ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

The purpose of this lesson is to understand how European Imperialism in the 19th Century lead to certain ethnic groups developing a sense of superiority toward other ethnic groups in diver places of the world. With discrimination, recent reforms in Civil Rights, and hate groups emerging in our public schools, students will need to understand the meaning of Imperialism and also how it works.

The objective aligns with ND Social Studies Standards 1: Nature and Scope of History and Standard 7: Culture. Groups will understand the principles governing historical analysis and interpretation; Benchmark: 12.1.2. Understand how key events, people, and ideas affected world history; Benchmark: 12.1.5. Understand how variations in the elements of culture lead to diversity in cultures; Benchmark: 12.7.1. Understand how variations in the elements of culture lead to diversity among cultures; and Benchmark: 12.7.2. Understand the role of humanities, religion, and beliefs in defining and preserving culture.

The Fargo Public School District’s mission statement addresses the need for life skills: “Students will be self-reliant people of sound character who have highly developed academic, communication and life skills to succeed in their own lives while contributing to the well being of their communities.” In the district’s strategic plan it states that as a result of the efforts of the Fargo Public Schools, the students will achieve certain results or ends as well as the paths to accomplish those ends/results and indicators of our progress. Relating to the “Exhibit Citizenship” results/ends the strategic plan states: “Participation and contribution to the community are important for the well being and continued improvement of the community and democratic government. Through constructive behaviors and active participation, we demonstrate responsible citizenship. We are conversant about societal issues and understand that with our rights, come responsibilities.” One of the indicators for this section is that the students will “document ways in which they are engaged in the democratic process and will demonstrate their ability to discuss and participate in the solution of a significant societal.”

Students are familiar with the current movie, “Hotel Rwanda,” which documents the Tutsi and Hutu tribes in genocide. The current situation in Iraq is another prime example of Imperialism which has (and is) affecting the life of my students and dictates a need to educate them in Imperialism. In addition, my students are also familiar with the recent deadly school shooting in Red Lake, Minnesota.

Author Teresa Williams states that “systemic leftovers of imperialism and colonization do not entirely disappear . . . “. In fact, they have transformed themselves into varying forms to accommodate present day challenges.” She goes on to state that the driving force of this modern day imperialist expansion is globalization and capitalism which sets the precedent for the rest of the world to follow. How cultures should think, look, dress, interact, feel, eat, smell, behave, and shop is becoming increasingly universal, dictated by information technology and consumerism that boldly thrusts capitalism sharply into the lives and faces of people around the world. It is as if a blueprint for success has been unleashed around the world for making money, living the good life and “getting what you can get while you can.”

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding:
I want the students to understand that NO one race, group, or gender is superior to another. Every group has important contributions they can make to society. I also want my students to understand that(whether it be race, gender, or culture)each group has different ways of doing things. I want students to appreciate how variations in the elements of culture lead to diversity among cultures which can have a positive impact on all mankind.
Goal(s):
To explore the Age of Imperialism and understand how it still has an affect on the different ethnic groups living in America.

Questions Answered

Essential questions:
1. What gave Europe the advantage to begin imperializing the world?
2. How did Imperialism spread Christianity?
3. How did Europe benefit from Imperialism?
4. How does Imperialism in the 19th Century affect us in the 21st Century?
5. What are the pros and cons of Imperialim?
Objectives:
After using multiple resources the students will be able to define all aspects of imperialism with 100% accuracy. After participating in a webquest, students will be able to identify the reason why Imperialism began in Europe scoring 9 to 10 points on associated checklist. After reviewing multiple resources, students will be able to describe the positive and negative affects of imperialism scoring in the top two ranged of a rubric. In a group presentation, students will be able to explain the role Imperialism plays in current life scenarios with 100% accuracy.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Traditional paper and pencil tests: short answer, multiple choice, and essay.

What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Through the webquest, students will address the open-ended question: “Were the effects of Imperialism in your country more positive or negative overall?” Teacher prompts and observations to stimulate higher order thinking/responses that lead to quality discussions. Students will be prompted with a question relating to current issues connecting Imperialism to recent events such as the war in Iraq and the shootings in Red Lake, Mn.

What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
  Collaborate teams of students will culminate with a PowerPoint presentation which will be assessed with a rubric. During the development of the presentation they will use a checklist to make sure all components are included.

What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
  A student and teacher generated rubric will be used to assess the oral PowerPoint presentation.

Instructional Strategies

All three strategies will be used in this unit to promote higher-order thinking in regard to the student learning objectives.

The numerous activities that the students will engage in will fall into the project-based learning and inquiry-based learning. The activities promote higher level thinking both in collaborative settings and on and individual basis. The unit encourages students to compare present day events to those in European Imperialism years and years ago. This allows the students to reach a higher order thinking to compare and contrasts events and happenings centuries apart. Students will be involved in a webquest which utilizes the inquiry based learning strategy. Working collaboratively they will have to culminate their inquiries in a group presentation. This will require discussion and cooperation as they determine what should be highlighted in the presentation. They will also call upon the recalling aspect, associated with higher level thinking. The discussions of Imperialism are very analytically based, and inferences are a part of the knowledge base. Students will be asked to put themselves in different situations to understand multiple points of view on topics of discussion. Higher level thinking skills will emerge both on an individual basis as well as in cooperative learning settings.