Post-war American popular culture
I can assess the changes in American popular culture during the post-war period.
Post-war American popular culture
I can assess the changes in American popular culture during the post-war period.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Televisions became widely available and popular.
- A new 'teenage' identity developed in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Rock and Roll became a popular form of music.
- Advertisers and the entertainment industry targeted teenage audiences.
Keywords
Popular culture - popular culture is the types of entertainments enjoyed by ordinary people in a country
Broadcast - a broadcast is to send out a TV or radio programme
Generation - all the people in a society or family who are approximately the same age are called a generation
Common misconception
All older Americans were opposed to teenage culture in the 1940s and 1950s.
Adults working in advertising as well as some in the entertainment industry were happy to target teenage audiences.
To help you plan your year 11 history lesson on: Post-war American popular culture, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 history lesson on: Post-war American popular culture, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 history lessons from the USA Society: how far did American society change after WW2? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended