Social Studies 11: History of/through Music & Film
Decades Project Outline
You will organize yourselves into 5 groups. Each group will take responsibility for one of the five decades listed below.
The purpose of the assignment is for you to examine and experience what it was like to be a North American during the decade assigned, and in particular, how the music and film of the decade affected and reflected the era. Each group will teach us about their decade.
The following information must be presented in every presentation:
Necessary info:-Top/influential films & TV shows of the decade
-Top songs, artists, and musical styles of the decade, as well as popular instruments used
-“correct” behavior of the decade
-fashion and styles of the decade
-slang and fads of the decade
We, the audience, must get a sense of what life was like in North America by what you present. You are in charge of explaining the major historical events of the decade, as well as the influence of music and film on society.
The presentation will take one class per decade.
How you present the information is limited only by your imagination. Every member of the group must be responsible for equal contribution to the overall presentation.
There is no flexibility built into this project as far as presentation day. You MUST be ready on the day assigned.
Objectives: In-depth research of an era
Designing an immersion experience that incorporates that research
Developing an understanding of the culture of the time
Learning about the significant historic events of that era
Monitoring for understanding as you teach. Self-evaluation
In your presentation, you must include necessary info above, plus:
The Fifties
-The suburbs: appearance and values, the age of the automobile, TV
-consumer society
-Korean War
-Brown vs. Board of Education
-opening of Disneyland and McDonald’s
-Rosa Parks and bus boycott
-Elvis – Ed Sullivan show
-Sputnik – Start of the Space Race
-Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution
The Sixties
-Civil Rights Movement
-First televised debate: JFK vs. Nixon
-building of the Berlin Wall
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-Assassination of JFK
-Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
-U.S. troops sent to Vietnam war
-First moon landing
-Woodstock
The Seventies
-the Vietnam war
-Watergate scandal
-Kent State protest
-beginning of the VCR
-Munich Olympic Games
-Roe vs. Wade
-Microsoft and Apple computer companies were founded
-Jonestown Massacre
The Eighties
-birth of CNN
-marriage of Princess Di and Prince Charles
-birth of MTV (Music Television)
-“We Are the World” song to raise money to feed Africa’s hungry population
-Space Shuttle Challenger explosion
-Chernobyl
-Stock Market Crash of ‘87
-Oprah Winfrey debuts
-Berlin Wall comes down
-Tiananmen Square
-Invention of the World Wide Web
-the AIDS epidemic
The Nineties
-Reunification of Germany
-The first Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)
-Soviet Union collapses, ending the Cold War
-L.A. Riots-Rodney King riots
-Waco, Texas – Branch Davidian
-O.J. Simpson trial
-Oklahoma City bombing
-first Harry Potter book released
-Princess Diana dies
-president Clinton impeached but not convicted
-Y2K bug worries the world
-Columbine High School shooting