History Teachersʼ Association of Australia
Transformative Pedagogies with New Technologies
Life During the Great Depression
Year 9
Pam Panczyk
Jamison High School (NSW)
Copyright notice
© State of NSW through the Department of Education and Training, 2008. This material may be freely reproduced for educational
purposes.
You may download, copy and otherwise freely deal with this work for non-commercial educational purposes provided that you retain all
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Purpose
Students in this class had found the written materials on the Depression quite challenging and I
was looking for another way to engage them in sources from the actual time. By looking at black
and white film and listening to a person from the 1930ʼs talk about their experiences I hoped they
would be more empathetic to the conditions people faced.
Description of activity
Students will create a letter from a person living during the Great Depression. Students may
choose to write as the following characters:
•
An unemployed man who has gone on the track
•
A woman who has been left behind with the children while
her husband looks for work
•
A child who is living in a shanty town but still goes to school
•
A woman who has been evicted from her home
•
A policeman who is working at this time
•
A man working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
•
A woman working for a charity providing food for the
unemployed and homeless
These letters can be written to a family member or friend. Each letter should contain information
that describes life during the Depression in Australia. The letters should show that the person
writing the letter has gained an understanding of the living conditions and hardships Australians
had to face during the Great Depression. Students in the class word-processed their letters and
many chose a font that looked ʻoldʼ.
Each student was given a grid and the list of TLF resources to use. They then analysed each
source for its usefulness and what it told them about the Depression and things people had to
face. They were given one period (1 hour) for looking and analysing the sources and one period
(1 hour) to write the letter.
Context
This activity is part of Topic 3: Australia between the Wars, in the NSW Mandatory Stage 5 course
and focuses on the experiences of different social groups during the Great Depression and the
impact of the Depression on their lives. Students have previously learned about the experiences of
different groups during World War I. For this activity, students have learned about the causes and
effects of the Great Depression and have examined primary source material to investigate the
experiences of different social groups. I have decided to make this exercise a source analysis
because of limitations on computer time and interrupted timetables this term. Attached is the
worksheet for using the TLF resources. The letters will be written after the use of the TLF resources
and discussion of what the students have seen in the sources.
Outcomes
A student:
•
5.1 explains social, political and cultural developments
and events and evaluates their impact on Australian life
•
5.6 uses sources appropriately in an historical inquiry
•
5.7 explains different contexts, perspectives and
interpretations of the past
•
5.10 selects and uses appropriate oral, written and other
forms, including ICT, to communicate effectively about
the past for different audiences
Acknowledgment - History Syllabus Years 7 - 10, NSW Board of Studies, June 2003, p13
Criteria for assessing learning
Students will be assessed on their ability to:
•
•
•
•
describe the different experiences and perspectives of the chosen individuals
explain the impact of the Great Depression on the chosen individuals
use relevant historical information from a number of sources
select and use appropriate forms to communicate effectively about the past
Acknowledgment – History Syllabus Years 7 - 10, NSW Board of Studies, June 2003, pp34-35
The Learning Federation Digital Content
Object Id Title
R4388
Connie Gibson remembers the Great Depression
R2517
Women packing food parcels during the Depression
R2935
Sustenance workers at bridge construction site, 1930s
R2934
A sustenance project camp in the forest, 1930s
R6338
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 1
R6340
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 3
R6345
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 8
R2518
Feeding the unemployed during the Depression
R6346
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 9
R6343
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 6
R6350
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 13
R6344
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 7
R6348
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 11
R6342
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 5
R6341
Scenes from the Great Depression, c1930s - asset 4
A sustenance project camp in the forest, 1930s
TLF ID R2934
Acknowledgement - Reproduced courtesy of National Library of Australia. Photograph by C R Gotts
Other technologies:
School computer lab.
Reflection
The students engaged well with the materials. However, because all The Learning
Federation materials have quite substantial notes on context with them, the students could
use what was written on each item as their own (by cutting and pasting). This was
disappointing and next time I would direct students away from the notes (if I could – is
there any way you can just look at the film or hear the interview without the TLF notes?) to
try to get more original observations.
However, the letters they produced were pleasing and showed some understanding
of life during the Depression. Next time I would add a grid for writing the letter and
show some examples first. Students, particularly boys, while they complained that
the sources were in black and white and not colour, did engage with the technology
and produced work of a high standard.
OBJECT NUMBER
AND NAME
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
BRIEF
DESCRIPTION
OF CONTENT
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT LIFE IN THE DEPRESSION
COMMENTS