The Great War: World War I Then and Now

Week 2 Endings and Innocence Lost, Lesson 7

Lesson Title: The War, January 1915-April 1917: Battlefield Medicine
Grade Level: 12 Time/Duration: 90 mins.
Lesson Overview: This lesson will delve into battlefield medicine during World War I.
Comparisons and Contrasts will be explored between Volunteer and Professional Nurses and
between the male soldiers role in the war and the female nurses role in the war.
Standard(s): Tennessee US. 28, W.28, and W.34
Color Key:
Web Resources
Lecture Types
Instructional Models/Strategies/Pedagogical Resources
Primary Sources
Essential Questions:
What was life like for a nurse in rear aid stations during the war? How was it similar and
different to the lives of the soldiers in the trenches?
What was the difference between a Volunteer Nurse and a Professional Nurse? How did
these differences lead to social strife in the aid stations? How did that impact the care that
soldiers received?
What can be said about gender roles in battlefield medicine?
Instructional Objectives:
1. Students will relate Historical Events to their own lives.
2. Students will compare and contrast Volunteer and Professional nurses, as well as the lives
of nurses and soldiers.
3. Students will discuss gender roles during the war and how they were turned on their heads
and how they remained the same.
Academic Vocabulary:
Ambulance
Battlefield Medicine
Field Hospital
Professional Nurse
Stretcher

Volunteer/Red Cross Nurse

Introduction:

Take time to recap all that students have learned so far about the war. Answer any
additional questions, review previous information, etc. (~10-15 mins.)

Lesson Sequence:

Guided Discussion/Lecture Just as the fighting on the battlefield was a strange

amalgamation of old and new, so too was the battlefield medicine. Quite a few
advancements had taken place in medicine between the Civil War in America and various
European wars of the 1800s, but battlefield medicine was still rather gruesome and a few
steps away from the care soldiers received in World War II and today. The differences
between battlefield medicine in the 1800s and WWI will be discussed, with particular
attention to the foundation of the Red Cross in Europe as well as the efforts of women
like Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton to bring medicine to battlefields. The
hierarchy of male doctors and women nurses, professional and volunteer nurses, and the
concept of women nurses seen as saints will be discussed, with particular attention to
the ideas that many held at the time that said women were not ready for the horrors of
war on the battlefield, but were somehow perfectly suited to, as per usual, clean up the
aftermath of what was decidedly a male dominated endeavor. Additional Resource:
BBC iWonder page on Battlefield Medicine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zs3wpv4
(~30 mins.)
Class Activity Socratic Seminar: Students will be asked to discuss the two documents
they read the previous night one by a soldier on the front, another by a volunteer nurse
working with the Red Cross with consideration given to what they have learned in the
lecture. While students are free to discuss any aspect they desire, the teacher reserves the
right to be involved in the process in so much as to guide the discussion toward a
particular goal (though students will mostly have free rein). Attention will be given to
comparing and contrasting the experiences of the soldier and the nurse. Students will
be encouraged to comment on whether they think things were worse for the soldier or the
nurse or equal for both and will be asked to justify their answers. Discussions of why
or why not women belong on the battlefield will likely come up and will be encouraged,
though the teacher professes that it will be difficult for her to not be involved in that part
of the discussion. Outside of those two points, students will be allowed to discuss any
aspect of the documents they wish and will be allowed to share their viewpoints so long
as they are not derogatory or inflammatory. (~40 mins.)

Closure:

Wrap Up In the last twenty or so minutes of class close out the seminar and reconcile
what was discussed in the seminar with the lecture. Answer any additional questions and
assign homework.
Homework Students are required to come up with at least one question and write it on a
slip of paper. These will be turned in in the next class period in preparation for a future
Responsive Lecture.

Extension/Enrichment/Re-teach:
Extension: Students will be asked to extend their understanding of the information multiple
times throughout the lecture as they consider questions posed by the teacher. Students will

also be required to extend the historical information they are learning to their own lives in
personal and meaningful ways.
Enrichment: The lesson is designed so that students with various learning styles will be able
to engage with the content in a way that they feel comfortable information will be
disseminated both visually and orally. A graphic organizer will be utilized in this lesson.
Those with learning and other disabilities can be easily accommodated with various learning
aids and additional help as necessary.
Re-teach: Re-teaching will take place every day at the start of the lecture, following the bell
ringer, so that students will be reminded of what was discussed the previous day. If
homework is assigned, as it is in this lesson, discussing it at the start of class the following
day will serve as a re-teaching element.
Evaluation/Assessment:
Informal Formative Assessments will take place throughout the lesson. As students engage
with the presented material through open discussion with the teacher and other students and
through specific questions asked throughout the lecture their responses, participation, and
engagement levels will be assessed by the teacher.
Formal Formative Assessment: Students will be given a grade on the previous nights
homework that will be based on their level of engagement with the assignment and the
quality of their content. They will also be given a grade on the homework associated with
this lesson.
Summative Assessments will take place at the end of the week when responses to the
various in-class activities that were recorded in the students journals will be reviewed and
graded.
Instructional Materials/Resources/Equipment:

Computer, premade PowerPoint, internet access, speakers.

Compare/Contrast organizer, or other graphic organizers, such as a web diagrams or
content mappers as necessary.
White Board, markers, etc.