PBL Meets WWII: A History Lesson to Remember
There are a plethora of things that are more exciting to a teenager than history class, and there are many, many more. That’s why I wanted to develop a lesson plan that would pique the interest of my high school sophomores in history — and, as a result, encourage them to participate in the subject.
My brainstorming process is usually the same when I’m creating a project-based learning opportunity for my students, so I’ll share it with you here. It goes without saying that your students could take this route too, in order to give them a voice and a say in their education.
Create an essential question for consideration.
Identify the content and/or skills that you would like the students to gain a better understanding of.
Take into consideration the product(s) that the students will create (which could be anything from a research paper or a mock trial to a display or a performance).
Identify members of the community who would be beneficial to approach about serving as guest speakers or mentors for the students’ work.
Identify and attract a public audience for the product(s), which can be on a small scale (students in the same school but not in the same class) or on a large scale (community members who live outside of the school’s borders).
Once an opportunity has been identified and discussed, I put together a project sheet that I distribute to my students. Every good project sheet should include the following information:
Yes, please include me in the newsletter promotion at the end of the month.
The project’s title has been chosen.
a high-level overview (a short and simple description of the project)
Standards/Skills (a succinct list of the standards/skills on which the project will concentrate)
Parts of a whole (bullet points of the requirements the students will be expected to complete en route to their final product)
The finished product(s) (a detailed explanation that could include a rubric or list of elements that will be examined when graded)
There is a timetable (general or precise dates for the completion of the parts)
An Evening to Remember
Listed below is an example project sheet for a WWII project titled “A Night to Remember”:
image
To download a PDF version of this project sheet, please click here. (275 kilobytes)
The “A Night To Remember” project was a way for me to bring history to life for my high school sophomores through a multimedia presentation. I had planned to fulfil some WWII content requirements by researching the internment of Japanese Americans and putting on a public student work showcase to raise awareness of the issue. What I did not anticipate was how this project would expand and grow to include a fundraiser and a dedication plaque that would have an impact on people outside of our class’s circle of friends.
Here’s what I put together as a scaffolding:
To ensure that my students have a thorough understanding of the subject matter, I conducted background research and invited two guest speakers to speak on the subject.
A field trip to a local site that is relevant to our topic was organised to help my students develop a stronger connection to the topic.
Collection of poetry written by those who were interned during World War II, as well as the process of absorbing their feelings through performance of the poetry, would help students develop their public speaking abilities.
The documentary produced by the students serves as the most effective means of telling the storey of this project-based learning unit.
A Night to Remember
Here’s something I didn’t anticipate:
The students raised enough money to gift a field trip to another school, allowing them to spread awareness about the topic they had learned about in their class session.
The students learned that two former students from their own school had been interned during World War II.
Students commissioned a plaque not only to leave a lasting legacy regarding the research they conducted on this historical topic, but also to honour the two interned alums who died during the internment.
During the process of creating the plaque, the students improved their drafting and revision skills.
It was in front of their principal, a few members from the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, teachers, school board members, a federal judge who had a personal connection to internment, an ex-detainee, and some relatives of the individuals who were memorialised on the plaque that they held an unveiling ceremony for it.
This project was not only about students’ own education, but also about educating future students, as well as providing an honourable and/or meaningful experience for many members of the community.
Heather Calabro provided the image.
Students proudly display the commemorative plaque they designed and built.
This was an exciting experience for the students, who were successful in bringing history to life for the audience members through their enthralling recitations of original poetry. The fundraiser provided the students with a sense of purpose and assisted them in becoming contributing members of the community. My students were pleased with themselves after receiving the commemorative plaque. My students’ memories of history were forever changed as a result of project-based learning.
What examples of PBL projects have you worked on where the results far exceeded your expectations? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
There are a plethora of things that are more exciting to a teenager than history class, and there are many, many more. That’s why I wanted to develop a lesson plan that would pique the interest of my high school sophomores in history — and, as a result, encourage them to participate in the subject.
My brainstorming process is usually the same when I’m creating a project-based learning opportunity for my students, so I’ll share it with you here. It goes without saying that your students could take this route too, in order to give them a voice and a say in their education.
Create an essential question for consideration.
Identify the content and/or skills that you would like the students to gain a better understanding of.
Take into consideration the product(s) that the students will create (which could be anything from a research paper or a mock trial to a display or a performance).
Identify members of the community who would be beneficial to approach about serving as guest speakers or mentors for the students’ work.
Identify and attract a public audience for the product(s), which can be on a small scale (students in the same school but not in the same class) or on a large scale (community members who live outside of the school’s borders).
Once an opportunity has been identified and discussed, I put together a project sheet that I distribute to my students. Every good project sheet should include the following information:
Promotion of the newsletter has begun.
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Yes, please include me in the newsletter promotion at the end of the month.
The project’s title has been chosen.
a high-level overview (a short and simple description of the project)
Standards/Skills (a succinct list of the standards/skills on which the project will concentrate)
Parts of a whole (bullet points of the requirements the students will be expected to complete en route to their final product)
The finished product(s) (a detailed explanation that could include a rubric or list of elements that will be examined when graded)
There is a timetable (general or precise dates for the completion of the parts)
An Evening to Remember
Listed below is an example project sheet for a WWII project titled “A Night to Remember”:
image
To download a PDF version of this project sheet, please click here. (275 kilobytes)
The “A Night To Remember” project was a way for me to bring history to life for my high school sophomores through a multimedia presentation. I had planned to fulfil some WWII content requirements by researching the internment of Japanese Americans and putting on a public student work showcase to raise awareness of the issue. What I did not anticipate was how this project would expand and grow to include a fundraiser and a dedication plaque that would have an impact on people outside of our class’s circle of friends.
Here’s what I put together as a scaffolding:
To ensure that my students have a thorough understanding of the subject matter, I conducted background research and invited two guest speakers to speak on the subject.
A field trip to a local site that is relevant to our topic was organised to help my students develop a stronger connection to the topic.
Collection of poetry written by those who were interned during World War II, as well as the process of absorbing their feelings through performance of the poetry, would help students develop their public speaking abilities.
The documentary produced by the students serves as the most effective means of telling the storey of this project-based learning unit.
Here’s something I didn’t anticipate:
The students raised enough money to gift a field trip to another school, allowing them to spread awareness about the topic they had learned about in their class session.
The students learned that two former students from their own school had been interned during World War II.
Students commissioned a plaque not only to leave a lasting legacy regarding the research they conducted on this historical topic, but also to honour the two interned alums who died during the internment.
During the process of creating the plaque, the students improved their drafting and revision skills.
It was in front of their principal, a few members from the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, teachers, school board members, a federal judge who had a personal connection to internment, an ex-detainee, and some relatives of the individuals who were memorialised on the plaque that they held an unveiling ceremony for it.
This project was not only about students’ own education, but also about educating future students, as well as providing an honourable and/or meaningful experience for many members of the community.
Heather Calabro provided the image.
Students proudly display the commemorative plaque they designed and built.
This was an exciting experience for the students, who were successful in bringing history to life for the audience members through their enthralling recitations of original poetry. The fundraiser provided the students with a sense of purpose and assisted them in becoming contributing members of the community. My students were pleased with themselves after receiving the commemorative plaque. My students’ memories of history were forever changed as a result of project-based learning.
What examples of PBL projects have you worked on where the results far exceeded your expectations? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.