Encourage tinkering with ideas, relationships, connections. Set up situations where students have to find information not readily available in school texts. Provide opportunity for students to design open-ended explorations of the concept. Provide multiple options so students can plan a unique "proof" of learning.

Provide research materials from the library

Objective: Students will research and gather information about how the climate of fear that existed inside the U.S during the Cold War affected American culture.

Activity: Provide research materials from the library or set up time in the library for your classes to do research on the impact of the Cold War on American art, music, literature and movies during the late 40’s and early 50’s. Have them complete Student Handout 2.
When the time allotted for research is over give your students Student Handout 3 which describes the independent creative assignment they will complete and share with the class. You could assign this for homework or give students time to work on the project in class.
*Note – To save time you could assign the research and the work on Student Handout 2 to cooperative groups of four in which each student researches one of the topics and reports back to the group.

Assessment: Student Handout #2 should be filled out completely and the information included on the chart should reflect the depth of student research and show the relationship between Cold War events and culture