CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Title:

The Role of Alliances as a Cause of World War I

Unit Central Historical

Question(s):

What were the causes of World War

I and what specific role did alliances
play?

Subject / Course:

WWI / Modern World History

Grade:

10 Grade Advanced Placement

Lesson Duration:

90 minutes

Date: 10/23/2014

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Content Learning Objective:

After getting into groups to simulate the pre-World War I national interests of the major powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Italy, England, France and Russias), listening to a class lecture and reviewing a
video on the causes of World War I, and getting into groups to read five of the major treaties that created
alliances, students will be to identify at least one major motivation behind each nations joining of either the
Allied or Central Powers and identify militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism as the four MAIN
causes of World War I with 100% accuracy.

Historical Thinking Learning Objective (thinking skill and product):

e.g., students will be able to weigh [historical thinking learning objective] by [activity].
Students will read and analyze primary source documents (various alliance treaties) to determine how the
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major pre-WWI participants allied themselves in the late 18 and early 19 centuries. Students will also be
able to identify causes behind pre-World War I alliance building, and finally, the four major causes of World
War I (militarism, imperialism, and nationalism).

Historical Thinking Skill, California Content, and Common Core Standards Addressed:
Historical Thinking Skills:
Evidence and Interpretation and Cause and Consequence
California Content Standards:
10.5 Students analyze the causes and course of the First World War
10.5.1 Analyze the arguments for entering into war presented by leaders from all sides of the Great War
and the role of political and economic rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, domestic discontent and disorder, and propaganda and nationalism in mobilizing the civilian population is support of total war.
Common Core Standards:
Key Ideas and Details:
CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary
of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH9.10.3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones
or simply preceded them.

CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH9-10.8
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the authors claims.

Narrative Summary of Tasks / Actions:

1. Warmup: 8 minutes
2. Student Group Activity 1: 15 minutes
3. Lesson Assessment for Group Activity 1: 10 minutes
4. Closure for Group Activity 1: 5 minutes
5. Teacher Input (short lecture & video): 17 minutes
6. Student Group Activity 2: 15 minutes
7. Lesson Assessment for Group Activity 2: 10 minutes
8. Closure for Group Activity 2: 5 minutes
9. Student reflection: 5 minutes

Materials / Equipment:
This Lesson will require the following materials:
Lesson handouts (#2)
Lesson Powerpoint (includes Youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRcg_t2oJkc)
Journal: for closing activity

Inquiry-Based Lesson Plan for History-Social Science

1. Anticipatory Set

Time: 8 minutes

AIM: TO REMIND STUDENTS OF THE COMPLEX

NATURE OF CAUSES.
When class is entering have the Powerpoint already
on, with a large photo of the RMS Titanic.
At class beginning ask students the following prompt:
Show of hands: How many of you know what the
Titanic was? Then explain:

CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

On or about April 15, 1912 over 1500 passengers

aboard the Titanic died. Does anyone know what
caused their deaths?
(Take a few individual student answers, then mention
the rest of the ones included below.)
-not enough lifeboats
-struck an iceberg
-navigator error
-they couldnt swim
-hypothermia
-drowning
-steering error
-human hubris?
In some ways these causes can ALL explain, in one
way or another, why this disaster happened. The
idea you should take from this is that the idea of a
cause, of one event that precedes another but
makes an effect explainable, is a complex idea.
Please keep this idea somewhere close to you as we
examine: THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I!
Start lesson.
2. Central Historical Question for Lesson
Why did alliances form in the ways they did pre-World War I and what role did they play among the four main
causes of World War I?

3. Student Activity and Investigation (w/ differentiation) (Group Activity 1):

Time: 15 minutes

Students will be split into 7 groups, each representing one of the following major pre-WWI powers: Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Russia, France, and Turkey. Each group will then be given slip of paper indicating that countrys particular national interests at that time. (For example, Frances will include Still upset
at having lost territory to Germany during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.) Based on their countries respective national interests, each group will have to figure out which other countries theyd like to ally themselves with. (Students will be told that in the end they must end up in two main groups, representing the Allied and Central Powers, respectively.)

4. Lesson Assessment for Group Activity 1:

Time: 15 minutes

After Group Activity 1 one randomly chosen student from each group will be asked why the group chose the
particular alliance members they did and how the alliance promotes their respective national interests. Any
incorrectly allied groups will be reviewed and corrected.

5. Closure for Group Activity 1:

Time: 5 minutes

After Group Activity 1 the class will discuss the two major alliances together, with students to be chosen randomly. The class will be asked to take notes.

CSULB History Social Science Lesson Plan Template

6. Teacher Input (delivery of historical context):

Time: 17 minutes

Instructor will deliver a short lecture discussing the MAIN causes of WWI (militarism, alliances, imperialism
and nationalism). The lecture will be 10 minutes and incorporate a Powerpoint slideshow. After the lecture a
7 minute Youtube video will be shown that reinforces the lectures points.

7. Student Activity and Investigation (w/ differentiation) (Group Activity 2):

Time: 15 minutes

Students will be put into several groups and asked to review a handout that includes the following: text from
five major pre-WWI alliance treaties, a pre WWI map that illustrates the various alliances, and a chart summarizing and naming the major alliances. Groups will then be asked to identify the alliance that the treaty is
for based on each treatys text.

8. Lesson Assessment for Group Activity 2:

Time: 15 minutes

After Group Activity 2: (10 minutes): One randomly chosen student from each group will be asked why the
group identified a particular treaty as such.

9. Closure for Group Activity 2:

Time: 10 minutes

After Group Activity 2 the class will discuss their treaty identification answers with students randomly chosen.
The class will be asked to take notes and correct any incorrect answers based on the discussion.

10. Student Reflection (metacognition)

Time: 5 minutes

Students will journal for 5 minutes the following prompt:

Historians continue to debate the exact causes of World War I and even whether the Great War could have
been avoided. Based on this lesson do you think World War I could have been avoided? If yes, why? If not,
why? (Be sure to write well-reasoned responses with evidence weve covered in class.)