“The Dust Bowl”
By
Isabel Cabrera & April Canales
The Dust Bowl Cycle C Assignment
A PBL lesson for 2nd grade students
EDTC 6341.60 Student Centered Learning
The University of Texas at Brownsville, College of Education
Department of Teaching Learning and Innovation
Mildred Jeffries, M. Ed.
April 29, 2012
Is Climate Change Starting a New Dust Bowl?
(PBL Model Lesson Plan for 2nd Grade)
1. Read and analyze the scenario and situation.
Scenario: First, you will watch a video on “The Dust Bowl.” It is a historical event
that made great big news in American History. It is about several things that
happened all at once such as farming, climate, weather, and how it affected our
Earth. Please pay close attention, because you will be having a writing
assignment after the video.
Click on the link below to take you directly to the video.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/player/
Now, I want you to take out your Science Journals. I will guide you on
brainstorming your thoughts and ideas using a simple web graphic organizer on
the whiteboard. You will record the data in your journal as we are discussing this
historical event together. Sharing ideas will help you connect your thinking from
what you have learned and understood from this video.
Graphic organizers are great to break down and group ideas together.
We will first write the main idea or the event in the center “The Dust Bowl.” The
four outside bubbles will represent the four Earth’s spheres: Hydrosphere
(water), Atmosphere (air), Lithosphere (land), and Biosphere (life). We will
extend our thinking through a class discussion to become familiar with the topic
and further understand what happened in the 1930’s.
2. List your personal understanding, ideas, or hunches.
I will put you in small groups to analyze the 4 different Earth’s spheres: (BLAH)
Biosphere (life which includes plants & animals), Lithosphere (land which
includes the rocks & the soil), Atmosphere (air), and Hydrosphere (water). In your
small groups, you will create your own Earth System Science (ESS) Analysis. I
will provide you with some examples to start you off with. This is also known as
the cause & effect relationships like you do in
your Reading class; because (cause) of the Dust Bowl then this happened at the
end (effect). For example: You will write E > B is for the event (The Dust Bowl)
affected the animals because they died in the dust storms
etc. Your group will be issued a big chart tablet and colored markers to record
your thoughts and you may
also use illustrations to further describe your understandings on how you think
the Dust Bowl affected the Earth. Please use your journal as a reference. I will
walk around to monitor and guide you on your assignment.
Students love to use big chart tablet paper and colored markers!
3. List what is known. (Prior knowledge)
Then, you will do a group presentation on your ESS Analysis. I will provide you
with a rubric beforehand so that you know what the criteria and what is expected
from this presentation. Remember do your best because this will be a group
grade. Your group will take the chart tablet or poster up to the front of the room
and you will all take turns presenting on what you wrote down. You will now
have a better understanding on the Dust Bowl and how this event affected the
four Earth’s spheres.
Students performing in small group presentations.
4. List what is unknown. (Research to the team’s questions)
Next, your group will come up with at least 5 questions that you are curious
about, wondering about, or what to learn more about. I will be taking you to the
library and the computer lab so that you can conduct some library and Internet
research on the “Dust Bowl.” This is a perfect time to incorporate technology into
our science and social studies lessons. I will provide you with a reference list of
books and websites to get started (resources listed below). Remember
students, you will be seeking the answers to your 5 questions and you need to
cite your resources or tell me where you found the answers by writing down the
web links or the name of the book as well as the author’s name to give them
credit.
Team questions to research on the Internet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The team is doing Internet research in the computer lab.
5. List what needs to be done. (Team- divide duties)
Team Player 1: Research on general information on the Dust Bowl & interview
family members about what
they know about the Dust Bowl era.
Team Player 2: Find pictures/ images to capture what happened during the
Dust Bowl.
Team Player 3: Research on the Biosphere (life- plants, animals, and people)
and
Lithosphere (rocks & soil).
Team Player 4: Research on the Atmosphere (air) and Hydrosphere (water).
From your team research you should have a better understanding of what
happened during the Dust Bowl era. You will also discover findings using the
Earth’s spheres: (BLAH) Biosphere (life), Lithosphere (land), Atmosphere
(air), and Hydrosphere (water).
Teamwork: Using research to put it all together.
6. Develop a problem statement.
What can we do to prevent another Dust Bowl from
happening?
7. Gather information. (Share ideas in class)
Now that we have developed a problem statement, it is our turn to form solutions
or answers to the problem. I will elaborate now on why it is important that the
U.S. government have laws in place to protect our Earth such as the National
Resources Conservation Service (N.R.C.S) to protect the soil, the E.P.A to
protect the environment, and the Wildlife and Recreation Services to protect the
birds, trees, and other things in nature. The U.S enforces, regulates, and
monitors everything such as farming, education, and businesses.
Sharing is caring.
8. Present findings. (Team- prepare a report or presentation)
Now we will put our Unit on The Dust Bowl together to make a Final Product/
Project. Each group is going to select an activity from a project list for your final
group assignment. (To make it more interesting I could have the students
draw a piece of paper from a hat to determine what their group assignment
will be). The following is an example:
Group 1: Create a PowerPoint presentation.
Group 2: Create a magazine collage on their topic/sphere.
Group 3: Write or type out a short research paper.
Group 4: Act out an event from the Dust Bowl era.
References
American Experience: The 1930’s, Episode 1 “The Crash of 1929”
(Video). (2009)
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Bonamassa, Joe. (2011). Dust Bowl. (Audio CD). Retrieved from:
www.amazon.com
Bonnifield, Mathew P. (1979). Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Booth, David and Reczuch, Karen. (1996). The Dust Bowl.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Causes of the Dust Bowl
From the Woody Guthrie web site. "We have a tendency to blame the dust bowl
on natural causes, overlooking the role of humanity. What are the causes of the
dust bowl? Can it happen again?" Retrieved from:
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/curriculum/curscience.htm
Cleland, Joann. (2011). Surviving the Dust Bowl (Eye on History Graphic
Illustrated).
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Connel, Kate. (2004). Hoping for Rain: The Dust Bowl Adventures of Patty and
Earl
Buckler. (I Am American). Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Cooper, Michael L. (2004). Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930’s.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Drought Resources (great for kids)
Several short videos on the Dust Bowl.
Retrieved
from: http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Weather/Dro
ught/
Durbin, William. (2002). The Journal of C.J. Jackson, a Dust Bowl Migrant,
Oklahoma to
California, 1935 (My Name Is America). Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Dust Bowl Days
The lessons are designed for grades 3-5, and they provide some excellent
visuals and resources to understand the impact on people and the land resulting
from the Dust Bowl. Retrieved from: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/dustbowl-days
Egan, Timothy. (2006). The Worst Hard Times: The Untold Story of Those Who
Survived the Great American
Dust Bowl. Retrieved from:
http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Hard-Time-SurvivedAmerican/dp/0618773479/lewrockwell/
Garland, Sherry. (2012). Voices of the Dust Bowl (Voices of History).
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Gregory, James N. (1991). American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie
Culture in California.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Guthrie, Woody. (2000). Dust Bowl Ballads. (Album) Retrieved
from:www.amazon.com
Henderson, Caroline A. (2003). Letters from the Dust Bowl.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Hesse, Karen. (1999). Out Of The Dust. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Hurt, Douglas. (1981). The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Isaacs, Sally Senzell. (2001). Life in the Dust Bowl (Picture the Past).
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Janke, Katelan. (2002). Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace
Edwards,
Dalhart, Texas 1935 (Dear America Series). Retrieved from:
www.amazon.com
Kennie, Ryshia. (2009). From the Dust. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
King, David. (1970). The Dust Bowl (Perspectives on History).
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Lassieur, Allison. (2009). The Dust Bowl: An Interactive History Adventure.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Lorentz, Pare. (1936). The Plow That Broke The Plains. (Video)
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
The Plow that Broke the Plains.
Retrieved from: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/FILM/lorentz/plow.html
Lorentz, Pare (1936). The River. (Video) Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Low, Ann Marie. (1984). Dust Bowl Diary. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Marrin, Albert. (2009). Years of Dust. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
McDunn, Rosemary. (2007). The Green Coat: A Tale from the Dust Bowl Years.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Phelan, Matt. (2011). The Storm in the Barn. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Price, Sean. (2006). The Dirty Thirties: Documenting the Dust Bowl ( American
History
Through Primary Sources) Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Revard, Carter. (2001). Winning the Dust Bowl. Retrieved from:
www.amazon.com
Rowan, Peter. (1993). Dust Bowl Children (Audio CD).
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Sandler, Martin W. (2009). The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography
Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Slade, Arthur. (2004). Dust. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Stanley, Jerry. (1993). Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School
at
Weedpatch Camp. Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Steinbeck, John. (1939). The Grapes of Wrath: Bitter Fruit of the Depression.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
A special collections research center exhibition
http://library.syr.edu/digital/exhibits/g/GrapesOfWrath/
Stewart, Robert. (2009). Environmental Science in the 21st Century – An Online
Textbook
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/environmentbook/dustbowlandaftermath.html
Stinging Dust and Forgotten Lives: The Dust Bowl (Video)
A well done 37 minute video on the Dust Bowl experience.
Retrieved from: http://www.tcpfilms.com/studio/sdfl/index.php
Surviving the Dust Bowl (Video)
The story of the farmers who came to the Southern Plains of Texas, Oklahoma,
Colorado and Kansas dreaming of prosperity, and lived through ten years of
drought, dust, disease and death. A PBS Video. Retrieved from:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/
Svobida, Lawrence. (1986). Farming the Dust Bowl: A First-Hand Account from
Kansas.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Worster, Donald. (2004). Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930’s.
Retrieved from: www.amazon.com
Feedback from Teammate Marivel Garcia
2. List your personal understanding, ideas, or hunches.
I will put you in small groups to analyze the 4 different Earth’s spheres: (BLAH) Biosphere (life
which includes plants & animals), Lithosphere (land which includes the rocks & the soil),
Atmosphere (air), and Hydrosphere (water). In your small groups, you will create your own
Earth System Science (ESS) Analysis. I will provide you with some examples to start you off
with. This is also known as the cause & effect relationships like you do in your Reading class;
because (cause) of the Dust Bowl then this happened at the end (effect). For example: You
will write E > B is for the event (The Dust Bowl) affected the animals because they died in the
dust storms etc. Your group will be issued a big chart tablet and colored markers to record your
thoughts and you may also use illustrations to further describe your understandings on how you
think the Dust Bowl affected the Earth. Please use your journal as a reference. I will walk
around to monitor and guide you on your assignment.
I really like the way you are presenting this part because you are explaining how to do it in a way
that makes a lot more sense to the students. By connecting it to Cause and Effect, they will feel
at ease with this new project.
5. List what needs to be done. (Team- divide duties)
First of all, I can see your students getting very involved with this lesson.
One thing I would recommend to do in this step is to connect the learning the home
environment. For example, have TL find out just one thing about the Dust Bowl with the
family or have them interview a family member on ways they see the Earth being affected
in similar ways as to the Dust Bowl.
Team Player 1: Research on general information on the Dust Bowl.
Team Player 2: Find pictures/ images to capture what happened during the Dust Bowl.
I think this is very appropriate for this grade level in order to better understand since it is a
difficult topic.