The 1929 Stock Market Crash - “Black Tuesday”
In this two-part activity students will learn about the 1929 stock market crash also known as “Black Tuesday”. Students will gain knowledge on the subject through access to a variety of primary sources, guided research, and information sharing using Web 2.0 tools.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
This lesson is designed to meet the following California High School curriculum standard:
United States History and Geography - 11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.
Principles of Economics standard - 12.1 Students understand common economic terms and concepts and economic reasoning.
This lesson is also designed to meet the following NETS standards listed below:
3. Research and Information Fluency - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
Part 1.
In the first part of this activity, students will watch a short 5-part video series on YouTube detailing the 1929 stock market crash. This video series features a collection of primary sources including video, photographs, cartoons, and newspaper clippings from 1929. It also includes first-hand accounts of people who lived through the experience.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
This lesson is designed to meet the following California High School curriculum standard:
United States History and Geography - 11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government.
Principles of Economics standard - 12.1 Students understand common economic terms and concepts and economic reasoning.
This lesson is also designed to meet the following NETS standards listed below:
3. Research and Information Fluency - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
Part 1.
In the first part of this activity, students will watch a short 5-part video series on YouTube detailing the 1929 stock market crash. This video series features a collection of primary sources including video, photographs, cartoons, and newspaper clippings from 1929. It also includes first-hand accounts of people who lived through the experience.
Students will create a blog post that summarizes their personal experience watching the video series. This blog post should share what they learned about the 1929 stock market crash as well as their personal thoughts and feelings caused by the video. Students must also highlight perceived benefits of learning from the past and how this type of historical information can be helpful in today’s time.
Part 2.
In the second part of this activity students will learn more about the 1929 Stock Market Crash through their own research. Using the links provided below students must locate two primary source documents of their own.
Libray of Congress stock market crash documents:
http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=stock+market+crash
Archived New York Times coverage of the 1929 stock market collapse:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/index-1929-crash.html
America in Class collection of commentary on the 1929 stock market crash:
http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text4/colcommentarycrash.pdf
Collections of political cartoons right before, during, and after the stock market crash:
http://www.archelaus-cards.com/archives/20090112.php
http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text4/politicalcartoonscrash.pdf
After locating two documents at the links above, students will create a VoiceThread post at www.voicethread.com. In this post to students will share the two primary source documents they researched with their classmates. This VoiceThread post must include the following information about each source document.
Background of the source document:
Content of the source document:
Evaluation of the source document:
Students will post a link to their VoiceThread post on the class blog. They must also comment on the VoiceThread post of at least three other classmates.
Part 2.
In the second part of this activity students will learn more about the 1929 Stock Market Crash through their own research. Using the links provided below students must locate two primary source documents of their own.
Libray of Congress stock market crash documents:
http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=stock+market+crash
Archived New York Times coverage of the 1929 stock market collapse:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/index-1929-crash.html
America in Class collection of commentary on the 1929 stock market crash:
http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text4/colcommentarycrash.pdf
Collections of political cartoons right before, during, and after the stock market crash:
http://www.archelaus-cards.com/archives/20090112.php
http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text4/politicalcartoonscrash.pdf
After locating two documents at the links above, students will create a VoiceThread post at www.voicethread.com. In this post to students will share the two primary source documents they researched with their classmates. This VoiceThread post must include the following information about each source document.
Background of the source document:
- What type of document is it?
- Who created it and what do you know about them?
- When and where was it produced?
Content of the source document:
- What kinds of information does the document share?
- What was surprising or interesting about the document?
- What did you learn from this document?
Evaluation of the source document:
- What is the historical significance of the document?
- Would you consider this document a valuable source of information?
- How would the document useful today?
Students will post a link to their VoiceThread post on the class blog. They must also comment on the VoiceThread post of at least three other classmates.
Google Maps Activity
In this activity students use Google Maps to locate the top 18 major stock exchanges in the world. It provides an opportunity for students to get a sense of just how widespread stock trading has become since the 1929 stock market crash.
This activity is designed to meet the California High School curriculum standard: Principles of Economics standard - 12.6: Students analyze issues of international trade and explain how the U.S. economy affects, and is affected by, economic forces beyond the United States’s borders.
Using the list provided below students will use Google Maps to locate each of the 18 major stock exchanges of the world. Once they have mapped all 18 exchanges they will save their map and email a link to the instructor for evaluation.
Learning Objectives:
- Students obtain a geographic understanding of twenty-first century stock trading.
- Students understand the impacts of international boarders and time zones on a global economy.
View Major Stock Exchanges Of The World in a larger map