Idaho Social Studies 9-12.US2.13

Social StudiesGrades 9–12United States History II

The Standard

Evaluate the effectiveness of New Deal programs in addressing economic issues underlying the Great Depression.

Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies · The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929-1939

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students link New Deal programs to problems such as bank failures, joblessness, and low farm prices. They use evidence to judge what worked, what lasted, and who was left out.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student explains how FDIC deposit insurance helped prevent bank runs and how WPA jobs brought wages to families. They also note that unemployment remained high in 1939 and that AAA payments often went to landowners rather than tenant farmers.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume the New Deal ended the Depression because some programs created jobs. They may also assume every farmer benefited from AAA payments or confuse FDIC bank insurance with a jobs program.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: How did FDIC and WPA each address an economic problem? Which had a longer-lasting effect? Support your answer with one fact.

Lesson moves

Students match FDIC, WPA, AAA, and Social Security cards to bank failures, joblessness, low farm prices, and poverty, then rank their impact.
Have students write whether New Deal programs ended unemployment, using roughly 25 percent joblessness in 1933 and 17 percent in 1939.
Run a claim-check game with 'AAA helped every tenant farmer' and 'FDIC hired unemployed workers'; teams correct each claim using program facts.
Show a bank's FDIC sign from its website, then ask students how insured deposits could prevent a bank run today.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 9-12.US2.13, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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