Introduction

The Great Depression from 1929 to the early 1940s was a terrible time for many individuals and families living in the United States.  The Wall Street Stock Market Crash started the devastating effects that the country would come to experience and never forget.  During the Great Depression, a rapid decline in the production and sale of goods occurred.  Many fell into bankruptcy, stores closed, people lost their jobs and charity was the major means of survival.  In 1933, one-quarter or 53 million Americans in the workforce, were unemployed.

The Task

The teacher has assigned each group of four students a specified $ amount.  You are to assume one of the four roles of either a mother, father, daughter or son.

The Process

You will each need to go on the internet and do some research on the profession you have chosen.  You will need to find out the weekly and yearly income, description of the job, and what you would be doing at the job. 

The next step will be to fill out this Great Depression Worksheet with the information you have found on the internet.  Print out this worksheet before you start so it is easier for you to answer the questions.

After you have filled out the worksheet you will need to write a one page summary on the information you have found.  You may turn in one summary per group but everyone must contribute to it.

The next activity will be to take the information that you found and be able to present it to the class.  Visual aids are helpful and the computer is available for anyone who needs it during their presentation. Things that will need to be included are:

         What role you chose and why

         What your weekly and yearly income is

         What kinds of things your family would own

         What your items of necessity are

         How you would get the items you need

         How the economy compares today with how it did during the Great Depression

Give credit to the sites that you use.  For example give the website name and state whether you liked it or not.

Resources

These are some resources that may benefit you in completing this web quest:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/drought_1930s.html

     This site provides an overview of how the farmers survived and the mood that the Great Depression put everyone in.

http://www.gliah.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=482

     Hollywood during the Great Depression and how The New Deal helped provide Americans with economic security.

http://www.geocities.com/ntchistory/1930s/1930s.html

     A site that focuses on what happened each year of the Great Depression starting in 1930.

http://www.northern.wvnet.edu/~gnorton/UShist2/histlec44.htm

     Very informative site on the Great Depression and all the events that happened within the Great Depression.  Kind of hard to read but is loaded with information.

Conclusion

This web quest will hopefully help all of you students to discover the importance of what you have now and what it would have been like back in the 1930s experiencing the Great Depression. 

Your individual presentation will count 50% of your final grade and your group projects will also count an additional 50% of your final grade.  The grading rubric and evaluation of your projects will be available at this site:

EVALUATION

Credits & References

http://teacherweb.com/NY/NewarkMiddleSchool/MrHaak's1920'swebquest/

http://coleman.glenrocknj.org/HeresL_WebQuest/mccannl_TheGreatDepressionQuest.htm

http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq1/webquest.htm

http://msquared.8m.com/worksheets.html