World War I: People, Places, and Events
Grade Levels: 5 - 8
Objectives
- Students will obtain information using traditional and online resources.
- Students will judge the accuracy of online information.
- Students will list their sources in a bibliography.
- Students will create a presentation about their World War I topic.
Materials
- Bibliography handout
- Internet access
- Reference materials
Procedures
- List World War I topics, such as the following, on chart paper: leaders, submarines, flying aces, the role of women, the League of Nations, soldiers, battles, inventions. Invite students to add to the list of topics.
- Ask each student to choose a topic, and encourage them to choose a topic that they are interested in learning more about.
- Brainstorm resources where students can look for information. (For example, the Internet, books, encyclopedias.)
- Have students list what they already know about their World War I topic. Then help them develop questions that will guide their research.
- Students may benefit from looking at photographs to help them generate questions about this era.
- Encourage students to use both online and traditional sources for their research.
- Ask students to create a product or presentation to share their research information.
Some ideas include:- writing a biography and then reading it dressed as that person.
- creating the front page of a newspaper, complete with headlines and short articles.
- making a diorama that shows some war event.
- drawing maps that compare the geography of Europe before and after the war.
- writing a report about how inventions, such as the telegraph, machine gun, and airplane, had an effect on the war.
- To show that their work is authentic, students should create a bibliography.
- Distribute the bibliography handout.
- Students invite other classes to view and hear about their World War I research.
Assessment
Use the following checklist to evaluate students' work in completing this lesson.Student should be able to:
____ write questions about the research topic.
____ use traditional and online resources to answer the questions.
____ compile the research into a well-organized, creative project.
