Webquest:
The Great Depression
The Wall Street stock-market
crash of 1929 precipitated the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn in
the history of the
The Task
Your teacher has assigned you a profession. Assume the
role of a person in that profession living in the Great Depression. Use the
resources to explore your economic choices for your family.
- Determine your weekly wage
and yearly income for your profession.
- Determine how long you
would need to work to buy certain items for your family.
- Answer questions about the
choices in your daily life with your profession.
- In your group, discuss
answers and information found through each persons research.
- In your group, write three
paragraphs described in the process section.
- In your group, list
sources and give a brief evaluation of the site.
The Process
Prior to beginning the group
assignments you must complete the following independent activities. After
visiting the sites click the "Back" button on your browser to return
to this page. Print out the workform at the end of the resource section before
you begin your research.
- Use these resources
to explore your economic choices, given your assigned profession: Then
and Now, Survival,
Possessions of the
Middle Class, and Automobiles.
Using your weekly wage, determine how many hours or weeks of work it
would take you to buy the following items:
- an electric
washing machine
- a Ford automobile
- a winter coat
- a 2 lb. bag of
flour
- a pair of
underwear
- a visit to the
doctor
- a movie ticket
- a tube of
toothpaste
- Next, you will
gather information for a short essay of three paragraphs that you will
write in class. Take notes on the assignment sheet for the paragraphs
about daily life for your 'family'. On the back of your assignment sheet,
list that address and title of any sites you use.
1.
Paragraph 1 should include information
about the financial situation of your 'family'.
- What would your
family not be able to afford?
- What items would
your family need to save for in order to purchase them? How long would
you have to save?
- What items are
necessary for your family's survival
2.
Paragraph 2 should include information
about daily life.
- What clothes
would your family wear?
- What kind of
transportation would your family be able to use?
- What kind of
dwelling would your family be able to afford?
- What would you do
if you were ill?
3.
Paragraph 3 should include information
about leisure activities during this period in history.
- What would your
family be able to do for fun-- go to the movies, sports, listen to the
radio, etc.
4.
Give credit to the sites and evaluate the
sites used in the research.
Example:
The Great Depression; A project on the hungry decade of change by class 11M,
Resources
Use the following sites for your
research.
- A Class Project on The
Great Depression
- Great Depression
- Causes and
Effects
- Personal Memories
- Pierre A. Rinfret’s
memories of the Great Depression
- FAQ about the Great
Depression
- The Causes and Cures
- America in the 1930’s
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Riding the rails became an escape for some. Check out their stories at Riding the Rails |
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*Print out a work form to use with this assignment*
Evaluation
You will receive a grade for the summary paragraphs and
site bibliography written by your group. You will receive a grade for the work form
written from your individual research. The individual mark will be 70% and the
group mark will be 30% of your final grade.
Conclusion
There certainly is a lot to learn about the Great
Depression in the
This page written by Denise Brinker and
Last updated December 2004 by Trisha Armstrong
Background provided by Over
the Rainbow
This page was adapted from Bernie Dodge 's WebQuest_Template1.html
by Tom March