D4.6.6-8: Analyzing a Problem Through Many Lenses and Levels

Overview

Lesson Procedure

75-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Your school's hallway floods every time it rains hard. Who would you ask to explain the problem: a builder, a weather scientist, the school budget office, or the town council? Write one question that each of them would ask."

   List the four questions on the board. Point out that each person looks through a different lens: the builder through engineering (how the building is made), the weather scientist through science, the budget office through economics, and the town council through civics. Then ask: "Is the flooding only the school's problem?" Students usually notice that the rain also falls on the whole town and that storms happen in other places too. Name these the local, regional and global levels. Tell students that today they will analyze a real problem from the 1870s in the same way.

2. Direct Instruction25 minutes

   Part 1: The question and the sources. The compelling question is "Why was the Rocky Mountain locust so hard to stop in the 1870s?" The locust is a vehicle for the skill. Background from the sources: in 1874 swarms covered whole states (Source 1); in 1875 the young insects that hatched from the eggs left behind did great harm in Missouri (Source 3); and in October 1876 governors of six states and territories met at Omaha, Nebraska, to plan together (Source 5). The author, Charles V. Riley, was a scientist who wanted governments to act, so read him as an informed but not neutral witness.

   Words to know as you read: a locust is a kind of grasshopper that gathers in huge flying groups called swarms; the unfledged locusts are the young ones that cannot fly yet; destitution means having almost nothing to live on; a bounty is a reward paid by a government; stock means farm animals; the chinch bug is another insect that eats grain crops. Place names: British America is today's Canada, Indian Territory was land the United States had set aside for Native nations, many of which had been forced to move there from their homelands; it covered most of today's Oklahoma, and Dakota was a territory, not yet two states. Riley's own words: progeny means offspring, an irruption is a sudden invasion, a denizen is a resident, and "concert of action" means working together. In Sources 5 and 6: a legislature is a state's lawmaking body and legislation means laws; an appropriation is money a lawmaking body sets aside; township trustees were the officials of a township, a small unit of local government; the Signal Service was the U.S. Army office that ran weather stations, called signal stations; apprised means told; an expenditure is money spent. In Source 4, a hectolitre is 100 liters, a famine is a time of mass hunger, and epidemics are outbreaks of disease.

   Source Information: all six historical sources come from Charles V. Riley, The Locust Plague in the United States (Chicago, 1877)

   Source	What it covers	Level	Where in the book
   1	The invasion of 1874 across the western states	Regional	Chapter II, pages 39-40
   2	Where the swarms came from, and why the 1870s were worse than earlier invasions	Regional, over time	Chapter II, page 32; chapter III, page 55
   3	Missouri in the spring of 1875	Local (counties in one state)	Chapter II, pages 45-46
   4	Locusts in North Africa and southern France	Global	Chapter II, page 30; chapter VIII, page 174
   5	The Omaha conference of 1876 and the new state laws	Regional and local responses	Chapter II, pages 53-54; chapter VIII, page 176
   6	A proposed warning system, and the results of Minnesota's bounties	Regional and local responses	Chapter VIII, pages 172-173 and 185

   1We now come to the locust visitation of 1874, which will long be remembered as more disastrous, and as causing more distress and destitution than any of its predecessors. The calamity was national in its character, and the suffering in the ravaged districts would have been great, and famine and death the consequence, had it not been for the sympathy of the whole country and the energetic measures taken to relieve the afflicted people — a sympathy begetting a generosity which proved equal to the occasion, as it did in the case of the great Chicago fire, and which will ever redound to the glory of our free Republic, and of our Union.

   [...]

   2This last will be seen to embrace the entire States of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, and portions of Wyoming, Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas.

   [...]

   3The insects were doubtless equally numerous in the northwestern parts of Wyoming and Dakota, and in Montana, for, in fact, they breed there; but the country is for the most part so barren and so thinly settled that the reports were very meagre. The loss to the States mentioned did not fall far short of fifty millions of dollars. That much of the damage resulted from the progeny of the swarms of 1873, which, hatching in the country already indicated, as invaded during that year, ravaged the crops of the country where they hatched, and eventually spread to the southeast, the records abundantly prove; but there was likewise a fresh invasion direct from the mountain region, which added to that of 1873, rendered the year 1874 so memorable.

   1From what is here given, it is very evident that these insects have occasionally proved great plagues from the earliest settlement of the country; and there can be no doubt that from time immemorial, or since our continent assumed its present configuration, they have from time to time played the same role of devastators, and that the only exceptional circumstance about the 1874 and 1876 irruptions, compared with those of former years, is the larger area of settled and cultivated country devastated, and the consequent greater amount of distress entailed.

   [...]

   2There is some difference of opinion as to the precise natural habitat and breeding place of the Rocky Mountain Locust, but the facts all indicate that it is by nature a denizen of high altitudes, breeding in the valleys, parks and plateaus of the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado, and especially of Montana, Wyoming and British America. Prof. Cyrus Thomas, who, through his connection with Hayden's geological survey of the Territories, has had an excellent opportunity of studying it, reports it as occurring from Texas to British America and from the Mississippi (more correctly speaking, the line I have indicated) westward to the Sierra Nevada range.

   1The immediate damage was the loss of labor expended in planting, and the seeding for about two-thirds of the crop acreage of the country, to which may be added the destruction of the fruit and the tame grasses. Detailed returns of the damage done in Missouri, showed a loss of over fifteen millions of dollars. The amount of loss redeemed by crops that succeeded after the insects left, it was impossible to determine; but the amount was offset by the injury both temporary and permanent, to fruit, fruit trees, vineyards, gardens, meadows and pastures; by the fact that such crops as flax, castor-beans, etc., were not estimated in the calculation; and lastly, by the injury to stock, as the animals were necessarily driven out of the country, and by the general depreciation of property. Missouri had never before been visited by a calamity so appalling, and so disastrous in its results, as the locust ravages of 1875. Other years have brought drought, chinch bugs, and partial or total failure of particular crops, but no event ever before so completely prostrated the country within which the ravages occurred. The suddenness and desolating power with which the attack came, where often the possessor of promising crops deemed them safe, acted as a paralysis upon those very faculties that are engaged in the forethought and deliberation necessary to self-preservation or concerted action. The farmer saw his green acres smiling with glorious hope to-day, and to-morrow, perhaps, all barren and bleak as in winter. It is no wonder that many communities were panic-stricken. Previous disaster had already brought many sections to a critical and suffering point, so that even during the winter the Legislature was appealed to for aid. Stock had been dying; feed of all kinds was scarce, and whole communities were relying on the promise of the spring. For this reason the locust ravages were all the more desolating and discouraging. Some cases of actual starvation were reported in the papers, but I was unable to learn of a single instance which could be authenticated by the names of the suffering parties. Replies to the question, "Did any cases of actual destitution or starvation positively occur in your county?" from over a hundred correspondents in the counties in Missouri which suffered most, with scarcely an exception were to the effect that while there was great destitution no cases of starvation occurred.

   1It suffices here to state that the injuries by locusts in the desert countries bordering mountain ranges in the East, are by no means matters of past history only, but that they are felt occasionally at the present time as they have been for all time past. In 1866, during the same year as our previous great invasion, Algeria and the whole country in the north of Africa, was severely visited, causing the famine of 1867, and the epidemics which followed. In 1874, these insects caused serious alarm in the same parts of Africa; and M. H. Brocard tells us that in the three subdivisions of Constantine, Setiff and Batna, 4,820 hectolitres (about 14,000 bushels) of eggs were collected. Every year since, they have done serious injury in parts of Europe, and this very year (1877) reports of fearful destruction come from Tripoli and Barbary.

   [...]

   2In Algeria the custom prevails of sending the soldiers against these insects. While in the south of France last summer [1875], I found to my great satisfaction, that at Arles, Bouche du Rhône, where the unfledged locusts (Caloptenus Italicus, a species closely allied to our Rocky Mountain Locust), were doing great harm, the soldiers had been sent in force to do battle with them, and were then and there waging a vigorous war against the tiny foe.

   1As an incident of the 1876 invasion, the Conference of the Executives of those States and Territories which most suffer from locust ravages, and of scientific gentlemen interested in the subject, held at Omaha, Neb., on the 25th and 26th of October, is worthy of mention. [...] The Conference was called at the invitation of Gov. Pillsbury, in the hope of obtaining concert of action in the best means of meeting or averting the evil. After a two-days' session, and an instructive interchange of experiences and opinions, and the passage of a series of resolutions, a committee consisting of John S. Pillsbury, Pennock Pusey, and myself, was appointed to prepare for publication the official report of Proceedings, together with a summary of the best means known for counteracting the evil; and 10,000 copies of a pamphlet of 72 pages were accordingly published last fall. By being widely distributed, this pamphlet has undoubtedly done much good, and has also had no small share in bringing about certain much needed State and National legislation.

   [...]

   2Too much stress can not be laid on the advantage of co-operation and concert of action, and legislation both to induce and to oblige action is important. In every community there are those who persist in doing nothing to prevent locust injury. These indifferents frequently bring ruin not only upon themselves, but upon more persevering neighbors, and any law will prove beneficial that will oblige every able-bodied man to work one or more days, either in the fall in destroying the eggs, or in the spring in killing the young insects, whenever the township trustees, at the request of a given number of citizens of the township, may call them to such work under special provisions similar to those of existing road-laws. It is a gratifying indication of the increasing appreciation of economic entomology that, while three years ago the mere suggestion to enact laws for the suppression of injurious insects would have been, and was, received by our legislators with ridicule; yet, during the winter of 1876-7, several States have seen fit to pass acts that have for object the destruction of this locust, or the relief of the suffering and destitution it so often entails — not to mention the appropriation made by Congress for a special investigation.

   1In this connection it is also very obvious that our Signal Service might be made the means of giving important assistance to the farmers of the West, by warning them of coming danger. If, as I believe, the disastrous swarms which reach the southeastern country come from the extreme Northwest, there is no reason why, by increasing the number of signal stations in that region, the movements of large swarms should not be daily recorded, and the farmers to the East and Southeast be apprised of their probable coming for weeks in advance. The people might not, it is true, greatly benefit by the information, except in preparing and providing for the possible contingency; but by thus recording the movements of swarms, we shall in a few years come to know more about the native breeding places and habits of the species, and as the Bureau perfects its work, we may, through it, learn the fall before, when the insects have become unduly multiplied, or have laid enormous quantities of eggs, over large areas in their native habitat, and when, in consequence, an invasion the following year is probable; in which event a larger proportion of small grains and other crops that escape the ravages of the fall swarms, can be planted in the threatened country.

   [...]

   2In reference to bounty laws, the experience of Minnesota, where they were in force in some counties in 1875, is valuable, and the State Commissioners did not hesitate to recommend the system after the county trials, imperfect as they were, and commenced as they were, in most cases, too late in the season. It was clearly shown that in one township $30,000 worth of crops was saved by an expenditure of $6,000. Nicollet county paid $25,053 for 25,053 bushels of locusts, but the price paid by other counties was higher; in fact, much too high.

   How to cite. The "[...]" lines mark cuts and are not numbered. Source 1 has paragraphs 1-3, Sources 2, 4, 5 and 6 have paragraphs 1-2, and Source 3 is one paragraph.

   Part 2: Model the analysis. Work through the examples aloud and fill in Diagram 1 as you go. Show the timeline (Diagram 2) with Example 2, because the history lens needs dates. Each example uses one or two lenses and one level, and ends with the box of the grid it fills.

   • Characteristics at the regional level: geography and economics lenses (Source 1)

     Riley says the 1874 invasion reached "the entire States of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas" and parts of nine more states and territories (Source 1, paragraph 2). What does this tell us about what the problem looked like?

     Result: Geography lens: the problem was huge and crossed state lines, so no single state could see all of it. Economics lens: Riley puts the loss to those states at close to "fifty millions of dollars" (paragraph 3). Grid box: regional characteristics (wide area, very costly).

   • Causes over time: science and history lenses (Source 2 and Diagram 2)

     Riley says locusts had been "great plagues from the earliest settlement of the country" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Why, then, were the 1874 and 1876 invasions worse than earlier ones?

     Result: Science lens: the insects breed "in the valleys, parks and plateaus of the Rocky Mountain region" (paragraph 2) and fly out to the plains, which is a natural cause. History lens: what was new was "the larger area of settled and cultivated country" (paragraph 1), a human cause: more farms stood in the swarms' path. Diagram 2 shows invasions in earlier decades too. Grid box: regional causes, one natural and one human.

   • Characteristics and causes at the local level: economics lens (Source 3)

     In Missouri, Riley writes, "whole communities were relying on the promise of the spring" (Source 3). Why did the 1875 attack hit so hard?

     Result: The locusts were not the only cause of the suffering. "Previous disaster had already brought many sections to a critical and suffering point": stock had been dying and feed was scarce. Economics lens: families had little feed or food left to fall back on when the spring crop failed. Grid box: local causes (the locusts plus earlier losses).

   • The global level: geography and history lenses (Source 4)

     Riley writes that in 1866 "Algeria and the whole country in the north of Africa, was severely visited, causing the famine of 1867" (Source 4, paragraph 1). How does this change our view of the American problem?

     Result: Geography lens: locust swarms were a problem on other continents too, in dry lands near mountains. History lens: they were not "matters of past history only" but were happening at the same time as in America. This also opens an opportunity: other countries had experience to learn from, such as sending soldiers to help (paragraph 2). Grid box: global characteristics, and a global opportunity.

   • Challenges and opportunities: civics lens (Source 5)

     The Omaha conference was called "in the hope of obtaining concert of action" (Source 5, paragraph 1). What challenge did it try to solve, and what opportunity did it create?

     Result: Challenge: the swarms crossed state lines, so one state acting alone could not stop them. Opportunity: the governors and scientists published "the best means known" for fighting locusts and helped bring about "State and National legislation" (paragraph 1). Grid box: regional challenges and opportunities.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Source 7, four short analyses written by invented students. Tell students before they read that two of the four are deliberately weak. For each one, pairs name the lens and the level it uses, check it against the sources, and rewrite the weak ones so that they are accurate.

   1Maya: The locust problem was a local problem in Missouri. The farmers there did not work hard enough to stop the insects, so their crops were eaten. If they had worked harder, the problem would have been solved.

   2Luis: Through a geography lens, the problem started far from the farms that suffered. Riley calls the locust "a denizen of high altitudes" in the Rocky Mountain region (Source 2), and the 1874 swarms spread across whole states (Source 1). Through an economics lens, the region lost close to "fifty millions of dollars" (Source 1). So the problem was regional, and its cause lay outside the places that were hurt.

   3Ana: Locusts were also a global problem. In 1874, people in Africa collected "about 14,000 bushels" of eggs (Source 4). The Omaha conference brought together leaders from many countries to solve the problem worldwide.

   4Sam: People trying to fix the problem faced a challenge: some farmers did nothing, and these "indifferents" could ruin "more persevering neighbors" (Source 5). They also had an opportunity: the Omaha conference printed "10,000 copies of a pamphlet" so that farmers everywhere could learn the best methods (Source 5). Laws and shared knowledge could help the whole region act together.

   5Teacher's note printed with the samples: two of these four analyses are deliberately weak. Decide which two, and why.

   Teacher key (discussion points). Maya's analysis (paragraph 1) is weak: it uses one level and blames the farmers, while Source 3 shows that the attack was sudden and came after earlier losses, and Source 5 shows that neighbors who worked hard could still be ruined by those who did nothing. A fair rewrite names a cause the farmers could not control. Luis's analysis (paragraph 2) is strong: it uses two lenses, quotes the sources accurately and shows that the cause lay outside the places that suffered. Ana's analysis (paragraph 3) starts well but is weak: the Omaha conference brought together governors of American states and territories, not leaders "from many countries" (Source 5). Sam's analysis (paragraph 4) is strong: it names a real challenge and a real opportunity and connects them.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Each student completes the Problem Analysis Grid (Diagram 1) for the locust problem. Every one of the twelve boxes needs one entry with a source and paragraph number, and the whole grid must use at least three different lenses. Then each student writes three to five sentences answering the compelling question. A strong answer names a natural cause, a human cause, and one challenge that came from the problem crossing borders.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one thing about the locust problem that you could only see from the regional level, and one thing you could only see from the local level."

   Teacher note on the sources: all six historical sources are from one author. Riley was a scientist who wanted governments to pass insect laws and praised the growing support for his field (Source 5, paragraph 2), and he reports farmers' experiences secondhand. Ask students whose voices are missing (farm families themselves, the relief committees, and the Native nations of the region, whose lands appear in Source 1 only as a place name, Indian Territory) and what kinds of sources could add them, such as letters, diaries or county records. Riley uses the word "plague" for an insect outbreak, as people did at the time. The excerpts leave out his religious quotation from the Book of Exodus.

   Quiz passage. Questions 1-9, 15, 16, 19 and 20 use Source 8, an invented scenario about a town's oak trees.

   1Dellwood is an invented town of 9,000 people. Five years ago, a parks worker noticed small holes in the bark of an oak tree in Mill Pond Park. The holes were made by the oak beetle, an insect whose young eat the wood just under the bark. Infested oaks (oaks with beetles living in them) lose their leaves and die within about three years.

   2Last year, the town counted 120 oaks in its parks. Of these, 30 were infested. This year, 48 are infested. Removing one dead oak costs the town about $1,500.

   3The county forester reports that the beetle has now been found in three counties. It spreads slowly on its own, about one mile a year, but it travels much farther in firewood that people carry to campgrounds. The state now has a rule that firewood may not be carried more than 50 miles, but few people know about it.

   4A report from a national forestry office (invented) says that beetles of this kind first arrived in the country in wooden shipping crates from overseas. Foresters in several other countries are fighting related beetles.

   5Not everyone in Dellwood agrees on what to do. Rosa Diaz sells firewood at a roadside stand and says a strict firewood rule would hurt her business. Ben Okafor, a homeowner, wants the town to save every old oak, even at high cost. A parks worker says that if the town replants, it should plant several kinds of trees instead of only oaks. The Dellwood Middle School science club has offered to map every infested tree.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail from Source 8 describes the oak beetle problem at the local level?

   AInfested oaks die within about three years BThe beetle has been found in three counties CA parks worker saw holes in one park oak DBeetles came in shipping crates from overseas

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these is a cause of the beetle's spread, not a characteristic of the problem?

   AInfested oaks lose their leaves and die BForty-eight park oaks are infested this year CPeople carry firewood to campgrounds DA dead oak costs about $1,500 to remove

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The sentence "Removing one dead oak costs the town about $1,500" (Source 8, paragraph 2) is most useful through which lens?

   AGeography BEconomics CScience DHistory

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What percent of Dellwood's 120 park oaks are infested this year?

   A25% B40% C48% D60%

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail shows the global level of the problem?

   AForesters abroad fight related beetles BThe beetle spreads about one mile a year CThe state limits how far firewood travels DThe science club will map infested trees

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which is a challenge faced by the people trying to address the beetle problem?

   AThe science club offered to map the trees BThe young beetles eat the wood under the bark CThe town counted all its park oaks last year DFew people know about the state firewood rule

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which is an opportunity for the people trying to address the problem in Dellwood?

   ARosa Diaz worries about losing firewood sales BInfested trees die within about three years CReplanting with several kinds of trees DEach dead oak costs about $1,500 to remove

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Rosa Diaz's point of view (Source 8, paragraph 5) belong in an analysis of the problem?

   AIt shows that a firewood rule has costs for some people BIt proves that the beetle never travels in firewood at all CIt shows that she personally caused the beetle problem DIt means that the town should ignore the state rule

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does the change from 30 infested oaks last year to 48 this year show?

   AThe problem is mostly a global one BThe problem is growing over time CThe beetle has now been stopped DThe town now owns more oaks

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riley writes that some cases of starvation "were reported in the papers" (Source 3). How did he check this part of the story?

    AHe counted the graves in every county of the state BHe trusted each newspaper report exactly as printed CHe visited every farm family in the western counties DHe asked a hundred people in the worst counties

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riley reports that in three districts of Algeria "4,820 hectolitres (about 14,000 bushels) of eggs were collected" in 1874 (Source 4, paragraph 1). What does this show about the people fighting locusts there?

    AThey had no way at all to fight the swarms BThey waited for soldiers to come from France CThey destroyed the eggs before they hatched DThey sold the eggs to farmers as animal feed

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riley admits farmers "might not, it is true, greatly benefit by the information" from new signal stations (Source 6, paragraph 1). Why did he still want them?

    ARecords of swarms would show where locusts breed BSignal stations could stop swarms from flying east CThe Army had asked for new work for its soldiers DFarmers had already asked Congress for weather news

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riley says famine and death would have followed in 1874 "had it not been for the sympathy of the whole country" (Source 1, paragraph 1). What does this show about the problem?

    AThe locusts reached every state in the country BHelp from beyond the region was an opportunity CThe problem was mainly a global one by 1874 DThe western states did not need any help

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riley wants township trustees to call men to work "under special provisions similar to those of existing road-laws" (Source 5, paragraph 2). Which lens is he using most?

    AScience BGeography CHistory DCivics

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 8, explain what each level shows about the beetle problem that the level below it does not: start with Dellwood (local), then the counties and the state (regional), then the world (global). Cite the paragraph for each.

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16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 8, name one natural cause and one human cause of the beetle problem, and explain why the difference matters to the people trying to solve it.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name one challenge shared by the people fighting the locusts in the 1870s and the people fighting the beetle in Dellwood. Use evidence from Sources 1-6 and from Source 8.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 6, paragraph 2 says that in one Minnesota township "$30,000 worth of crops was saved by an expenditure of $6,000", and that Nicollet county "paid $25,053 for 25,053 bushels of locusts". How many dollars of crops did the township save for each dollar it spent, and what did Nicollet pay per bushel? What does Riley say about the price in other counties, and why does that matter?

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 8, Rosa Diaz and Ben Okafor see the problem differently. Explain each point of view, and one challenge their disagreement creates for the town.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose two disciplinary lenses and explain what each one shows about the Dellwood problem that the other does not.

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These standards connect to D4.6.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.