Crossroads: Middle School Unit XI Crossroads Middle School Curriculum

Unit XI: Leader of the Free World: 1945-1975

Question/Problem 2: How did post-war technology and prosperity affect life in the 1950s?

Contents

Objectives

Description of lesson/activity

Resources


Objectives: The students will be able to:

  1. describe aspects of American culture in the 1950s.

  2. explain the impact of new technology on people's lives.

  3. explain the impact of growing prosperity on people's lives.

  4. interpret advertisements as artifacts of the 1950s.

  5. gather information and construct categories to organize that information.

Description of lesson/activity:
  1. Teacher should provide some background about American culture in the 1950s, using textbooks, videotapes or other resources as available. Question/Problem 2 will focus on new forms of technology and the prosperity of this period.

  2. Prior to the activity, students should be divided into pairs, and copies of the 1950s "Advertisements" should be placed at stations around the room.

  3. To begin the activity, students individually should receive the accompanying "Technology and Prosperity Chart." In pairs, students should move from station to station gathering information on the products and services and their effects. This research task will probably take one class period.

  4. Following the research, the teacher should lead a brainstorming session in which students list categories or common elements among the advertisements. For instance, students might construct categories such as:

    • home vs. outdoor products
    • products that save time
    • products that provide comfort
    • increases in convenience
    • leisure and entertainment products and services
    • new technological and scientific discoveries

  5. The teacher should assign one of the following activities:

    • find examples of contemporary advertisments for products and services that fit the categories brainstormed earlier.
    • create a new advertisement for a product of the 1950s, in print form, for a billboard, or for a radio or TV advertisement.

  6. There are other ways a teacher may use the advertisements. Students may draw inferences from them regarding:

    • the roles of men and women
    • the portrayal of the typical nuclear family

    The teacher could lead discussions regarding the accuracy of these images.
Resources:
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