WORLD WAR II UNIT WEBQUEST
COULD WORLD WAR II HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?
8TH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER
Objectives
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of World War II in Europe and the Pacific.
- Utilize web-based resources to create an effective study guide for an exam.
- Learn how to use a new application or web-tool for your schoolwork.
- Work cooperatively in a group setting.
First, let's view these interviews with American WWII Veterans:
Watching these interviews will help you complete this webquest. Watch these interviews and begin to think about what you'd share if you were interviewed following WWII and whether or not you believe WWII could have been avoided.
Introduction
You and your troop have just arrived back home from the war and the local news station has just asked if they can interview you about your experiences. So much has happened over the past few years that you realize you need to sit down and gather your thoughts about what you saw and learned. Don't worry; there will be "check points" along the way to make certain your troop is on track to meet the deadline!
Task
You will be working in groups of 4 members from your troop. Each troop member will be designated with sharing a certain part of what you experienced during WWII with the local news station. People around the nation are captivated to hear your story. Then you will come back together to prepare for the special interview.
Check Point #1: Your commanding officer (Miss Lilek) will assign your troop and your troop's essential question to answer. Answering the essential question means researching each area listed under your group's question.
The news station has asked you to share your stories/experiences on the following topics:
-Major events/battles
-Influential people of the war
-Atomic Bombs
-The Holocaust
-Alliances
-War strategies of Allied and Axis powers
Check Point #1: Your commanding officer (Miss Lilek) will assign your troop and your troop's essential question to answer. Answering the essential question means researching each area listed under your group's question.
The news station has asked you to share your stories/experiences on the following topics:
-Major events/battles
-Influential people of the war
-Atomic Bombs
-The Holocaust
-Alliances
-War strategies of Allied and Axis powers
Topics and Essential Questions for your group:
Locate your assigned topic/essential question below. Your troop is responsible for providing definitions, explanations, or answers to each item listed below your topic. (Remember, this is part of your study guide; your best work is expected.)
What were the major events and battles during World War II?
Who were the influential people during World War II?
What happened during The Holocaust?
Who were the major alliances during World War II?
What were the military strategies of the Allies and Axis powers?
How was the Atomic Bomb developed and used?
What were the major events and battles during World War II?
- Which European country was invaded immediately before WWII actually began in Europe?
- Which European country did Germany fully invaded, thus violating the Munich Pact?
- Which important battle allowed the Allies to enter Germany from both the east and west?
- Which battle was the turning point of the war in Europe?
- Which battle was the turning point of the war in the Pacific?
- What happened on December 7, 1941?
- Total war
Who were the influential people during World War II?
- Harry S. Truman
- Josef Stalin
- Winston Churchill
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Adolf Hitler
- Benito Mussolini
- Neville Chamberlain
- Tojo
- Hirohito
- Who was in charge of the US Navy in the Pacific?
- Who was the US Army General who, “vowed to return to the Philippines”?
What happened during The Holocaust?
- Holocaust
- Anti-Semitism
- Nuremburg Laws
- Lebensraum
- Final Solution
- Einsatzgruppen
- Zyklon B
- Genocide
- Mein Kampf
- Aryan
- Gestapo
- What is “the final solution to the Jewish problem”?
Who were the major alliances during World War II?
- Tripartite Pact
- Axis and Allies - beginning of war
- Axis and Allies - December 1941
- Rome-Berlin Axis
- Munich Conference
- Explain the Lend-Lease Act
What were the military strategies of the Allies and Axis powers?
- Operation Barbarossa
- Operation Sea Lion
- Operation Overlord
- What are the steps to Nazification?
- appeasement
- isolationism
- island hopping
- kamikaze
- Bataan Death march
How was the Atomic Bomb developed and used?
- Which cities were targets of atomic bombs?
- What was the criteria for deciding which Japanese cities would be bombed?
- What eventually brought the war in the Pacific to an end?
- Who made the decision to use the Atomic Bomb?
- Which cities were targets of the Atomic Bomb?
- What dates were the bombs dropped?
- The Manhattan Project
Final Project
- Check Point #2: After gathering all of your thoughts on the topic/essential question your troop was researching, check in with your Commander (Miss Lilek)
- Check Point #3: Your group will then choose one of the following projects to present your material. There are examples found in the Resources section to give your troop some ideas about how to present the information. Report your choice to your Commander (Miss Lilek). REMEMBER, your presentation must include an answer to the question: Do you think World War II could have been avoided?
- Write a journal entry detailing your experiences (on your topic) to be shared with the news station.
- Use ThingLink or Popplet to share your photos from the war. Make sure to describe the importance of each photo.
- Create a Kahoot! review game
- Create a video using WeVideo
- Pick one leader from WWII. Create a poster about your assigned leader that states his name, country, politics and positive or negative influences on the world.
- Imagine you are interviewing a Holocaust survivor. Write a transcript of your interview with that person.
- Develop a "Fakebook" page where you share information, conversations, and images on your topic. After opening the template in Google Docs, make a copy before making any changes.
Check Point #4: All troops will report information with the entire class, to check to make sure we all have the facts straight. This will be a "study session" before the big interview.
Reflect
Click here to complete a reflective blog post about this assignment.
Resources
- Notes: remember, Miss Lilek uses her notes to make the test. Therefore your information should come from the notes. If you are missing anything at all, or prefer to copy information directly from the notes, access the notes from the "8th Grade SS Notes Page."
- Record all your information on the WWII Webquest Google Document; it will be shared with each homeroom and should be used to study for the exam.
-8S: WWII Webquest Google Document
-8L: WWII Webquest Google Document
- Use Eyewitness to History to check out real-life interviews from the people who experienced World War II. This will help give your group ideas on how to present the information.
- Example of a Kahoot -Directions for Kahoot
- Example of a Popplet -Directions for Popplet
- Example of a ThingLink -Directions for ThingLink
- Example of a Fakebook -Directions for Fakebook
- Example of a WeVideo -Directions for WeVideo