Alabama Social Studies SS24.US2.4a
The Standard
- SS24.US2.4
- Analyze the causes of the Great Depression, including the effects of overproduction, stock market speculation, buying on credit, international trade policy, and restrictive monetary policies.
Differentiate between the ways Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt dealt with the Great Depression.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare how Hoover and Roosevelt responded to the Depression. They use named programs to explain why Roosevelt's federal response reached more people directly.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain that Hoover backed loans to banks and businesses through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, while Roosevelt created federal jobs through programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps. They can name an action Hoover took rather than saying he did nothing.
Common Misconceptions
- Some students think Hoover took no federal action. Others mistake his bank loans for payments to jobless families, or think the New Deal ended the Depression right away.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to write two sentences comparing Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation with Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps. Who received federal help first under each program?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pairs place dated RFC, CCC, WPA, and Social Security cards on a paper timeline, then label each Hoover or Roosevelt.
Ask: Which would help a jobless worker sooner, Hoover's RFC bank loans or Roosevelt's CCC jobs? Defend your answer.
Play three rounds of 'Who did it?' using RFC loans, CCC jobs, and Social Security; students hold up H or R and explain.
Show a mock unemployment insurance claim after a layoff; students connect the benefit to Roosevelt's Social Security Act and contrast Hoover's approach.
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Printable SS24.US2.4a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.US2.4b
Critique the effectiveness of the New Deal in managing problems of the Great Depression through relief, recovery, and reform programs; expansion of the executiv...
- SS24.5.8
Analyze how the government-funded New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt impacted American society.
- SS24.US2.5
Identify economic and social effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl on American society and describe how individuals addressed the challenges and sou...
- SS24.US2.5b
Analyze the impact of the Great Depression and the resulting social programs on the American family and minority groups.
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