Materials

• List of economic terms (on board or overhead)
• Handout of term definitions (optional)
• Resources for pictures depicting the impact of the Great Depression

Instructional Activities

1. Discuss with the students the causes of the Great Depression. Include the following information:
   • German reparations that led to high inflation (Germany was required to pay for the cost of the war and printed large amounts of money to do this.)
   • Expansion of production capacities and dominance of the United States in the global economy
   • High protective tariffs
   • Excessive expansion of credit
   • Stock Market Crash (1929)
   • European economies never recovered from WWI
   
   
   
2. Ask students if they can explain how inflation weakens a currency, or why overproduction leads to layoffs, or why protective tariffs hurt an economy.
   
   
3. Display on the board or overhead a list of economic terms that includes the terms below. Direct students to define the terms, or provide students with a handout of the definitions.
   • runaway inflation: As prices rise, the value of the currency declines; soon things become so expensive that people cut back on their buying, which leads to companies cutting back, which leads to layoffs of employees.
   • protective tariffs: When countries place high tariffs on imported goods, other countries retaliate leading to a "tariff war." As a result, jobs are lost in the import/export businesses.
   • overproduction: When companies overproduce, inventory accumulates and they cut back on production, leading to a loss of employee jobs.
   • rapid rise in stock prices: Stock prices go up with the increase in buying until many stocks become overvalued and a panic occurs, dropping prices too quickly and wiping out many people's investments.
   
   
4. Discuss with the students the results of the Great Depression.
   
   
5. Allow students to work in groups to develop a list of the results of the Great Depression. Place their answers on the board or an overhead. Responses may include the following:
   • High unemployment in industrial countries
   • Bank failures and collapse of credit
   • Collapse of prices in world trade
   • Nazi Party’s growing importance in Germany; Nazi Party’s blame of European Jews for economic collapse
   • Weakening of the democracies as they struggled to cope with the economic losses of homes
   • Popularity of fascism and its relation to National Socialism
   
   
6. Instruct students to create a chart on the Great Depression, showing the causes and the impact for their interactive notebook or as a review activity.
   
   
7. Instruct students to find pictures of the time period showing the impact of the Great Depression. Provide resources for students to search.