Theme and Core Questions:
- How
do people define citizenship or nationality in the times
of government crisis? To what degree does political instability
affect the common person?
- What are the economic impacts (both positive and negative)
of domestic conflict or civil war on the average citizen?
What are some of the survival strategies used to deal
with these impacts?
- How do the five themes of geography (location, place,
human & environmental interaction, movement, and region
formation) shape the decisions made by citizens during
conflict or civil war?
- How do conflicts or civil wars affect religious institutions
and the religious beliefs of the average man or woman?
- What is the history of power sharing between ethnic groups
or social classes in the country affected by conflict
or civil war? How do values and attitudes toward ethnicity,
social class, and nationality change during civil war?
What factors have an effect on these changes?
Overview: In this research project, students will use
their knowledge from one of the civil war case countries
to create a character. They will create a resume and cover
letter for this character to apply to a UN agency. Students
will conduct research to create a presentation to class
that matches the character and the function of the agency.
Time Required: 5 to 10 class periods or 225 to 450 minutes,
plus 2 to 4 weeks for completion of research assignment.
Suggested Grade Levels: Grades 8 – 12
Interdisciplinary Applications: Social Studies and Literature
NJ Core Content Standards: 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6
Instructional Objectives:
- Identify some civil wars or conflicts that have been unresolved
in modern times. For
example: Vietnam, Nigeria, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Ireland,
Colombia, etc.
- Describe how civil war impacts the common person.
- Analyze the effects of conflict on identity using PEERS.
- Synthesize the understanding of the impact of civil war or conflict
on the common person by developing empathy for the various
decisions they have to make.
Strategies: (Length of classtime used can vary depending
on the proportion of assignments done as classwork or homework.)
- Students create a character using the cultural profile
research forms.
- Students evaluate their own cultural identity on the form.
- Students create a fictional yet plausible character
from one of the countries studied along the same rubrics.
- Students create a cover letter and resume to apply to
one UN agency.
- The teacher should present and explain the UN system’s
structure of agencies.
- Students choose which agency they want their character
to apply to.
- Using the resume guidelines, students create a
resume for their character.
- Using the cover letter guidelines, students create
a cover letter for their character to the agency they
chose.
- Students research for presentations.
- Building on the character they developed and their
character’s role in the UN system, students should develop
a fictional primary document (speeches, letters, journals,
emails or other creative projects might also be acceptable)
which is factually and culturally accurate.
- The document should be designed to recognize the
problems created by a real event in the character’s country
and how these problems could have been or should have
been addressed.
- Students should use research guidelines in developing
their project.
- 2 to 4 weeks may be allowed to prepare a final presentation
and report.
- Students present their documents(speeches, letters, journals,
or other) to class in the form of PowerPoint presentations
or some other visual format.
Materials: Cultural
profile research forms for creating a character Cover
letter and resume guidelines United
Nations System structure chart Research
paper and presentation guidelines and rubrics.
Resources should be adapted to fit the teacher's time alloted
and grading criteria:
Assessment: Cover letter and resume of created character rubric
Research report (speech, letters or other) and presentation rubrics
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