Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.15a
The Standard
- SS24.US2.15
- Describe how significant domestic events during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter shaped United States economics, politics, and society.
Trace the events that fostered the emergence of the modern environmental movement and prompted government regulations as well as civic action.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students put pollution events, public responses, and federal actions in time order. They explain how reports and visible damage led people to demand action and lawmakers to respond.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how Silent Spring and the Santa Barbara oil spill added to public concern. They can place the first Earth Day, the EPA’s creation, and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts in order and describe what each did.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think environmental concern began with Earth Day, overlooking earlier pollution and Silent Spring. They may confuse the EPA, an agency, with the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, which are laws. Some credit one river fire with creating the EPA.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Show how the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill helped spur public action and federal action. Name one example of each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards for Silent Spring, the Santa Barbara oil spill, Earth Day, and EPA creation; have them order the cards and draw cause arrows.
Read a paragraph from Silent Spring; ask, “Why might this warning persuade someone to join an Earth Day protest?”
Match cards labeled smog, Earth Day march, EPA, and Clean Air Act to problem, civic action, agency, or law.
Read a local drinking water report and identify one contaminant, its legal limit, and the amount measured.
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Related Standards
- SS24.US2.10
Evaluate the influence of events, organizations, and individual actions on the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement nationally.
- SS24.US2.10b
Analyze the extent to which the actions and campaigns of civil rights activists and organizations from 1954 to 1965 prompted federal measures to advance civil a...
- SS24.US2.19a
Trace the evolution of the environmental movement and political debate over climate change from the 1980s to the present, including how environmental and natura...
- SS24.US2.10a
Identify and explain key events from 1945 to 1955 that brought about the emergence of a large-scale movement for civil rights.
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