Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Using historical data, events in history can be analyzed from multiple perspectives.
• Societies are diverse and change over time.
• Economic, scientific and technological developments impact human interactions.
• Political power has been acquired, maintained, used and/or lost among various cultures throughout history

• Human and physical systems interact and impact one another.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• How did the countries involved view events that sparked the war?  What do primary and secondary sources reveal about the causes of WWI?

• How do maps increase understanding of the events of WWI?

• What was the impact of technology on the war?

• What were the major results of the war?

• How was political power used and lost as a result of WWI?

• Why did the Russian revolution occur?

• How did the economic developments of the 1920's impact world societies?
• Research - how can one determine the reliability of history resources, identify points of view or biases?
• Analysis - what strategies are useful in analyzing conflicting interpretations of history?

Standards and Benchmarks
History 1: Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.    
Benchmark B: Students use chronology to organize historical events and people.
History  2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.
Benchmark 2ormation (e.g., letters, diaries, literature, text, newspaper, art, music, technology, oral history, interviews).
History 3: Students understand that societies are diverse and change over time.
Benchmark  B: Students understand the history of social organization in various societies.
History 4: Students understand how science, technology, and economic activity have developed, changed, and affected societies throughout history.
Benchmark  A: Students understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on individuals and societies.
History  5: Students understand political institutions and theories that developed and changed over time.
Benchmark C: Students know how political power has been acquired, maintained, used and/or lost throughout history.
History 6: Students know that religious and philosophical ideas have been powerful forces throughout history.
Benchmark  C: Students know how various forms of expression reflect religious beliefs and philosophical ideas.
Geography 1: Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments.
Benchmark  A: Students know how to use maps, globes, and other geographic tools to acquire, process and report information from a spatial perspective.
Geography  2:  Students know the physical and human characteristics of places, and used knowledge to
Benchmark B:  Students know how and why people define regions.
Geography  4:  Students understand how economic, political cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation and conflict.
Benchmark E: Students know how cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the earth's surface.
Geography 5: Students understand the effects of interactions between human and physical systems and changes in meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.
Benchmark  B: Students know how physical systems affect human systems.

D-11 Social Studies Indicators 

History

1. Chronology/Cause & Effect: Determine cause and effect relationships based on organizing major historical and/or current events chronologically.

2. Historical Inquiry: Utilizing multiple perspectives, analyze and question historical data from primary and secondary sources during major historical eras.

3. Diverse and Changing Societies: Evaluate the impact of interactions and contributions of diverse peoples and cultures on past and current societies.

4. Science, Technology, and Economic Activity:  Evaluate the impact of economic, scientific and technological developments on human interactions.

5. Political Institutions and Theories: Analyze how political power has been acquired, maintained, used and/or lost among various cultures throughout history. 

6. Religious and Philosophical Ideas: Determine how societies have been affected by religious and philosophical ideas.

Geography

7. Use and Construction of Geographic Tools: Analyze maps, globes, charts, graphs, and databases to acquire, process and report information about people, places and environments. [G1]

8. Characteristics of Place and Region: Use physical and human characteristics to define regions important in human history.[G2]

9. Patterns of Human Population and Interaction: Analyze the physical and cultural impact of human migration.[G4]

10. Human and Physical Systems:  Evaluate how human and physical systems interact and impact one another.[G5]

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

Recommended Resources

• Movies on World War I
• Causes of World War I
• World War I Primary Source Documents
• World War I Propaganda
• Major Players, Battlefields War Strategy and War Plans
• Primary Source Documents, Diaries and Letters
• Weapons, Troops and Trench Warfare
• Images, Maps and Audio Files
• Statistics and Casualties
• Poetry, Music and Art of the War
• League of Nations and Treaty at Versailles
• First World War Website
• Women and the Home Front

Parent Resources