Causes of World War I Project
Project Overview
I used this project as a sort of "introductory" activity to begin a new unit on World War I. Since my sponsor teacher took a very lecture-oriented approach to this class (and he as very successful in doing so), I felt that an element of experiential learning would be an effective change of pace for the students.
For this project, students would work in groups of four to research the four primary causes of World War I and how they applied to four specific countries that were involved in the war. Each group member was responsible for the following:
Having completed their assigned elements for their project, students would then record their findings on one page of a "picture book" that would be comprised of all the group members' findings. Their group mark would consist of the following:
I provided students with a list of online resources that they could use for their research in addition to their text books and any books they found in the school library. I also introduced them to the website, EasyBib.com that they could use to properly record their sources and then use to format their group's work cited lists.
Upon completing their picture books, students would then required to answer a list of response questions using the picture book that they had just created. This served as a "fail-safe" that required the students to actually look at the research that they and their group members had completed and prove that they understood the four causes of World War I (not just the cause that they researched).
For this project, students would work in groups of four to research the four primary causes of World War I and how they applied to four specific countries that were involved in the war. Each group member was responsible for the following:
- choose one of the following causes of World War I: nationalism, imperialism, militarism/arms races, or alliances;
- define their chosen cause
- briefly describe how their chosen cause was a contributing factor to World War I
- briefly describe how their chosen cause contributed to a country's involvement in World War I (each group member would have to choose a different country);
- find a relevant illustration that is relevant to their chosen cause and/or their chosen country's involvement in World War I;
- keep a record a properly formatted, MLA-style list of sources that they would combine with their group-members' sources in a Work Cited list at the end of their project.
Having completed their assigned elements for their project, students would then record their findings on one page of a "picture book" that would be comprised of all the group members' findings. Their group mark would consist of the following:
- a properly formatted, MLA-style Works Cited List at the end of their picture book;
- a title page that included a title, the name of all group members, and a relevant illustration;
- whether or not all four causes and four different countries were addressed in the picture book.
I provided students with a list of online resources that they could use for their research in addition to their text books and any books they found in the school library. I also introduced them to the website, EasyBib.com that they could use to properly record their sources and then use to format their group's work cited lists.
Upon completing their picture books, students would then required to answer a list of response questions using the picture book that they had just created. This served as a "fail-safe" that required the students to actually look at the research that they and their group members had completed and prove that they understood the four causes of World War I (not just the cause that they researched).
Project Outline and Rubric
Reflection
As my sponsor teacher's approach to teaching was more "lecture-based," the students were quite excited by the opportunity to get out of their seats and work in groups. I was also impressed by the authority with which they were able to communicate their findings to me as I was circulating around the room and asked them questions about their work. The design of the project also allowed the project to be completed in a relatively short period of time, and its straight-forward nature made it feasible for students to complete with few snags in the process.
One problem that I did not anticipate was that even with the accurate sources that I provided for the students, there were some who still demonstrated some errors in their understanding, specifically when they were looking at how their cause contributed to a country's involvement in the war. These were often minor errors, but they still caused some students to lose their mark on their portion of the project. Consequently, it also caused them to lose marks again when they completed the response questions with incorrect information. To remedy this situation, I marked both the project and the response questions, but only recorded the students' highest mark out of the two. I also made sure to provide notes where information wasn't correct so that students would have accurate information to refer to when they were studying.
Another aspect of this project that I would do differently is that I would use this as an "after-lecture" assignment, rather than taking the "flipped classroom" approach by having the students engage with too much new information on their own. Some students in the class said that they would also be interested in doing a project like this again at the end of a unit for the same reason.
One problem that I did not anticipate was that even with the accurate sources that I provided for the students, there were some who still demonstrated some errors in their understanding, specifically when they were looking at how their cause contributed to a country's involvement in the war. These were often minor errors, but they still caused some students to lose their mark on their portion of the project. Consequently, it also caused them to lose marks again when they completed the response questions with incorrect information. To remedy this situation, I marked both the project and the response questions, but only recorded the students' highest mark out of the two. I also made sure to provide notes where information wasn't correct so that students would have accurate information to refer to when they were studying.
Another aspect of this project that I would do differently is that I would use this as an "after-lecture" assignment, rather than taking the "flipped classroom" approach by having the students engage with too much new information on their own. Some students in the class said that they would also be interested in doing a project like this again at the end of a unit for the same reason.