Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.3a
The Standard
- SS24.US2.3
- Evaluate how key figures, events, and trends shaped United States society and culture from the conclusion of World War I through the 1920s.
Describe how the automobile, cinema, print media, and radio contributed to the rise in mass culture, economic growth, and expansion of the middle class during the 1920s.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how cars, movies, newspapers, magazines, and radio changed daily life in the 1920s. They connect shared entertainment and advertising to new jobs, more spending, and a growing middle class.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how radio and movies gave people shared songs and stars, while ads reached buyers across the country. They can link car sales to factory and roadside jobs, and explain that not every family could afford new goods.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume every family owned a car or radio. They may see movies and radio as entertainment only, missing the jobs, ticket sales, and advertising behind them.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Choose a 1920s car ad or radio receiver ad. Write three lines: a shared habit it encouraged, a job or sale it supported, and why some families could buy the product while others could not.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a car ad, magazine cover, movie poster, and radio schedule from the 1920s; have them label shared habits and related jobs.
Ask students to write: How could families in different states know the same movie star, and who might have missed out?
Run a card match: teams pair gas stations, movie stars, magazine ads, and sponsored broadcasts with the industries that supported them.
Show a current streaming ad and a 1920s magazine ad; have students compare how each could sell a product nationwide.
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Related Standards
- SS24.5.11
Describe how the United States’ economy grew and American culture changed after World War II.
- SS24.US2.8d
Describe how World War II led to advances in mass media, medicine, science, and technology.
- SS24.5.7
Describe the economic developments in the United States during the Roaring Twenties that caused the 1929 stock market crash.
- SS24.US2.3
Evaluate how key figures, events, and trends shaped United States society and culture from the conclusion of World War I through the 1920s.
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