New Deal Ideas

This worksheet invites students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 to explore Progressive Era reform through historical reasoning, civic understanding, creative thinking, and explanatory writing. By imagining themselves as members of Congress in 1912, learners design a reform bill to address a real social, political, or economic problem, helping them understand why reforms were needed and how lawmakers balanced competing interests.

Skills Reinforced

• Progressive Era Problems (Grades 6-8) – Identify major social, political, and economic challenges facing the nation
• Civic & Legislative Understanding – Explain how laws are proposed, debated, supported, and opposed
• Historical Reasoning – Apply period-appropriate thinking to reform solutions
• Creative & Explanatory Writing – Develop a clear reform proposal with a historically inspired bill name

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with middle school history, civics, and ELA standards
• Role-Based Learning – Engages students by placing them in the role of lawmakers
• Structured Planning Sections – Guides students through identifying problems, goals, supporters, and opponents
• Flexible Use – Works well for class projects, enrichment, assessments, or homeschool instruction
• Encourages Higher-Order Thinking – Combines creativity with argument-based reasoning

This New Deal Ideas worksheet helps students think like Progressive Era reformers by connecting real historical problems to thoughtful legislative solutions. Through creativity, analysis, and writing, learners deepen their understanding of social change, government action, and reform motivations. It’s a no-prep, engaging resource for classroom and homeschool settings focused on meaningful exploration of Progressive Era lawmaking.

This worksheet is part of our Progressive Era and Reform Movements Worksheets collection.