The Costs of World War Il Lesson Plan
World War II
Lesson Title
The United States in World War II
The Costs of World War II
Driving Historical Question(s)
1. What were the human, economic, and political costs of World War II?
2. How did World War Il impact the world?
Student Objectives
1. Students will analyze sources to understand the human, economic, and political costs of World War II.
2, Students will evaluate and explain which cost had the greatest impact on the world.
California Content Standards
Common Core Literacy Standards
11.4: Students trace the rise of the
United States to its role as world
power in the twentieth century.
11.7: Students analyze America’s
Participation in World War II.
LL Describe the major
developments in aviation, weaponry,
communication, and medicine and the
war's impact on the location of
American industry and use of
resources.
117.7: Discuss the decision to drop
atomic bombs and the consequences.
1L7.8: Analyze the effect of massive
aid given to Western Europe under the
Marshall Plan to rebuild itself after the
war and the importance of a rebuilt
Europe to the United States economy.
11.8: Students analyze the economic
boom and social transformation of
post-World War II America.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to
support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting the
insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text,
asa whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or
information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary that makes dear the relationships among the key details
and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6: Evaluate authors’ differing points
of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the
authors’ aims, reasoning, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple
sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g,
visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a
question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8: Evaluate an author's premises,
aims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with
other information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9: Integrate information from diverse
sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding
of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.Vocabulary
Students will all have a copy of their unit vocabulary with the following academic vocabulary words included:
World Bank: A bank founded in 1944 by the United States and 43 other nations in order to provide loans to
help countries from World War Il and develop their economies.
United Nations (UN): An international organization founded in 1945 to further the causes of peace,
prosperity and human rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A document adopted by the United Nations in 1948 affirming basic
human rights, induding the right to life, libertys, and equality before the law, as well as freedom of religion,
expression, and assembly.
War Crimes: A violation of internationally accepted practices related to waging war.
Sovereignty: A nation’s independent authority.
Iron Curtain: An ideological barrier that existed between the Eastern and Western Europe from 1945 to
1990.
Third World: Originally, a group of nations that had not gained independence from colonial rule and were
not aligned with the West (First World) or the East (Second World) after World War II; more broadly, the
developing nations of the world.
Anticipatory Set TIME: 5 min.
This is the last lesson of the World War II unit, and leads into the Cold War unit. Students will have a thorough
background of the war and will now be analyzing and synthesizing everything they had learned the past unit.
To introduce the costs of the war lesson, the chart with the civilian and military deaths will be displayed as
students are coming to class. The numbers are staggering and will draw the students into the lesson. We will
have a brief discussion and the students will log into their Chromebooks and make a copy of THIS HyperDoc
and add it to their Google Drive.
Content Delivery TIME: 15 hours
Background Information: Depending on the reading level of the dass, students read “The Bombing of
Civilians” information silently on their own or read aloud with the class. Students can annotate the reading as
well and highlight important information. This background information will help them with Section 1. This
should take about 5 minutes.
Modeling: Display the HyperDoc and work with students as a class on the first question that asks, “Which
country has the most casualties?” Why? The class can discuss together why the Soviet Union has the most
casualties. Lead the dass to a discussion of the population percentage. This should take 10 minutes.
Partner Work: Once they understand the chart, they can continue to work with a partner on Section 1.
Section 1 should take students about 15-20 minutes. After completing Section 1, have a brief (5 minute)
discussion on it.
Section 2: Depending on the reading level of the dass, have students read the background information on
Section 2 - The Economic Cost silently on their own or read aloud with the class. Students can annotate the
reading as well and highlight important information. Again, have students work with a partner. Section 2 has
less questions and should only take about 10 minutes with a 3-4 minute dass discussion.
Section 3: For this section, have one student read each country’s political costs aloud. Students can annotate
the reading as well and highlight important information. Then have students work with a partner to answer
the questions. Section 3 should take 15-20 minutes. Then have a class discussion about Section 3.Critical Thinking Question: Before having students write their response to the Critical Thinking Question,
have students vote on which was the most costly part of World War II - human, economic, or political. Record
their tally on the board and gives students an opportunity to defend their answer. After they have compared
and contrasted the three major costs, students will be able to write their responses. Usually, students will
write these on their own, but if it is an EL or Struggling Reader class, this may also be done with a partner.
This section will take the longest, and may need to be completed as homework depending on the length of the
dass period. This vote, debate, and write will take a half an hour minimum, and may be adjusted depending
on the class.
Student Engagement - Critical Thinking and Student Activities | TIME: Embedded into Content Delivery
Throughout this lesson, students will be thinking critically with their classmates. Depending on the dass,
students can either choose their partners, or the teacher can strategically choose students of different learning
abilities to work together. The main Critical Thinking Question (Section 4) is where students will be thinking
critically and synthesizing information to form an argument and be able to defend their daims.
Formative and Summative Assessment ‘TIME: Embedded into Content Delivery
Formative Assessment: By stopping at the end of each section and leading a dass discussion, this serves as a
Formative Assessment. An effective teacher will know which students are struggling and/or not engaged
based on these discussions and can spend time one-on-one working with these particular students.
Summative Assessment: Section 4, which is the Critical Thinking Question is a summative assessment. This
question requires students to analyze all the information on the HyperDoc and synthesize an argument as to
which cost (human, economic, or political) was most costly. Students then must use specific information from
the HyperDocto defend their answer.
Lesson Closure TIME: 2 min.
Students will vote before they begin Section 4 on which cost (human, economic, or political) was most costly.
This will also serve as an Exit Ticket.
Accommodations for English Learners, Students with Special Needs, etc.
For English Learners, they will have a COPY of the Unit Vocabulary. This will help English Learners and
Students with Special Needs understand the readings that are embedded into the Costs of World War II
HyperDoc. Additionally, students can annotate and highlight directly onto the document.
Depending on the class, teachers can strategically choose students’ partners to place them in pairings of
different skill levels.
Resources
Students will need access to an Internet connected device like a Chromebook.
Students will need access to Google Drive and a copy of the HyperDoc.
It would be useful to use a Google Extension such as GoGuardian so the teacher can view what
students are doing on their computers.