no longer provide for their families and were forced to rely on government handouts. You have learned about first hand accounts of people suffering from the Great Depression and you have learned what it would have been like to be a laborer during the Great Depression. The Depression hit America hard and changed the image of the nation.