Core Questions:

1. What were/are the effects of colonial/imperial control on local (native) populations? How have colonized regions organized themselves in reaction?
2. Are nationalist uprisings a strong force to oppose colonial control?  What were the historical examples of successful nationalist rebellions?  What were the failures?  What about on-going struggles that have not yet resolved themselves?
3. Is the trend of globalization in fact a new form of imperial control (neo-colonialism)?  Are poorer nations of the world under a different type of colonial/imperial control coming from  large multinational corporations and organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO)?

Overview: In this simulation, The VERY BIG CO. INC. is looking to your region to place two factories.  The first project, an automobile factory, will use local materials, local engineers, and local labor to produce a car for this region that will only be sold in this region.  Next, the company would like to develop a food processing plant to handle and package raw foodstuffs as well as a limited number of processed foods.  Students research the attributes of host countries and the consequences of investment.

Time Required: 4 – 5 class periods of 45 minutes. 1 regular length period for explanation and country assignment, 1 period for research, 2 - 3 days to present.

Suggested Grade Levels: Grades 8 - 12

Interdisciplinary Applications: Social Studies

NJ Core Content Standards: #6.6: 7-16; #6.7: 6-12, #6.8: 10-11; #6.9: 6-8

Instructional Objectives:

1. The students will be able to describe the problems of political independence without economic independence.
2. Students will evaluate the natural resources, human resources, and industrial resources of a country and make economic decisions.
3. Students will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses that a country in Latin America has to work with and overcome in order to be truly independent.

Strategies:

1. Instructional Preparation: Students should have been taught the background of Latin America. Students may compile their own research packets from the Internet sites below, or should be provided with research packets.
2. Project Preparation:
   • Students would be broken down into groups of 5. The countries in each class’ presentation should come from either Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize) or South America (Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile).  Please note that each region’s major countries that have obvious economic advantages (Panama and Mexico in Central America; Argentina and Brazil in South America) are excluded.
   • Within each country, each person is responsible for a certain portion of the report as indicated on the project specifications page.  This selection should come shortly after the groups are determined.
   • Library/computer lab time should be scheduled for each class-- 2 periods.
   • The Progress Log form is useful in having the students monitor their own time and to log the various web sites that they used for assessment.
   • Each member produces a typed report on their subject and it is combined with other group members--so individual accountability is preserved and yet the cooperative nature of the project is reflected in the group score and the potential for bonus points for groups who do cooperate.
3. Oral presentation: Each group will provide an oral presentation, as described in the presentation framework.

Materials:

• Research packets.
• Presentation and report framework.
• Progress Log and rubrics.

Resources:

• Web sites for research packet information on the countries are bountiful, such as the CIA World Factbook (www.odci.gov --then click to the Factbook), the Organization of American States (www.oas.org), the United Nations (www.un.org), and you can see if the country has an embassy web site or get their embassy’s Washington, DC phone number (www.embassy.org).   You may find others.
• The presentation and report framework.
• The Progress Log.
• Presentation and report rubrics.

Assessment:

• Written reports (individual grade): 30 points
• Research binder (individual grade): 20 points
• Oral participation in conference (individual grade): 40 points
• Progress Log (web sites, works cited, dates): 10 points
• TOTAL 100 points