The Vietnam War PBL: Standard USH.7.10

Unit: The Vietnam War

Issue: Why is the government allowed to interfere with campus protest?

Question: Did the Kent State University shooting in 1970 hinder free speech and right to demonstrate?

This lesson is for eleventh grade high school U.S. history students.

Grabber and Introduction

Teacher begins by introducing the class to a series of protests in the 1960s leading up to the Vietnam war protests. This grabs the student’s attention with its intensity and directness. Students will be asked to see patterns in each situation and scenario. The entire classroom is instructed to write notes or keep a close eye on what piques their interest or what they believe is interesting. Notes are compared and contrasted in a class discussion. The teacher will make a list of similarities and differences in student observations and pile them together on the board. The instructor will ask: in what ways has the status quo prevented change? What makes protest acceptable or inacceptable? Who holds the power and makes decisions in the United States? Is violence justified? When and how? The instructor compares outcomes and presents the effects of the Vietnam War. Who benefits from violence? Why was the US interfering with Vietnam? Why was the draft so devastating? Should the government be allowed to coerce people into fighting wars?

Upon discussing the facts through a brief lecture and the events that followed shortly afterward, a new discussion begins to perhaps change minds and present new observations. How was Nixon involved and what made the president’s stance so significant?

Culminating Activity

Students split up into groups of four at random and draw conclusions by making a concept map. This activity is research-based and will require experience of researching through student databases. All items must be properly sourced and an outline must be prepared before the concept map is created. After doing this, each group will present and share what they have learned through other protests and demonstrations that were snuffed out by government action and begin to ask questions. Not only do they share facts, but they each state their opinion backed with evidence. The concept map must flow with a claim in the first bubble and five, supporting pieces of evidence to include. These claims are not set answers and can vary between each student. Each concept map of each group becomes sorted into a larger concept map that the classroom examines, takes notes of, and observes. How do presentations differ? How are they the same? What are two-three aspects the class agrees upon? Do any of them discuss the Bill of Rights or the Constitution?

How are students judged?

• On a scale from 1-5, the claim of each student in each group is examined. Is this actually a claim or a fact? Is it a thesis or a statement? Each student must have a thesis in support of his or her own opinion.
• On a scale from 1-5, how is the evidence introduced?
• 1-5, how is the evidence explained?
• 1-5, do students use at least five examples of evidence?
• 1-5, do students cite sources properly?
• 1-5, how creative are their concept maps? Do they look as though they took awhile? Or was it drawn in a matter of minutes with no attention to design or detail? Are pictures provided in the visual?
• 1-5, do the students stay on topic without rambling?

        Total points students can receive: 35