Oklahoma Social Studies 4.C.2.3.C
The Standard
- 4.C.2
- Apply the tools and concepts of geography to examine the physical and human geography of the United States of America.
- 4.C.2.3
- Analyze the human characteristics of the United States of America.
Examine motives for human migration by identifying basic push and pull factors (e.g., pull factors: economic opportunity, religious freedom, education; push factors: instability, conflict, natural disasters), using examples from United States of America history.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · 4.C.2.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify what made people leave one place and what drew them to another. They use examples from U.S. history, such as Dust Bowl families moving from Oklahoma to California.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a Dust Bowl family's story, a student labels drought as a push factor and work in California as a pull factor. They explain how each factor affected the move.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call a job in the new place a push factor because it caused the move. They may also assume every family wanted to leave, overlooking drought, violence, or hunger.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A family left Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and moved to California for farm work. Name one push factor and one pull factor.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs sort four cards on a push/pull mat: Oklahoma drought, California farm jobs, Southern segregation, and Detroit factory jobs.
Ask students to write why a Black family might leave the South for Detroit during the Great Migration.
Read “Dust Bowl drought” and “Detroit factory jobs” aloud; students raise PUSH or PULL cards and explain their choices.
Print a current job ad and compare its appeal with the factory jobs that drew families north during the Great Migration.
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- 7.C.3.5.A
Examine the role of pull factors (e.g., economic opportunity, education, family) and the role of push factors (e.g., political unrest, religious persecution, wa...
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Identify and provide examples of pull factors of migration (e.g., economic opportunity, religious freedom, family ties, education).
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- 8.C.9.1.C
Explain how the idea of Manifest Destiny influenced migration by identifying push and pull factors impacting the settlement of western territories.
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