World War II: My teachers' toolkit of the best online resources (Part One)

Minggu, 28 Februari 2016

World War II: My teachers' toolkit of the best online resources (Part One)

I'm concentrating on two topics with my students during my unit on World War Two: how technology impacted the war, and how the war impacted four social groups. This post will concentrate on the technology; I'll write about the social groups later.

As a general introduction, though, I'm first having my students watch a selection from the extraordinarily valuable series of 13 short videos called Teachable Moments that was produced by the FDR Library. Each student watches four videos on her/his smartphone. The student takes notes on a blank sheet of paper divided with a large diamond in the center. The diamond itself is divided into four triangles. Each sheet will look something like this (sorry about the graphic!).

Notes for each of the four assigned videos will go in a different triangle. Then the students look for students who watched other videos and share what they learned. (No copying! Just listening and note taking.)

For the technology component, we're going to discuss the atomic bomb and the Enigma machine. In this video (1:24) from the Newseum, Paul Tibbets, the Enola Gay pilot, describes his mission. The bomb's devastation is also shown.

In this video (1:21) President Truman announces the bombing and explains its power.

This video (2:32) explains the Enigma machine and how British codebreakers led by Alan Turing broke it.

This video (2:26) shows how an Enigma machine worked.

For the atomic bomb, my favorite online print resources are from the Truman Library (link is to primary sources), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (link is to an analysis with alternatives), and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (click on Search by Topic).

For the Enigma machine, my favorite online print resources are from Bletchley Park (home to the British codebreakers), the BBC, and the Imperial War Museums.