VELS Unit Planner The Twentieth Century Team: JB Year Level: 10

Topic 4 – Terrorism and Terrorists

Step 1
1. What is worthy and desiring of understanding? (Identify desired results)
2. What is evidence of understanding? (Determine acceptable evidences)
3. What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest and excellence? (Plan learning experiences and instructions)
Key Concept What is terrorism?
(Generative topic / why? / Why does it happen?
big idea) Is it a new part of history?
Does it occur because nobody listens anymore?

Focus Essential Learning Domain: Humanities - History

Domain Dimensions: Historical knowledge and understanding
(Including dimensions) Standards:
Students analyse the impact of some key wars and conflicts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These could include the world
wars, revolutions, the Cold War and post Cold War conflicts. They explain aspects of increasing global interconnections in the twentieth
and twenty-first centuries. They demonstrate understanding of key ideologies and explain their influence on people’s lives, national
events and international relations. They explain why significant social and cultural movements have developed and evaluate their
influence on societies. They analyse changes in technology, medicine and communication.

Domain: Humanities - History

Dimensions: Historical reasoning and interpretation
Standards:
Students frame research questions and locate relevant resources, including contemporary media and online resources. They identify,
comprehend and evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources, including visual sources and use historical conventions such as
footnotes and bibliographies to document sources. They critically evaluate sources of evidence for context, information, reliability,
completeness, objectivity and bias. They recognise that in history there are multiple perspectives and partial explanations. They use
appropriate historical language and concepts in historical explanations. They use evidence to support arguments and select and use
appropriate written and oral forms to communicate develop historical explanations in a variety of oral, written and electronic forms.

Supporting Domains Domain: Thinking Processes

(Including dimensions) Dimensions: Reasoning, processing and enquiry
Standards: They make informed decisions based on their analysis of various perspectives and, sometimes contradictory, information.

Domain: Thinking Processes

Dimensions: Creativity
Standards: Students experiment with innovative possibilities within the parameters of a task.
Understanding Goals 1 2 3 4
(Written as essential Why do acts of terrorism Who suffers the most? How does the world deal
questions or statements) take place? with terrorism?

Step 2
1. What is worthy and desiring of understanding? (Identify desired results)
2. What is evidence of understanding? (Determine acceptable evidences)
3. What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest and excellence? (Plan learning experiences and instructions)
Sequence Understanding Performances of Understanding Ongoing Assessment Reference to
Goals (Criteria, feedback & reflection) specific VELS
standards
Introductory Students to gain an understanding of the Movie – Arlington Road – see JB
Performances Why do acts of difficulties of monitoring the growth of History
(Tuning in) terrorism take terrorism Video - Library – History of Terrorism
place? Thinking
Processes

Guided Inquiry
Performances Research – into events, individuals, world See Task sheet. History
(Finding out / reactions, the War on Terror etc. Need to use Library.
sorting out / Thinking
going further) Mapping activity on places where terrorist Processes
attacks have occurred. Students try to explain
the reasons for the location of these attacks
Culminating
Performances How does the Student opinion on how terrorism should be History
(Making world deal with dealt with – discussion/opinion sharing.
conclusions / terrorism? Thinking
taking action) Is Terrorist Watch a good idea????? Processes

How can we do something to prevent attacks?

Step 3
1. What is worthy and desiring of understanding? (Identify desired results)
2. What is evidence of understanding? (Determine acceptable evidences)
3. What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest and excellence? (Plan learning experiences and instructions)

Weekly Overview
(Units may vary in length. A 6 week timeframe is not prescriptive)
Week 1
Introductory activities – movie – Arlington Road.

Week 2
History of Terrorism

Week 3
Library Research

Week 4
Library Research

Week 5
Mapping activity – discussion – ideas for the future – Terrorist watch???

Week 6

Resources