Alabama Social Studies SS24.AS.22
The Standard
Analyze the influence of federal spending on the growth of Alabama’s economy from the New Deal to the present.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Trace federal spending in Alabama from New Deal TVA projects to defense and space work today. Explain how that spending brought jobs, electricity, and business to particular places.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can place TVA projects, Redstone Arsenal, and Marshall Space Flight Center in order. They can explain a local economic effect of each and why some places benefited more than others.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think TVA was a private company or that Huntsville grew only because of state spending. They may assume every federal dollar creates a local job.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: How did TVA spending in the 1930s and defense spending at Redstone Arsenal affect Alabama's economy? Name one job or business effect of each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
On an Alabama map, place cards for TVA dams, Redstone Arsenal, and Marshall Space Flight Center; add one job or business effect per site.
Ask, 'How might Huntsville change if NASA contracts shrank?' Have students cite two details from a Marshall Space Flight Center fact sheet.
Play a matching game with TVA, NASA, and defense spending cards and effect cards showing electricity, construction jobs, and supplier purchases.
Search USAspending.gov for a recent federal contract in Alabama, then identify the work funded and one possible local job effect.
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Printable SS24.AS.22 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.AS.21b
Evaluate the extent to which agriculture and natural resources remain a significant component of Alabama’s modern economy.
- SS24.US2.5a
Describe the effects of New Deal programs on Alabama, outlining the problems they sought to address.
- SS24.5.16
Research and report on Alabama’s economic contributions and participation in global markets from the mid-twentieth through twenty-first centuries.
- SS24.4.12
Explain how the growth of the United States from 1812 to 1860 changed economic and social life in Alabama.
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