Dust Bowl Farm: worksheet
Write about the activity only. Leave out names, class periods, emails, and other personal details.
Play Dust Bowl Farm with your partner. Before each turn, write your topsoil prediction. After each level, record what happened, then answer the questions for that level. Use numbers from the game.
11.7.c: For many Americans, the 1920s was a time of prosperity. However, underlying economic problems, reflected in the stock market crash of 1929, led to the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s responses to the Great Depression increased the role of the federal government.
Level 1: The Great Plow-Up
| Predicted topsoil, each turn (%) | Actual topsoil, each turn (%) | Acres plowed, each turn | Tractor? What year? | Passed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Record what happened: did you keep the farm? Give your topsoil and cash at the end, or the year the bank took the farm. 11.7.c
2. Wheat sold for more than $2 a bushel in 1917 to 1919. Why did plowing more land pay off then? Use the price and the $6 cost of a plowed acre. 11.7.c
3. Your topsoil did not drop from 1915 to 1924, no matter how much you plowed. Why not? What would happen to that plowed land in a drought? 11.7.c
Level 2: The Bust
| Predicted topsoil, each turn (%) | Actual topsoil, each turn (%) | Acres plowed, each turn | New tractor? What year? | Passed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4. Record what happened: did you keep the farm? Give your topsoil and cash at the end, or the year the bank took the farm. 11.7.c
5. Land you stop plowing stays bare until a normal or wet year lets grass grow back. Why did cutting back in 1925 save more topsoil than cutting back in 1930? 11.7.c
6. In 1931 and 1932, wheat sold for only $0.38 a bushel and the crops dried up. Why did more plowed acres mean bigger losses? What did the tractor payments do? 11.7.c
Level 3: Recovery
| Predicted topsoil 1940 (%) | Actual topsoil 1940 (%) | Acres plowed | Programs and practices used | Passed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
7. Record what happened: did you keep the farm? Give your topsoil and cash at the end, or the year the bank took the farm. 11.7.c
8. Which programs and practices did you use? What did each one do for your farm, and how fast did your topsoil come back? 11.7.c
9. Dust from the neighbors' fields blew onto your farm, even onto your grass. Why did fixing the Dust Bowl take the federal government, not just one careful farmer? 11.7.c
When a run did not pass
10. Pick one run that did not pass. Which level was it, and what went wrong? Use numbers from the debrief. 11.7.c
Wrap-up: the Dust Bowl and the New Deal
11. What caused the Dust Bowl, and how did the federal government's role grow in response? Use evidence from at least two levels. 11.7.c
| Claim | |
|---|---|
| Evidence | |
| Reasoning |