What does Module 3 of the STAAR US History test cover?

Module 3 covers the 1920s and the Great Depression, roughly 1920 to 1940. It includes the economic prosperity and consumer culture of the Roaring Twenties (mass production, the automobile, radio, the Harlem Renaissance, and changing roles for women); the cultural conflicts of the decade (Prohibition, nativism and immigration quotas, the revived Ku Klux Klan, and the Scopes Trial); the causes and effects of the Great Depression; the Dust Bowl; and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and the debate over it.

What caused the Great Depression?

The Great Depression had several linked causes: overproduction by factories and farms beyond what consumers could buy; an uneven distribution of wealth that weakened demand; reckless stock speculation, much of it on margin (with borrowed money); and a weak, poorly regulated banking system. The stock market crash of October 1929 triggered a chain reaction of forced selling, bank failures, lost savings, business closures, and mass unemployment that reached about a quarter of the workforce.

What was the Dust Bowl and what caused it?

The Dust Bowl was a series of devastating dust storms that struck the southern Great Plains (parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado) in the 1930s. It was caused by a combination of severe drought and poor farming practices: farmers had plowed up the native grasses that held the soil and over-farmed the dry land, so the exposed topsoil dried out and blew away. It is the classic example of human-environment interaction and drove hundreds of thousands of families to migrate west.

What were the three R's of the New Deal?

The New Deal is summarized as the three R's: relief, recovery, and reform. Relief meant immediate aid for the suffering and unemployed (work programs such as the CCC and WPA). Recovery meant restarting the economy. Reform meant fixing the causes of the Depression to prevent another, including banking and stock-market regulation (the FDIC and SEC) and the Social Security Act, which created old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

How did the New Deal change the role of government?

The New Deal permanently expanded the role of the federal government. After it, Americans expected the government to manage the economy and provide a social safety net, above all through Social Security. It was a sharp break from the laissez-faire tradition. The New Deal did not fully end the Depression (World War II spending did), and it sparked fierce debate, but its expansion of federal responsibility for citizens' welfare endures today.

TexasUS History

STAAR US History Module 3 Roaring Twenties and Great Depression: a complete overview of 1920s prosperity and conflict, the crash, the Dust Bowl, and the New Deal

A deep-dive guide to Module 3 of the Texas STAAR US History EOC: the prosperity and consumer culture of the 1920s, the cultural conflicts of the decade, the causes of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the New Deal and its impact, with the reporting categories and item patterns STAAR repeats.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.818 min readTEKS 113.41(c) The 1920s and the Great DepressionUpdated 2026-06-02

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What Module 3 actually demands
The Roaring Twenties
Cultural conflicts of the 1920s
The Great Depression
The Dust Bowl
The New Deal and its impact
Check your knowledge

What Module 3 actually demands

Module 3 carries the STAAR US History story through the boom and bust of the interwar years, roughly 1920 to 1940. It explains the prosperity and culture of the 1920s, the conflicts beneath the surface, the collapse into the worst depression in American history, the environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl, and the New Deal that transformed the federal government. The dominant skills are cause and effect, reading charts and maps, and analyzing stimulus sources. The module is loaded with Economics (Category 4) and Government and Citizenship (Category 3) content alongside History and Culture.

This guide ties together the matching dot-point pages, each with its own practice questions: the Roaring Twenties, cultural conflicts of the 1920s, causes of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and its impact, the New Deal, and the impact of the New Deal.

The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s boomed on mass production (Ford's assembly line), buying on credit, and advertising. The automobile reshaped daily life and powered related industries; the radio and movies created a national mass culture. The Harlem Renaissance and jazz gave African American culture a powerful voice, and women won the vote and new freedoms (the "flapper"). But the prosperity was uneven and rested on overproduction, debt, and speculation.

Cultural conflicts of the 1920s

The decade was also a battleground between modern and traditional America. Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment) banned alcohol but bred organized crime and was repealed in 1933. Nativism produced strict immigration quotas (1924) and a revived Ku Klux Klan that targeted Catholics, Jews, and immigrants as well as Black Americans. The Scopes Trial (1925) over teaching evolution dramatized the clash between modernism and fundamentalism.

The Great Depression

The boom collapsed in the Great Depression. Its causes were overproduction, uneven wealth, stock speculation on margin, and weak banks. The stock market crash of 1929 triggered a chain reaction: margin investors could not repay loans, banks failed, savings vanished, businesses closed, and unemployment hit about one in four. Americans faced breadlines and Hoovervilles, and Hoover's limited response failed.

The Dust Bowl

On the southern Great Plains, drought plus poor farming practices (plowing up native grasses, over-farming) produced the Dust Bowl, enormous dust storms that destroyed farms. Hundreds of thousands of families migrated west to California. It is the STAAR example of human-environment interaction.

The New Deal and its impact

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal answered the Depression with the three R's: relief (CCC, WPA jobs), recovery, and reform (the FDIC, SEC, and the Social Security Act). It expanded the federal government's role permanently and created a social safety net. It was fiercely debated: the right said it did too much, the left said too little, and the Supreme Court struck down programs, leading to the failed court-packing plan. It did not fully end the Depression (World War II did), but it reshaped American government.

Module 3 of the STAAR US History test covers the 1920s and the Great Depression (1920 to 1940): the consumer prosperity and culture of the Roaring Twenties (mass production, the automobile, radio, the Harlem Renaissance, the flapper); the cultural conflicts of the decade (Prohibition and organized crime, nativist immigration quotas, the revived Ku Klux Klan, and the Scopes Trial's clash of modernism and fundamentalism); the multiple causes of the Great Depression (overproduction, uneven wealth, stock speculation on margin, bank failures, and the 1929 crash) and its devastating effects; the Dust Bowl as human-environment interaction driving westward migration; and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal (the three R's, the CCC, WPA, FDIC, SEC, and Social Security), the debate over it from right and left, the Supreme Court conflict and court-packing plan, and the lasting expansion of the federal government. The recurring skills are cause and effect and chart and map analysis.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and application questions covering Module 3. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

Explain how the assembly line affected the price and availability of cars. (2 marks)
Define the Harlem Renaissance and its significance. (2 marks)
State one major unintended consequence of Prohibition. (1 mark)
Explain the conflict between modernism and fundamentalism in the Scopes Trial. (2 marks)
State three causes of the Great Depression. (3 marks)
Explain how buying on margin made the stock market crash worse. (2 marks)
State the two main causes of the Dust Bowl. (2 marks)
Explain how the Dust Bowl illustrates human-environment interaction. (2 marks)
State the three R's of the New Deal. (3 marks)
Explain how Social Security expanded the role of the federal government. (2 marks)
Explain the difference between the New Deal's critics on the right and the left. (2 marks)

Solutions

Q1: The assembly line sped up production and cut costs, so cars became cheaper and affordable to ordinary Americans, which also boosted related industries (steel, oil, roads).
Q2: A 1920s flowering of African American literature, art, and music centered in Harlem; it celebrated Black identity, produced influential artists, and shaped American culture (especially jazz).
Q3: A rise in organized crime, bootlegging, and speakeasies as criminals supplied illegal alcohol.
Q4: The trial over teaching evolution pitted modern science (modernism) against traditional religion (fundamentalism), symbolizing the wider clash between modern, urban America and traditional, rural America.
Q5: Any three of: overproduction; uneven distribution of wealth; excessive stock speculation and buying on margin; weak banks (the 1929 crash as trigger).
Q6: Investors who had bought with borrowed money could not repay when prices fell, so they were forced to sell, driving prices down further and causing the banks and brokers who lent the money to fail.
Q7: A severe drought combined with poor farming practices (plowing up native grasses and over-farming), which left the dry soil exposed to wind erosion.
Q8: Human farming practices plus a natural drought together created the disaster, showing that human activity and the physical environment interacted to displace populations.
Q9: Relief (immediate help for the suffering and unemployed), recovery (restarting the economy), and reform (fixing the causes of the Depression to prevent another).
Q10: By providing old-age pensions and unemployment insurance, the federal government took on a permanent responsibility for citizens' economic security, creating a social safety net.
Q11: Critics on the right (conservatives, business) said the New Deal gave government too much power and threatened free enterprise; critics on the left said it did not go far enough to help the poor and redistribute wealth.

Sources & how we know this

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies, United States History Studies Since 1877 (19 TAC 113.41) — Texas Education Agency (2018)
STAAR US History Blueprint Effective as of Academic Year 2022 to 2023 — Texas Education Agency (2022)