The Great Depression

In between the Roaring '20s and the Second Great War, named World War II, was a time period of extreme hardships and challenges in America's history. The 1930s have come to be known as the Great Depression for the worldwide financial hardships that struck all of the world, and especially the United States, in that decade.

By following the links that follow, and by watching the teacher-generated digital story on President Franklin Roosevelt, students are to decide whether the programs initiated during Roosevelt's presidency led to the end of the Depression in America or if the onset of World War II was the catalyst that brought about the end of the worldwide financial struggles.

Standards and Goals of this WebQuest:

Established Goal: By the end of this multimedia activity, students will develop an opinion on the causes and effects of the Great Depression on the United States by writing a five-paragraph essay. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, students will evaluate the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt by creating a digital artifact.

State/National Standards: AZSS Strand 1 C1 PO3, PO4 & PO5

Technology – NETS for students: ISTE Student Standards 2a & 3a,b,c,d

1. Students will look through the following documents, cartoons, websites, and videos to gather evidence to support an answer to the following prompt.

How effective was the New Deal in ending the Great Depression?

When answering this prompt, the student needs to consider social, political, and economic reasons behind the Great Depression and the programs developed during the New Deal in America. Using the information gathered, the student must compose a 5-paragraph thesis essay answering the prompt.

AND...

2. Students can also gather resources from the following documents, cartoons, websites, and videos to address the following prompt in a digital story.

Based on his efforts during the Great Depression and World War II, how effective was the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt?

When answering the prompt, the student needs to use visual and audio components in an iMovie or Windows Movie Maker presentation of between 2 and 4 minutes.

First, explore the following resources to gather information on the Great Depression and FDR.

• Crash Course U.S. History #33-- The Great Depression-- In this 15-minute video, John Green discusses some of the causes and effects of the Depression on America. If you'd like to read along, you can find a full transcript here.
• Digital Story FDR-- In this 3-minute video, Andrew Luckenbill has an example of a digital story about the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.
• White House.org-- Franklin D. Roosevelt-- On this webpage, a short write-up on the presidency of FDR is given on the official White House website.
• Biography-- F. D. Roosevelt-- Biography provides a write-up on the entire life of Roosevelt as well as providing a 5-minute video covering information throughout Roosevelt's life.
• FDR Cartoons-- This website shows a variety of political cartoons both supporting and opposing the presidency of FDR
• History Channel-- Great Depression-- On this website, short snippets on the various causes and effects of the Depression are given, as well as links to short documentaries about the era.

Second, choose evidence from at least 3 of the six sources above and your knowledge of history to support your answer to the prompt "How effective was the New Deal in ending the Great Depression?" Use the evidence in the 5-paragraph essay you write on the topic.

Remember, the format should be an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, three body paragraphs that each include at least one reference each to the above sources, and a conclusion paragraph that restates the thesis.

Third, use the link on the evaluation page (next on the list) to connect with the rubric and check to make sure your essay fits all the criteria.

***All essays should be typed, Times New Roman, double-spaced, with a title page that lists your name and an essay title.

This project will be evaluated using the Mr. Luckenbill's writing rubric located here.

Take the 5-paragraph essay, and use the information given in the essay to create a short 2-4 minute video which addresses the prompt "How effective was the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt?"

Your essay information should be used to create narration for a short digital story. Use the resources under the "Process" tab to locate appropriate images for the background of digital story.

Upload the completed video to YouTube and submit a link with your 5-paragraph essay.

WebQuest by Andrew Luckenbill

Created for GCU TEC 551

Resources in APA

Bachorz, Paul. (1998). FDR Cartoons. Retrieved from http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr/FDRcartoons.html

Biography.com Editors. (2015). Franklin D. Roosevelt: U.S. President 1882-1945. The Biography.com website. Retrieved from

     http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-d-roosevelt-9463381#related-video-gallery

CrashCourse. (2013, October 10). The great depression: Crash course US history #33 [Video file]. Retrieved from

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQfMWAikyU&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=34  

Freidel, F. & Sidey, H. (2006). Franklin D. Roosevelt. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/franklindroosevelt

History.com Editors. (2015). The Great Depression. History.com website. Retrieved from 

     http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression

Luckenbill, A. (2015, September 16). FDR digital story final [Video file]. Retrieved from 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx392xIuNMo&feature=youtu.be