② Deep · Connect & organize

Phase 2 — Connect & organize

Now students take the facts from Phase 1 and relate them: mapping causes and effects, questioning real 1930s sources, and building an argument from evidence. Deep learning is where knowledge becomes usable — the bridge to the problem.

🎯 By the end of Phase 2 students can trace how farming choices and drought caused a chain of effects, read a primary source for its point of view and reliability, and defend a claim with evidence — the exact moves the problem will demand.

Concept mapping · d 0.64§113.19(c)(9), (c)(11)

1 · Cause → effect concept map

Build a class concept map with “The Dust Bowl on the Texas High Plains” at the center. Draw arrows from the causes to the effects they set off, then keep going — many effects become causes of the next thing. This rehearses human–environment interaction as a chain, not a single event.

Causes	Direct effects	Ripple effects
plowing up the grass for wheat	bare soil exposed to wind	massive erosion when the rains fail
years of drought + high wind	“black blizzards” / dust storms	buried fields & fences; crops and animals die; dust sickness
failing crops + Great Depression debt	farmers can't pay the mortgage	foreclosures; families leave (migration west)
the land damaged, people searching for answers	new soil-conservation methods	contour plowing, cover crops, and eventual recovery

Talk move: draw an arrow from any cause to an effect and say the cause-and-effect sentence aloud, then ask “and what did that cause?” This rehearses §113.19(c)(9) and (c)(11).

📚 Sources: Handbook of Texas · Dust Bowl ↗ · Handbook of Texas · Soil & Water Conservation ↗

Elaboration & organization · d 0.72§113.19(c)(16), (c)(20)

2 · Primary-source analysis — read for point of view & reliability

Give pairs one or two real (district-approved) primary sources — for example a 1930s dust-storm photograph of a Panhandle farm and a short first-person account or news excerpt describing a black blizzard. Use a four-question source routine:

Source: Who made this, when, and why?
Observe: What do you actually see or read? (facts only)
Point of view: Whose story does it tell — and whose is missing?
Reliability: Is this a first-hand record or someone's later opinion? How do we know — and what might it leave out or exaggerate?

Why point of view matters here: a photograph taken to convince the government to send help may frame the worst of the damage, while a booster's letter home might downplay it. Students should weigh who made a source and why when they use it.

📚 Primary sources & analysis tools: Portal to Texas History · Dust Bowl ↗ · Portal to Texas History · dust storms ↗ · Library of Congress · Dust Bowl Texas photos ↗ · LoC · Getting Started with Primary Sources ↗ · LoC · Analyzing Photographs & Prints (PDF) ↗

Argumentation · d 0.86§113.19(c)(20)

3 · Structured argument — should the family stay or go?

A low-stakes rehearsal of the reasoning the problem needs. Pose a focused question and have students take a side with evidence, using a claim–evidence–reasoning frame. Then have them state the other side's strongest point (civil discourse).

Warm-up question: When drought and debt are crushing a farm, should the family leave for a fresh start elsewhere — or stay and try to change how they farm? Give your claim, one piece of evidence from Phase 1 or the sources, and your reasoning.

Sentence stems (ELPS support): “My claim is ______.” · “My evidence is ______.” · “This matters because ______.” · “Someone who disagrees might say ______, but ______.”

Note: keep this a practice argument about the general idea. The specific decision for a real 1935 family belongs in Phase 3, where students hold stakeholder roles.

📚 Sources: Handbook of Texas · Dust Bowl ↗ · Library of Congress · Dust Bowl Migration ↗

✅ Deep check before the problem: can students name a cause and an effect of the Dust Bowl, read one source for its point of view and reliability, and state a claim with evidence? Those three abilities are exactly what Phase 3 will ask them to transfer.

‹ Phase 1 — Surface Phase 3 — Transfer ›

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.19; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This scenario dramatizes the real Dust Bowl years on the Texas High Plains.