LP 3
LP 3
LP 3
16: Describe the role of nationalism, militarism, and civil war in today's world, including the use of
terrorism and modern weapons at the close of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first
centuries.
Social Studies (grades 9-12) Contemporary World Issues and Civic Engagement:
4: Analyze scientific and technological changes for their impact on the United States and the world.
Technology Education (Grades 9-12):
help learners apply key concepts such as time, chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to
explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity.
Thematic Standard VI: Power, Authority and Governance:
have learners explain conditions, actions, and motivations that contribute to conflict and cooperation
within and among nations.
help learners to analyze and explain governmental mechanisms to meet the needs and wants of
citizens, regulate territory, manage conflict, and establish order and security.
Goals for Students:
The goal of this lesson is to strengthen a students ability to understand how historical events and
scientific and technological changes impact the world. How the effects of these historical events can be
good or bad and how the nations of the world collaborate on these issues. Students will know how
treaties work and be able to analyze a given situation and make predictions and suggestions.
Students will understand the complex processes involved in international agreements related to
controversial issues and be able to construct their own proposals to solve real world problems.
What the Manhattan Project was and when the United States tested its first nuclear weapon.
Dates and locations of the nuclear bombs used against Japan in WWII.
Who the nine countries are in the world that possess nuclear weapons.
Most powerful explosion recorded in history.
Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970
Difference between an atom bomb and a hydrogen bomb.
Limited Test-Ban Treaty of 1963
Comprehensive Test-ban Treaty of 1996
Outer Space Treaty of 1967
Explain the actions and motivations that led to the creation, proliferation and active disarmament of
nuclear weapons.
Analyze the NPT, LTBT and CTBT and predict the future of nuclear disarmament.
Suggest real-world solutions to the problems of nuclear proliferation and disarmament.
Essential Question(s):
Nuclear regulation and disarmament proposal. Students will write a proposal to President Obama, from
the perspective of Secretary of State John Kerry, on the best way to proceed in promoting nuclear
regulation and disarmament worldwide. Students will analyze the current situation regarding nuclear
weapons and make suggestions for future actions, with the goal of total nuclear disarmament. The
understanding evaluated with this assessment is: Students will understand the complex processes
involved in international agreements related to controversial issues and be able to construct their own
proposals to solve real world problems.
This assessment will be used to evaluate the understanding noted above, and the results will be used to
evaluate the instructors ability to teach the understanding.
Pen/pencil
Paper
Bell ringer:
Fill in the Map Activity
Each student will be given a blank map of the world outlining each country. They will be asked to mark
each country of the world that they believe possess nuclear weapons.
While the students are completing their maps the teacher will be handling beginning of class business.
The students will keep their maps for use during the lecture.
Approximate Time: 5 minutes
Teacher will lead students in a classroom discussion on international relations. Reviewing what students
already know about how nation states interact with each other in a global context.
Students will discuss with the teacher and with each other what they already know about international
relations and treaty making.
Approximate time: 10 minutes.
Introductory Activity:
Countdown to Zero Documentary
Play the documentary trailer titled Countdown to Zero from Top Documentary Films at
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/countdown-to-zero/
After documentary trailer is finished ask students if they are excited about learning about nuclear
weapons today?
Approximate Time: 5 minutes
Step 1: Pass out lecture notes to students and explain to them the importance of note taking for
knowledge retention. Hint that these notes may be very helpful later in the lesson.
Step 2: Proceed with the lecture. See attached PowerPoint for lecture information. Approximate Time: 10
minutes.
o Begin the lecture with the question: Does anyone know the meaning of the term proliferation?
o During slide three make sure to have students check their maps from the bell ringer with the
chart of the countries possessing nuclear weapons. Have students share their answers to see
which students were correct.
Step 3: Play Peace Doves game from the Noble Peace Prize Educational Games Library found at
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/peace/nuclear_weapons/. Approximate Time: 15 Minutes.
o This game is best played on a smartboard where students can interact with the game.
o There are 8 peace doves that have the goal of disarming each nuclear state. Each peace dove
gives a riddle and the answer will be the state they mean to disarm.
o As the riddles appear read them to the class, then ask for a student who thinks they know the
answer to come up to the board and press the country on the board (answer to the riddle) to
send the peace dove on their way.
o Each peace dove only has two tries to disarm their target.
Step 4: Upon completion of the game have a class discussion about what the world would look like, in
terms of foreign relations, based on their answers to the game. Approximate Time: 10 minutes.
o For example, in a class I have done this activity with they answered all of the riddles right except
for one. The peace doves disarmed all the nuclear states, except for Israel. Thus, our discussion
would be on what the world would look, in terms of foreign relations, if Israel were the only
nuclear state.
o Discussions will vary based on each classs completion of the game.
Step 5: Following the discussion give students an outline of the Nuclear Regulation and Disarmament
Proposal Assignment. Assignment and rubric attached. Approximate Time: 10 minutes.
o Explain the assignment and its due date and allow for a student question and answer session.
Step 6: Separate students into heterogeneous small groups (approximately 4 students) where they can
discuss ideas for the assignments. Each student is to write their own proposal, but it is beneficial to
allow students to bounce ideas off of each other in preparation for their own work. Approximate Time:
15 minutes.
Students who are SPE, gifted and ESL will benefit from the heterogeneous small group discussion. SPE
and ESL students will benefit from the help of the gifted students and the gifted students will be able to
practice their leadership skills while leading their small groups in the discussion.
The next lesson in this unit on current world issues will be focused on international crime, where the
class will be talking about the International Criminal Court and other similar institutions.
Watch the video titled, International Criminal Court found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zfo7lMnR4O8
Play the first ten minutes of the video until the bell rings.
Approximate Time: 10 minutes.
The Nuclear Regulation and Disarmament Proposal will be due in class on the Friday following its
assignment.