In this lesson, students will explore different military conflicts throughout history. In this lesson students will first explore the notion of a civilian cost to armed warfare. Students will then work in small groups to identify the rationale behind U.S. involvement in recent conflicts, the civilian cost of U.S. involvement in recent conflicts, as well as where Americans get their information about U.S. involvement in overseas wars. In this lesson, students investigate the recent military strike on Iraq and the public reaction to the timing of this strike. Students read two articles, one factual and one discussing citizens' opinions of the strike.
Students then design, distribute, and analyze a survey on the issues discussed in class.
In this lesson, students trace the United States' involvement in Iraq from 1991 to today. Students interpret a map of Iraq, evaluate possible causes and effects of events on a timeline that ends in August 1998, and work in small groups to add to that timeline with information provided by New York Times articles over the past two weeks. Focus is on the issues of U.N. involvement, deployment of weapons and military forces to Iraq, support from government officials, and views of the President and of Saddam Hussein. Students then participate in, distribute, collect, and analyze a poll regarding what the United States' next step should be.