WWII Manhattan Project: Socratic Seminar over the Atomic Bombing of Japan
- Zip
What educators are saying
Description
This is a FANTASTIC bundle for any teacher who has always wanted to conduct a Socratic Seminar, but was never sure how to do it. This is 100% modifiable and reusable to any major historical questions that you might want students to discuss in the future. Additionally, this is the lesson that I always get rave reviews from my administration over.
This bundle contains all of the necessary documents to introduce and facilitate a Socratic Seminar over the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. The discussion centers on the question: Was the United States justified in using the atomic bombs on Japan in order to end World War Two?
Day 1 is a 20-slide lecture with guided notes over the background of the Manhattan Project and concludes with an analysis of FOUR primary sources related to the creation and decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The analysis of the documents uses an AP U.S. History style approach looking at the POV, Purpose, Historical Situation/Context, and Audience of each document.
Day 2 includes a FIFTH bonus document for students to reference during the Socratic Seminar. The rules and structure of the Socratic Seminar are clearly explained slide-by-slide using a color-coded system that has proven to be successful in my own classroom year after year. Students have fun getting to the deeper discussions over the decision to drop the bomb, the creation and use of nuclear weapons, and the morality of war. Most importantly, you as the teacher do very little of the lift here; students propel the entire discussion based on your slides.
This seminar is a two day lesson (80-minute blocks) designed to be conducted at the end of your World War II unit.
Included in this download is a .zip file containing:
- 2 Powerpoint presentations (.pptx) for each day
- A set of guided lecture notes (.docx)
- A document organizer (.docx and .pdf)
- 5 primary source documents (.pdf)
- A discussion tracker (.pdf)
- A set of instructions on how to run the lesson (.rtf)
