Kansas Dust Bowls

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Kansas Dust Bowls

• A look into the 1930s
• By Darrin Bevis

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Goal of the Lesson

• Student will be able to identify the leading
  contributors to the Dust Bowls and what steps
  and precautions were taken to reduce and
  ultimately eliminate them through conservation.

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Kansas State History Standards 7th Grade

• Kansas State History Standard Benchmark 5 The
  student understands individuals, groups, ideas,
  events, and developments in Kansas during the
  Great Depression and WWII. (1930s 1940S)
• Indicator 1 - The student compares agricultural
  practices before and after the dust storms of the
  1930s (e.g., rotation of crops, shelter belts,
  irrigation, terracing, stubble mulch).

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Kansas State Science Standards 7th Grade

• Standard 3 - The student will use process skills
  to investigate and gain knowledge about the
  structural and functional aspects of living
  systems, reproduction and heredity, regulation
  and behavior, populations and ecosystems, and
  diversity and adaptations of organisms.
• Benchmark 4 - The student will identify and
  relate interactions of populations of organisms
  within an ecosystem.

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Vocabulary

• Environment - the complex of physical, chemical,
  and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living
  things) that act upon an organism or an
  ecological community
• Erosion - natural processes by which material is
  worn away from the earth's surface.
• Drought - A long period of abnormally low
  rainfall.
• Topsoil - the layer of soil on the surface.
• Ecology - The relationship between organisms and
  their environment.
• Ecosystem - An ecological community together with
  its environment, functioning as a unit.
• Dust Storm - A severe windstorm that sweeps
  clouds of dust across an extensive area.
• Visibility - greatest distance under given
  weather conditions to which it is possible to see

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Vocabulary Continued

• Agriculture - The science, art, and business of
  cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising
  livestock farming.
• Conservation - The protection, preservation, or
  management of natural resources such as forests,
  soil, and water.
• Sod - A section of grass-covered surface soil
  held together by matted roots. Turf
• Pneumonia - An acute or chronic disease marked by
  inflammation of the lungs.
• Cultivation - (agriculture) production of food by
  preparing the land to grow crops.
• Fertile - Rich in material needed to sustain
  plant growth.
• Dust Bowl - a region subject to dust storms
  especially the central region of United States
  subject to dust storms in the 1930s.

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Primary Area of Topic

• The areas shaded in yellow and tan (loess and
  sand dune areas) were the places where the dust
  storms were most prevalent. Especially SW Kansas.

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Kansas History Activities

• Identify the main events which helped cause the
  Dust Bowl.
• Identify what steps were taken to reduce the dust
  storms. (conservation, farming methods, planting
  wind breaks, etc)
• Using a map, of Kansas counties, identify the
  areas where dust storms were most frequent during
  the 1930s.
• Research the Dust Bowl, using internet,
  dictionary, encyclopedia, or other library media.

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Kansas History Activities Continued

• Assignment Research the Dust Bowl and write a
  two page report about the leading causes to the
  dust storms and what actions were taken to
  prevent them.
• Assignment Using knowledge of Dust Bowl,
  complete a worksheet matching vocabulary words
  with their definitions.
• Definitions can be found on the internet and in
  any dictionary.

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Kansas History Assessment

• Assignment Student will put themselves in the
  shoes of an early Kansas resident.
• Direction Write as if you were a reporter, local
  resident writing in a diary, or family member
  writing a letter. Must be at least 2 pages in
  length.
• Recall the latest dust storm and write all the
  details you witnessed, what your feelings were,
  and what you did to avoid all the dust. Where
  were you when the storm came and what were you
  doing? Details are important.

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Kansas History Assessment

• Vocabulary test over the terminology associated
  with this time period.
• Students match words with definitions.
• Have students make poster boards about the Dust
  Bowl with pictures, letters, and news articles
  from the 1930s.

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Pictures
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Kansas Science Activities

• Students will study the balance and cycles of
  different world ecosystems and habitats.
• Study the impact of removing one inhabitant from
  a specific environment.
• Study the human effects of different environments
  and the consequences that might occur.

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Kansas Science Activities

• Assignment Using a terrarium, have students
  create an environment. Study the balances
  between producers, consumers, and limiting
  factors of the habitat.
• Students will need plants, producer organisms,
  consumer organisms, and a water source.
• Study in conjunction with Chapter 24,
  Interactions of Life. (Glencoe Science, 2005,
  Life Science, pg 682-709)

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Kansas Science Activities Continued

• Students will identify differences between
  biospheres, ecosystems, and habitats.
• Study populations, communities, growth factors.
• Students will be able to identify causes and
  effects of disturbing the balances of local
  ecosystems. (example in an area where coyotes
  are hunted to near absence, the jackrabbit
  population explodes)

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Kansas Science Assessment

• Class test over Chapter 24 Interactions of
  Life.
• Class terrarium project to be evaluated by paper
  describing project and the needed balances
  between organisms and their environment

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ELL Adaptations

• Students will study vocabulary words using
  picture cards or note cards. Native language may
  be associated with picture or English word.
  Vocabulary exams may have word bank or pictures
  for association.
• Multiple choice tests may have reduced number of
  possible answers.

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ELL Adaptations Cont.

• Tests may be divided into sections. This would
  allow student to focus on small segments at a
  time, rather than the overwhelming effects of
  multiple page exams.

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Resources

• Books
• Biggs, Alton. (2005), Life Science. Glencoe,
  Columbus, OH.
• Chinn, J. (2005). The Kansas Journey. Gibbs
  Smith, Salt Lake City.
• Napier, R. (2003). Kansas and the West New
  Perspectives.
• Isern, T. Wilson, R. (1988). Kansas Land.
  Gibbs Smith, Layton, UT.

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Resources

• Websites
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/index.html
• http//www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/dustbo
  wl/
• http//www.ptsi.net/user/museum/dustbowl.html
• http//www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/w
  ater_02.html
• http//edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID
  300