Oklahoma Social Studies USH.C.2.1.F
The Standard
- USH.C.2
- Analyze the social, economic, and political changes that occurred during the American Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, and reform movements.
- USH.C.2.1
- Evaluate the transformation of American society, economy, politics, and culture during the American Industrial Revolution.
Evaluate the role of muckrakers and social reformers (e.g., Jane Addams, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, Upton Sinclair) on increased awareness of business practices and societal concerns, including child labor, working conditions, and the regulation of big business.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · USH.C.2.1
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify the problems that muckrakers exposed and the changes reformers sought. They explain how reports about big business, child labor, and living and working conditions built public pressure for change.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use a Riis photo or a short Sinclair passage to identify a problem and explain who might act on it. They can link Tarbell’s reporting to calls for antitrust enforcement and Addams’s work to efforts to improve living conditions.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a book or photograph passed a law on its own. They may confuse Tarbell’s reporting on Standard Oil with Sinclair’s account of meatpacking, or see Addams’s work as charity without a push for reform.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Ida Tarbell reported unfair tactics at Standard Oil, and Upton Sinclair described filthy meatpacking plants. For each account, name one change the public or lawmakers might demand.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a Riis photo and short Addams, Tarbell, and Sinclair excerpts; have them fill a chart labeled problem, evidence, and proposed change.
Ask: Which account would be more likely to pressure lawmakers, Sinclair’s meatpacking report or Tarbell’s Standard Oil reporting? Defend your choice with evidence.
Play reform match: students pair child labor, unsafe meatpacking, and monopolies with reform cards, then explain each match aloud.
Print a recent food recall notice; students compare its warning with Sinclair’s meatpacking account and identify a government response.
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Related Standards
- USH.C.2.3
Evaluate the rise and reforms of Populism and the Progressive Movement.
- USH.C.2
Analyze the social, economic, and political changes that occurred during the American Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, and reform movements.
- USH.C.2.1.C
Analyze the impact of capitalism and laissez-faire policy on business practices, such as monopolies, the characterization of “robber barons” and the role of ind...
- USH.C.2.2
Evaluate the efforts of major reform movements in addressing social issues.
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