Students use their summary of the key actions of one nation–state during the Second World War to describe the political, social and economic reasons for the selected nation–state's involvement in the war.
Instructional Support
A number of possible tasks are provided in this suggested activity. It is not intended that you work through all of the tasks, but rather select those tasks and resources that will best meet the learning needs of your students. The focus should be on ensuring that students have the background and support to be successful with the skill that is the focus for assessment (describe historical context).
Setting the Context for Learning
- Show students a video(s) or other media to provide background information about the interwar years. Possible sources include the following:
- Encourage students to consider how the Treaty of Versailles and the resulting reparations payments affected Germany. Remind students that when looking at Germany's involvement in the Second World War, it is important to consider the interwar years, because this provides important historical context.
Describe Historical Context
- Although students may find it possible to provide information about the time period, the skill of identifying the impact or effect of a country's actions (historical context) is more complex as it involves not only examining the immediate results, but also the impact felt from the past or into the future.
- Discuss with students the elements of historical context that take it beyond a recounting of the events. Students will use their summaries of key actions from the Second World War, created in Making Sense of the Second World War: Identifying Key Actions, to further examine the impact of the period leading up to the Second World War on the:
- political situation of their selected nation–state
- social beliefs of their selected nation–state
- economic situation of their selected nation–state.
- Referring to the video(s) or media used in "Setting the Context for Learning," model how the above prompts can assist students in describing the historical context of a given time period. For example, in the years preceding the Second World War, under the leadership of Hitler, Germany re-established its military, undertook a process of swift rearmament and began a policy of Lebensraum. Viewed in isolation, these events have a different meaning than when viewed within the context of the Treaty of Versailles.
- Students will need to select a method of organizing information to help them articulate the impact of events or relationships among events. If students struggle with organizing information, consider modelling for them a number of strategies for organizing information and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each method (see the Critical Challenges resources for this suggested activity).
- For students who require additional support, consider facilitating a small-group discussion about specific graphic organizers and how students can use them to support their work. At the end of the facilitated discussion, these students will select an appropriate graphic organizer.
- Using a sample for describing historical context, encourage students to provide feedback to the author of the sample. To provide feedback, students will use both the formative assessment tool, Describe Historical Context: Peer Coaching Tool
, and the summative assessment task rubric . Students may then exchange their work with a peer to engage in a peer coaching process, through which they can provide feedback to the peer and gather feedback to use to improve their own work.
Formative Assessment
Throughout this suggested activity, you will support students in achieving the following skill that is the focus for assessment:
The following formative assessment opportunity is provided to help students unpack and develop the focus skill for assessment. Feedback prompts are also provided to help students enhance their demonstration of the focus skill for this activity. Formative assessment support is not intended to generate a grade or score.
Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning Opportunity
Describe Historical Context
Involve students in peer coaching so they can provide and receive feedback about the comprehensiveness of their descriptions of the historical context. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.
Feedback Prompts:
How well have I explained the:
- political reasons for my selected nation–state's involvement in the Second World War?
- social reasons for my selected nation–state's involvement in the Second World War?
- economic reasons for my selected nation–state's involvement in the Second World War?
How well have I described the effects that:
- political factors had on my nation–state?
- social factors had on my nation–state?
- economic factors had on my nation–state?
These feedback prompts have been incorporated into the Describe Historical Context: Peer Coaching Tool , which can be copied or adapted for student use. Samples of tools created for a similar skill within a different formative assessment context may be found in the Social Studies 20-4 Formative Assessment Summary 
.
Linking to the Summative Assessment Task
- As students describe historical context through the suggested activity Historical Context: More than a Summary, they will have completed the second portion of the Summative Assessment Task – Ultranationalism: Nationalism Gone Too Far?
- Students should consult the assessment task and the assessment task rubric to ensure that they have provided the information required.
- Encourage students to use the feedback received during the formative assessment opportunity to make enhancements to their work in progress.
- If necessary, continue to use the feedback prompts from the formative assessment opportunity to coach students toward completion of a quality product.
Suggested Supporting Resources
Textbook References
Student Basic Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
- Pages 130–132 Nationalism and Ultranationalism
Teaching Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
- Reproducible 2.6.2 Factors That Can Contribute to the Development of Ultranationalism
Web Resources
Web Links for Online Sources:
Videos:
- LearnAlberta.ca:
- YouTube.com website:
Distributed Learning:
Critical Challenges:
