Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.15c
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.
Identify the reasons for the economic fluctuations of the 1970s and evaluate the effectiveness of government action on the problem of stagflation.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how oil shocks, slower productivity growth, and loose monetary policy contributed to rising prices and weak job growth. They use inflation and unemployment data to judge price controls and later interest rate hikes.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can trace how an oil price jump raises factory costs and can lead to higher prices and layoffs. They can explain why price controls held prices down only briefly, while high interest rates reduced inflation but worsened the early 1980s recession.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think inflation and unemployment cannot rise together. Some blame oil alone or assume price controls fixed inflation for good. Others think higher interest rates lower inflation without costing jobs.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Explain how the 1973 oil shock could raise both prices and unemployment. Name one government response and give one benefit and one drawback.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs an oil-price increase card and a factory budget sheet; have them recalculate costs and choose whether to raise prices or cut jobs.
Using an inflation and unemployment graph from 1971 to 1983, write three sentences comparing price controls and interest rate hikes.
Give pairs cards for oil shocks, production costs, price controls, rate hikes, and recession; have them build and explain two cause-and-effect chains.
Give students a grocery receipt and a mock delivery notice announcing doubled fuel costs; have them circle prices that might rise and explain why.
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