Engaging Students Through Simulations
World War IWhy does the United States leave the safety of neutrality and enter World War I? This activity requires students to make and justify decisions in response to historical situations while identifying values that guide all foreign policy decisions.
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Early Cold WarHow would YOU react if you had lived during the 1940s and 1950s? In this activity students work in teams to consider four scenarios and give advice to the President as if they are a specific Cabinet position. This real world activity requires students to develop a real foreign or domestic policy based on a specific value and goal. The students better connect to difficult content such as the Truman Doctrine because they developed that policy "first"!
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Coming Soon! |
Why is engagement so important?
Using these strategies before a segment of learning as a tool for engagement brings students into the unit with curiosity and it naturally creates a brain pathway better able to make connects with the content. If you are not familiar with the instructional design model 5E (popular in science curriculum), it is worth considering when designing social studies units as well. The 5Es are (in order of instructional design):
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate