America and World War I

This project-based lesson is specifically designed to motivate students and challenge them to examine, analyze and evaluate the causes and consequences of World War I. In this lesson, students will analyze sources related to major events during World War I. In addition, students will be provided with the opportunity to discover the reasons why the United States entered into World War I and summarize the implications this decision had on American society

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America and World War I
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Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

The student will:

  • Identify the long-term causes and immediate circumstances that led to World War I.
  • Explain why the United States entered the war.
  • Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
  • Determine and assess the consequences of World War I.
  • Evaluate various explanations for actions or events during World War I, and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence.
Essential and guiding questions: 
  • When American lives were threatened by German aggression, how did Americans react to President Woodrow Wilson’s response to this aggression?
  • When the United States became involved in World War I, how did it make the world “safe for democracy”?
  • How could President Wilson’s response to the events of World War I been more timely and appropriate to better protect American interest?

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying
Extension suggestions: 

Allow students to revise their projects based on teacher and class feedback. Then allow students to set up exhibits in the hallway or library to share with other classes, teachers, administrators, and parents. You might even organize an afterschool event to allow students to show off their work to the community. 

Helpful Hints

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES USED:

  • Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans History Project - World War I The Great War
  • “From the Home Front and the Front Lines”
  • Newspaper Pictorials World War I Rotogravures 1913-1919
  • The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919
  • World War I Posters
  • Analysis Tool: Prints and Photographs
  • Student Primary Source Analysis Tool
  • Analysis Tool: Primary Sources
  • Animoto World War I Presentation
  • World War I PowerPoint
  • PBS: The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
  • Computer lab
  • Historical Events Investigative Worksheet
  • Descriptive Terms and Phrases Worksheet
  • Gallery Walk Student Assessment Worksheet
  • Construction paper
  • glue sticks
  • scissors
  • cereal boxes
  • colored butcher paper
  • markers
  • colored pencils
  • computers
  • trifold poster board
  • magazines
  • flash drives
  • laptop computers
  • other electronic devices