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World War I

Activity 1 | Activity 2

Who could have imagined an entire planet at war? What caused the world to be at war? Was it the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria? Was it the rise of labor or women's demands for equal rights? Was it the desire of Germany for a larger empire? Find out how the United States was drawn into the war. Look at the terrible effects of war on the lives of those who served by viewing some of the sites and doing the activities below.

The Great War Interactive Timeline http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/timeline/index.html

The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century http://www.pbs.org/greatwar

Encyclopedia of the First World War http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWW.htm

In the Trenches: The Soldier's Experience in World War I http://www.people.virginia.edu/%7eegl2r/wwi.html

Veteran and Military World War I Web Sites http://members.aol.com/veterans/warlib6d.htm

First World War.com http://www.firstworldwar.com

Activity 1

Objective Students will create a graph of the statistics surrounding World War I.
Procedure

  1. Break the students into pairs

  2. Have the students go to the Web site at http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWdeaths.htm or click here to get data.

  3. Students can make one of the following graphs:

    • A bar graph showing the percentage of casualties to those mobilized.

    • A scatter plot comparing the total mobilized and the number killed. (More advanced students can make a line of best fit and find the slope of the line.)

    • A scatter plot comparing the total mobilized and the total casualties. (More advanced students can make a line of best fit and find the slope of the line.)

  4. Students will write a paragraph explaining the content of the graph. This description should give numerical examples of the information, e.g. "This graph shows that the Russians had 76.3% of those who mobilized as casualties where the United States had only 8.2%."
Evaluation

For full credit, graphs should have:

  • the axis labeled

  • consistent intervals on the graph

  • a title

  • a written explanation of the graph that has numbers in the explanation.

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Activity 2

Objective Students will identify people who played a key role in the World War I.
Procedure
  1. Students will work in pairs.

  2. The pair will pick one person who played a significant role in the World War I and will do research on this person.

  3. Students will make a poster citing key facts about this person. Facts can be found using the Web sites below or available print materials. At least five facts should be cited. The top of the poster will be labeled WHO AM I? The name of the person will be identified on the back of the poster.

  4. Posters will be numbered and displayed around the classroom.

  5. Students will number their papers and go around the room and try to identify the person described in each poster.

  6. A prize could be awarded to the pair that correctly names the most people on the posters. (The teacher could give a list of people who are named on the posters and the students could match the names with the posters.)

Key People

Kaiser Wilhelm II http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWkaiser.htm

Tsar Nicholas http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtsar.htm

Rasputin http://darter.ocps.net/classroom/who/darter1/rasputin.htm

Woodrow Wilson http://www.woodrowwilsonhouse.org/aboutfr.htm

Vladimir Ilyach Lenin http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/bio/index.htm
Evaluation The poster should be titled WHO AM I? and cite five facts about the person; the name of that person should be listed on the back as well as the students' names. The teacher can evaluate based on the content of the poster and the students' ability to follow directions.
Enrichment

These lesson plans are available on the Web.

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand Be a reporter and write a story about the assassination of the Archduke. Go to http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/A2FWW.htm.

The Outbreak of the War From a list of possible causes of the war, determine which you think are the top five causes and why. Check out http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/A4FWW.htm.

Who Was Responsible for World War I? A WebQuest Find some answers at http://www.esc20.net/etprojects/formats/webquests/misc99/wwl/wwi.htm.

"Hezzie" Goes to War Parallels can be drawn between the current conflicts and the past. Find out more at http://coas.missouri.edu/anthromuseum/pattrickwwi.

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