1930s and 1940s Highways Classroom Activity Guide

Grade Range: 5-12
Resource Type(s): Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted: 1/22/2011

In these classroom activities, developed for the exhibition America on the Move, students will use visual, analytical, and interpretive skills to examine primary sources including a historical map and photography by Dorothea Lange and answer questions about them to learn more about road travel and the role highways played in 1930s. Students will also conduct research and answer questions about the impact of the Great Depression, WPA and CCC on their own communities. The activities provide opportunities for historical analysis, interpretation, evaluation, analyzing cause/effect relationships, understanding multiple points of view, performing original research, debating and persuasive writing and helps students develop and strengthen map-reading skills. Students also will employ research skills to obtain historical data, analyze and make decisions, identify issues and problems in the past and connect the past to the present.