Provide hands-on activities for practice and mastery. Check for understanding of concepts and skills by using relevant standard materials, i.e. worksheets, text problems, workbooks, teacher prepared exercises, etc.

Student Worksheets and Research

Objective: Students will identify the events which led to the outbreak of fighting in World War I.

Activity: Provide your students either with copies of reading about the outbreak of World War I, a section of their text, or show The Guns of August. Give each student a copy of Student Handout 1 and have them complete it.

Have your students count off one to six. Write the following countries on the board assign a number (1-6) to each: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, Great Britain, the United States. Assign students a country based on their number and have them research the reasons why their country got involved in World War I. Remind your students to keep the four underlying reasons for World War I in mind, but not to limit themselves to those generic reasons.

Students should seek to learn
a) What their country felt was at stake?
b) What their country hoped to gain?
c) The nature of their country’s relationship with the other nations involved in World War I.

Assessment: Student Handout 1 can be collected and graded for accuracy.