Purpose

To create and share a collection of inquiry-based, standard-based lessonsintegrating digital historical documents and best instructional practices to promote student achievement. Field testing the developed learning experience is a requirement of the institute in order to publish higher quality lessons into a field testing database.

The collection of lessons for the institute is created through a process of development, field-testing, peer review, and evaluation. Learning experiences are correlated to state standards and are selected to form a collection that represents best instructional practices, breadth of digital historical documents used within the database, and depth of curriculum content from all subject areas.

LESSON OVERVIEW– PREPARATION– PROCEDURE– EVALUATION

LESSON OVERVIEW

Title
Helps other teachers anticipate the content and the learning process involved in the lesson
• Is a concise name
• Includes key words or concepts addressed in the lesson

Title:

Overview
Describes the lesson in a few sentences
• Is brief
• Is accurate

Overview:

Goal
A broad statement of what the lesson will accomplish. Goals are general, abstract and intangible

Goal:

Objectives
Statements that describe desired learner outcomes in precise, measurable and obtainable terms

Objectives:

Investigative Question
Students will be able to answer this question upon completion of this lesson.
The investigative question guides the exploration of a topic on concepts listed in curriculum standards related to the goal of the lesson
  • Moves student toward thinking about the lesson goal
  • Is answered through participation in the lesson
  • Is specifically articulated in the lesson procedures written in language to engage students

Investigative Question:

Time Required
Indicates the time frames that are reasonable for the activities described and distribution of class periods
•Number of class periods
•Number of minutes in each class period

Time Required:

Recommended GradeRange
Offers a suggested grade range for participants (Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)
•Describes a grade range appropriate for the complexity of the lesson

Recommended GradeRange:

Subject / Sub-Subject
Refers to the disciplinary or curriculum area and is often a curriculum strand or focus within a curriculum area (Arts, Foreign Languages, History, Language Arts, Library, Math, PE/Health, Professional Studies, Science, Social Studies, Technology)

Subject / Sub-Subject:

Standards
The specific state and / or national (e.g., McCrel) standards that the lesson is designed to meet.

Example:
State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
16.A.2c. Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources.

Standards:

Topic and Era
Topic:
Advertising
Cities, Towns
Government, Law
Maps
Presidents
Technology, Industry / African American History
Culture, Folklife
Immigration, American Expansion
Native American History
Religion
War, Military / Architecture, Landscape
Environment, Conservation
Literature
Performing Arts, Music
Sports, Recreation
Women’s History
Era:
Settlement, Beginnings to 1763
The American Revolution, 1763-1783
The New Nation, 1783-1815
National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Great Depression / World War II, 1929-1945
Postwar United States, 1945-1968
Contemporary United States, 1968-Present

Topic and Era:

Credits
Designer
First and Last Name
School Name
SchoolCity, State

Credits:

PREPARATION

Materials Used
Analysis tools, handouts, rubrics, PowerPoint slides, etc. needed to conduct the lesson

Materials Used:

Resources Used
Specific texts, online materials and Web sites referenced during the lesson.
  • Resources listed should be referenced in the procedures section of lesson
  • Obeys copyright laws
  • Chicago Style citation for all references and sources used in materials
  • Supports students in using Library items to further learning
Library of Congress items should be in a separate paragraph with the following information for each item, listed in order of use within the procedure section of lesson:
Title
URL
Author / Creator
Date of Creation
Date of Access

Resources Used:

PROCEDURE

Description of Procedure
  • Provide a numbered list of procedures
  • Instruction should be written in clear and concise language about how to implement the lesson using Library of Congress primary sources to answer the investigative question and meet the goal of the lesson.
  • The lesson should include all phases of the inquiry cycle, as described below. Indicate which, if any, of the phases in the inquiry cycle that each procedural step supports.
(Please note that the order in which students undertake various phases of the inquiry cycle is not always linear, and may not follow the order of the list below)
The Inquiry Cycle:
Connect – Students connect new insights to self or previous knowledge; gain background and context; observe; experience
Wonder – Students develop questions and create hypotheses or predictions
Investigate – Find and evaluate information to answer question; test hypotheses; think about information to illuminate new questions and hypotheses
Construct – Construct new understandings connected to previous knowledge; draw conclusions about questions and hypotheses
Express – Apply understandings to a new context, new situation, express new ideas to share learning with others
Reflect – Reflect on own learning; ask new questions

Description of Procedure:

Extensions
Provide extension ideas pertaining to this lesson

Extensions:

EVALUATION

Evaluation
Details about how the teacher will evaluate student learning

Evaluation:

EXAMPLE LESSON

Original Source:

LESSON OVERVIEW– PREPARATION– PROCEDURE– EVALUATION

LESSON OVERVIEW

Title
Helps other teachers anticipate the content and the learning process involved in the lesson
• Is a concise name
• Includes key words or concepts addressed in the lesson

Title: Images of the Dust Bowl

Overview
Describes the lesson in a few sentences
• Is brief
• Is accurate

Overview:

This lesson asks students to examine one aspect of the Great Depression, Dust Bowl refugees, through the use of primary sources collected by the Farm Security Administration (FSA), a new Deal Agency.

Goal
A broad statement of what the lesson will accomplish. Goals are general, abstract and intangible

Goal:

The interaction between humans and their environment can result in crises.

Objectives
Statements that describe desired learner outcomes in precise, measurable and obtainable terms

Objectives:

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Evaluate documents and photographs from the American Memory collections
  • Explain how major events are related to each other in time
  • Recognize point of view in print and visual materials
  • Draw upon primary sources to create a presentation reflective of the Japanese internment experience

Investigative Question
Students will be able to answer this question upon completion of this lesson.
The investigative question guides the exploration of a topic on concepts listed in curriculum standards related to the goal of the lesson
  • Moves student toward thinking about the lesson goal
  • Is answered through participation in the lesson
  • Is specifically articulated in the lesson procedures written in language to engage students

Investigative Question:

How do these primary source images depict the impact of the Dust Bowl on families during the Great Depression?

Time Required
Indicates the time frames that are reasonable for the activities described and distribution of class periods
•Number of class periods
•Number of minutes in each class period

Time Required:

2 days

Recommended GradeRange
Offers a suggested grade range for participants (Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)
•Describes a grade range appropriate for the complexity of the lesson

Recommended GradeRange:

Grades 9-12

Subject / Sub-Subject
Refers to the disciplinary or curriculum area and is often a curriculum strand or focus within a curriculum area (Arts, Foreign Languages, History, Language Arts, Library, Math, PE/Health, Professional Studies, Science, Social Studies, Technology)

Subject / Sub-Subject:

U.S. History

Standards
The specific state and / or national (e.g., McCrel) standards that the lesson is designed to meet.

Example:
State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
16.A.2c. Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources.

IllinoisStateStandards:

STATE GOAL 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.

A. Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.

16.A.4a Analyze and report historical events to determine cause-and-effect relationships. (Middle/Junior High School)

16.A.5a Analyze historical and contemporary developments using methods of historical inquiry (pose questions, collect and analyze data, make and support inferences with evidence, report findings). (Middle/Junior High School)
16.A.5b Explain the tentative nature of historical interpretations.
16.D.5 (US) Analyze the relationship between an issue in United States social history and the related aspects of political, economic and environmental history.
16.E.5a (US) Analyze positive and negative aspects of human effects on the environment in the United States including damming rivers, fencing prairies and building cities.
16.E.5b (US) Analyze the relationship between an issue in United States environmental history and the related aspects of political, economic and social history.
16.E.5a (W) Analyze how technological and scientific developments have affected human productivity, human comfort and the environment.
17.A.4a Use mental maps of physical features to answer complex geographic questions (e.g., how physical features have deterred or enabled migration).
17.A.5 Demonstrate how maps, other geographic instruments and technologies are used to solve spatial problems (e.g., land use, ecological concerns).
17.D.4 Explain how processes of spatial change have affected human history (e.g., resource development and use, natural disasters).

STATE GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.

B. Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.

5.B.3b Identify and evaluate primary sources.

Topic and Era
Topic:
Advertising
Cities, Towns
Government, Law
Maps
Presidents
Technology, Industry / African American History
Culture, Folklife
Immigration, American Expansion
Native American History
Religion
War, Military / Architecture, Landscape
Environment, Conservation
Literature
Performing Arts, Music
Sports, Recreation
Women’s History
Era:
Settlement, Beginnings to 1763
The American Revolution, 1763-1783
The New Nation, 1783-1815
National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Great Depression / World War II, 1929-1945
Postwar United States, 1945-1968
Contemporary United States, 1968-Present

Topic and Era:

Culture / Folk life, War / Military

Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

Credits
Designer
First and Last Name
School Name
SchoolCity, State

Credits:

Tonia Faloon-Sullivan
Springfield, Illinois

PREPARATION

Materials Used
Analysis tools, handouts, rubrics, PowerPoint slides, etc. needed to conduct the lesson

Materials Used:

  • Dustbowl Analysis Sheet

Resources Used
Specific texts, online materials and Web sites referenced during the lesson.
  • Resources listed should be referenced in the procedures section of lesson
  • Obeys copyright laws
  • Chicago Style citation for all references and sources used in materials
  • Supports students in using Library items to further learning
Library of Congress items should be in a separate paragraph with the following information for each item, listed in order of use within the procedure section of lesson:
Title
Collection / Exhibit / Presentation Title
URL
Author / Creator
Date of Creation
Date of Access

Resources Used:

Autos have to turnon lightsto penetrate gloom of dust storm. Amarillo, Texas.

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945, Library of Congress

Rothstein, A,

(1936)

July 2009

Destitute pea pickers in California. Motherof seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California. Lange, D, (1936).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945, Library of Congress

July 2009

Dust bowl farmer raising fence to keep it from being buried under drifting sand. Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Rothstein, A, (1936).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945,

Library of Congress

July 2009

Dust is too much for this farmer'sson in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Rothstein, A, (1936). America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945, Library of Congress

July 2009

Dust storm approaching Lubbock, Texas. Lee, R, (1939).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945,

Library of Congress

July 2009

Dust storm damage. Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Rothestein, A, (1936).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945,

Library of Congress

July 2009

Four families, three of them relatedwith fifteen children, from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria, California. Lange, D, (1937).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945,

Library of Congress

July 2009

Homeof a dust bowl refugeein California. Imperial County. Lange, D, (1937).

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945,

Library of Congress

July 2009

Interview about dust storms in Oklahoma. Robertson, F, (1940). Library of Congress

Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941, Library of Congress

July 2009

Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven children without food. Mother aged thirty-two. Lange, Dorothea, photographer.1936 Feb. or Mar.

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945, Library of Congress

July 2009

Father is a native Californian. Nipomo, California. Lange, D, (1935). Library of Congress

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945

July 2009

Oklahoma dust bowl refugees. San Fernando, California. Lange, D, (1935).

Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Library of Congress

July 2009

Stock watering hole almost completely covered by shifting topsoil. Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Rothstein, A, (1936). Library of Congress

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945

July 2009

PROCEDURE

Description of Procedure
  • Provide a numbered list of procedures
  • Instruction should be written in clear and concise language about how to implement the lesson using Library of Congress primary sources to answer the investigative question and meet the goal of the lesson.
  • The lesson should include all phases of the inquiry cycle, as described below. Indicate which, if any, of the phases in the inquiry cycle that each procedural step supports.
(Please note that the order in which students undertake various phases of the inquiry cycle is not always linear, and may not follow the order of the list below)
The Inquiry Cycle:
Connect – Students connect new insights to self or previous knowledge; gain background and context; observe; experience
Wonder – Students develop questions and create hypotheses or predictions
Investigate – Find and evaluate information to answer question; test hypotheses; think about information to illuminate new questions and hypotheses
Construct – Construct new understandings connected to previous knowledge; draw conclusions about questions and hypotheses
Express – Apply understandings to a new context, new situation, express new ideas to share learning with others
Reflect – Reflect on own learning; ask new questions

Description of Procedure:

Step 1 / Connect / Tell the students they will be investigating one particular aspect of the Great Depression. Clearly state the Understanding Goal, "The interaction between humans and their environment can result in crises."
Step 2 / Connect / Play the interview of Mrs. Flora Robertson, in which she describes a dust storm. As students listen, have them make notes about the way people tried to cope with the storms. Discuss the audio.
Step 3 / Wonder / Discuss the human and environmental causes of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s: over-farming, dry conditions, and strong winds in the Great Plains.
Step 4 / Investigate / Explain that students will be analyzing photographs from three groups. Group A photographs show the direct effects of dust storms. Group B photographs show Americans responding to the dust storm and attempting to adapt. Group C photographs show Americans who left the Great Plains to migrate elsewhere during the Dust Bowl years. Either alone or in pairs, ask students to select one photograph from each group and analyze it using the worksheet provided. Monitor their work, and then discuss each photograph as a class. Captions might be removed initially, and then revealed to students after they have drawn their initial conclusions.
Step 5 / Express / Discuss student responses. Have students answer the Investigative Question, "How do these primary source images depict the impact of the Dust Bowl on families during the Great Depression?"
Step 6 / Reflect / Evaluate student responses informally during class or collect the analysis sheets for formal evaluation.
Extensions
Provide extension ideas pertaining to this lesson

Extensions:

Students can further investigate another set of resources depicting other families during the dustbowl era who were not refugees to explore impact of the depression using another perspective.

Students can compare and contrast the multiple experiences of different families in America during the depression and illustrate this understanding through role playing or create a play.

EVALUATION

Evaluation
Details about how the teacher will evaluate student learning

Evaluation:

Evaluate student responses informally during class as they discuss their answers in relation to the investigative question.

Collect the analysis sheets for formal evaluation

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Teaching with Primary Sources Program,

Conflict & War Institute: The People’s Response,

August 2009