Unit 1 Overview

Introduction

You have completed the introduction to "Social Studies 12 - 20th Century World History" and are now ready to dig in. If you haven't skimmed through the entire course yet, now is a good time to do that.

You will see that this unit begins with the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I, not with the war itself. You will read about some facts about World War I in order to grapple with a question regarding the fairness of the treaty. You will not be asked to memorize any battles names or dates however.

You will examine the changes to society in the 20's and 30's through the lens of technology. Your assignment here is to look at how changes in technology lead to changes in the way that societies function, and, ultimately, to how people relate to one another.

Next, you will have a look at the rise of Nationalism in Europe. It is during this era that we see fascist leaders such as Mussolini and Hitler make their entrances onto the world stage. For this assignment, you will create a fictional character who was there at the time, imagining how a young person might have seen events from a single point of view.

The final section of this unit takes you to Spain during their civil war. This war is often considered a precursor to World War II. Your task here is to look at the amount of international involvement in this war, to figure out why this was the case then to determine if this was good or bad in your view.

It was a complicated time that we are still learning from today.

Curricular Competencies for Unit 1

The Big Idea

If you are to take just one idea from this unit, it should be to do with Nationalism - what it is and how it operates within a country as well as internationally. Normally, Nationalism, or pride in ones country, is considered to be good in that it can unite people in common causes. Yet, Nationalism is also known to lead to intense conflicts when it is taken too far.

Competencies

You should know that in this course, you will be studying many historical events that are commonly studied in other history courses, yet with a new approach. You will be learning and practicing a set of skills regarding how you think about history. You will be assessed for thinking and understanding rather than for memorization and recall.

By the end of this unit you will be expected to do the following:

• • use historical inquiry processes to determine how fair and balanced the Treaty of Versailles was
  • consider varying perspectives on the rise of fascism in Europe in the early 20th century
  • gather ideas regarding changing technology, assess its impact on the lives of certain groups of people, then report your findings
  • assess how conditions in Europe during the 1930's led to international involvement in the Spanish Civil War

How to do well in this course

After you have skimmed the entire unit, start at the beginning and work your way through.  Your first step will be to print the learning guide. Skim it before beginning.

Read through the terms for the first section. You will find them in the section book and in the learning guide.  Notice that the terms are not defined as you are not being asked to memorize definitions but to understand how the terms are used in context. Write a definition in your own words beside each term in the learning guide.

When you get to each assignment, start by doing your best to understand it, then get in contact with your teacher for clarification. Your teacher's role is to help you succeed. This usually takes a some back and forth communication. 

Do each quiz after completing your section assignment. Each quiz will require you to match the assigned terms with the best definition according to how the term is used in the unit. The quiz will also have five reading check questions. Keep in mind that the quizzes do not have a password, but you only get one chance to write them. Make it count. 

At the end of the unit, you will need to hand in your completed learning guide. You should have been thinking about the unit project concerning the League of Nations as you worked through the unit. Now is the time to put all of these ideas together. Again, you should check in with your teacher before putting a lot of time into this.

Since the unit test has a password, you will have to schedule a time to write it. Also, your learning guide must be complete to write it. Give yourself at least an hour. While the quizzes use multiple choice and matching questions, the unit test requires you to write three paragraphs, each in response to readings that are provided.

Time Management for Unit 1

Remember that time management is key to doing well in this course.

Unit 1 has been designed to take most students about 25 hours. This, however, takes a lot of organization.

Each section should only take you a few hours. Reading through the content and completing the learning guide should take a couple of hours for each section. Each section assignment should take a couple of more hours. You should be able to do the quiz in a few minutes.

The unit project is more in-depth, but should still not take longer than three or fours hours of dedicated study.

What can hold many students back is trying to figure out everything on their own. If you get stuck on anything, or are not sure of something, contact your teacher, then move on to the next task that you can do while you wait for a reply.

It is good to grapple with unfamiliar ideas, but after more than a few minutes, it is best to get help to get unstuck so that you can move forward.