Social Studies 20-4: Nationalism in Canada and the World
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Ultranationalism: Nationalism Gone Too Far?

Activity: Making Sense of the Second World War: Identifying Key Actions

Students select a nation–state involved in the Second World War and summarize the key actions of this nation–state during 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 (summarize key actions).

Setting the Context for Learning

  • Show students the video Lest We Forget – A Pittance of Time. Provide students with the context for the creation of Terry Kelly's tribute to veterans and his reminder of the importance of Remembrance Day.
  • Engage students in a discussion about their perceptions of the issues raised in the video.
  • Advise students that throughout Related Issue 2 they will be learning about the global issues of nationalism and ultranationalism, particularly during times of conflict. However, they need to keep in mind that the broad issues discussed in this related issue affect the lives of individual people in a significant way.
  • Let the students know that as they work through their inquiry over the next several classes, they will be working on the skills that they need in order to be successful with the Summative Assessment Task – Ultranationalism: Nationalism Gone Too Far? 
  • Share the assessment task and the assessment task rubric  with students. Point out the different parts of the task, and let students know that they will be working on the various parts of the task as the classes proceed. Invite students to consider the various formats that can be used to complete the assignment.
  • The language of the assessment task rubric is clarified through the formative assessment opportunities provided for each suggested activity. The boldfaced descriptive words in the rubric are also clarified in the Summative Assessment Task Rubric Glossary PDF.

Summarize Key Actions

  • Prior to working on this activity, students will need to develop an understanding of the relationship between nationalism and the pursuit of national interest by exploring the similarities and differences between nationalism and ultranationalism (e.g., McGraw-Hill Ryerson's Understanding Nationalism, pages 130–135, or Perspectives on Nationalism, Section 02: To what extent should national interest be pursued?)
  • Provide concrete examples that illustrate the difference between nationalism and the pursuit of national interest. For example, participation in an Olympic Games is often an expression of nationalism; Canada hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympics can be seen as pursuit of national interest in terms of economic benefits and positioning on the world stage. Provide additional examples (e.g., Arctic sovereignty, participation in the war in Afghanistan) to help students develop an understanding of the differences between nationalism and the pursuit of national interest.
  • Prior to working on this activity, students will also need to understand the causes of both the First and Second World Wars, understand the geography of Europe and understand expressions of nationalism and ultranationalism by specific nation–states during these two conflicts.
  • Identified resources, including print and video selections, may be accessed to support student learning (e.g., firstworldwar.com; World War I Summary; Global WWII Summary; CBC Digital Archives—War & Conflict: First World War and War & Conflict: Second World War; and CBC News In Depth videos and summaries for the First World War and Second World War).
  • Even with substantial background knowledge about the First and Second World Wars and the concepts of nationalism and ultranationalism, some students may find the number of focuses for assessment in the summative assessment task challenging. For these students, consider sharing the assessment task in two distinct parts or revealing each assessment focus of the task individually so that students are able to work with smaller chunks of information at one time.
  • Discuss examples that illustrate differences between the pursuit of national interest (e.g., First World War peace treaty settlements), nationalism (e.g., Serbian nationalism at the beginning of the First World War) and ultranationalism (e.g., USSR under Stalin). The examples in parentheses are from McGraw-Hill Ryerson's Understanding Nationalism; they can be substituted with other examples based on student interest, level of difficulty and community context. To adapt the resource material for 20-4 students, you may wish to select only one example and discuss as a class how it illustrates or does not illustrate the pursuit of national interest, nationalism or ultranationalism.
  • As a class, create a checklist of qualities or actions that are present when a nation has moved beyond nationalism to ultranationalism. The following set of questions may be useful for students to develop a list of criteria for determining when a nation has moved beyond the pursuit of national interest and nationalism to ultranationalism. Encourage students to focus on a specific nation–state as a concrete example when discussing these questions.
    • Are the interests of the nation considered to be more important than anything else?
    • Are the nation's displays of patriotism widespread?
    • Are the nation's displays of patriotism extreme in their messaging?
    • Are the nation's interactions with other nations hostile?
    • Does the nation use propaganda for negative purposes (e.g., harmful to groups or other nations)?
    • Does the leader of the nation demand allegiance to a cause or purpose?
    • Does the nation consistently respect the rights and freedoms of its people during times of peace and times of conflict?
  • At the conclusion of the discussion, prompt students to reach and justify a conclusion about whether or not the nation–state they were using throughout the discussion tends to act more nationalistically or more ultranationalistically. Some students may be challenged by the process of reaching a conclusion. Consider providing them with the following structure to help them explain their position.

    [Nation–state] is more [nationalistic or ultranationalistic] because _______________.

  • Based on the discussion and the conclusions students reach, generate a list of criteria as a class that describes nationalistic actions and a list that describes ultranationalistic actions by nation–states.
  • As a formative assessment opportunity (ungraded), have students fill in an exit slip to complete the following prompt: "Nationalism turns to ultranationalism when …." Collect the slips when the students have finished and use this information to inform decisions for further instruction.
  • Embedded in this activity are a number of research skills. Students will use these skills indirectly to complete the activity; however, since the students are not overtly demonstrating the degree to which they have achieved the skills, they will not be assessed (graded) on these skills.
  • As students begin to complete the first part of the summative assessment task, summarize key actions, brainstorm with students what to look for when accessing sources of information. Ask students to consider what types of sources will be reliable; for example, a website created by another Grade 11 student may not be as reliable as a website created by a Department of History at a reputable university. As students assess the reliability and credibility of websites, encourage them to consider:
    • authorship
    • perspective
    • consistency with other sources
    • acknowledgement of sources
    • currency.
  • Discuss with students the importance of recording information accurately. Provide students with an example of how inaccurate information can impact the interpretation of information.
  • Remind students that when they are using a source to gather information, it is important to make notes that summarize the information rather than copying the information verbatim. Discuss with students the consequences of plagiarism, both in school and in the wider world.
  • Encourage students to indicate the source(s) of their information with sufficient detail so others could efficiently access the same source. The program of studies does not indicate a preferred method of referencing sources; it simply indicates that students need to be able to acknowledge sources of information (S.7.21).
  • For students who may be overwhelmed by the amount of information available on the Internet, consider creating a list of appropriate websites for students to access on this topic.
  • Model for students the process of determining key actions/events within diverse information. For example, the names of the individual concentration camps in the Second World War are secondary to what was occurring to people within those camps. Encourage students to see beyond the detail and look at global concepts.
  • Post an excerpt of detailed information. Highlight key actions/events or pieces of information and use a "talk aloud" strategy to share with students why you selected some of the information and why you chose to not highlight other pieces of information.
  • Invite students to use the Summarize Key Actions: Peer Coaching Tool . Through class discussion, assist students in making the link between the above conversations about the quality and quantity of information gathered and the information assessed in the tool.
  • Consider modelling the Summarize Key Actions: Peer Coaching Tool . Ask students to use the peer coaching tool and the summative assessment task rubric to provide feedback for the sample class work.
  • Consider providing an opportunity for students to share (e.g., digitally or on the wall in the classroom) information about the actions of their selected nation–states. This way, all students can access the actions of all of the nation–states that were researched to broaden their understanding of actions and events during the Second World War. Discuss the nation–states and the student summaries, helping students to identify key actions for all identified nation–states.

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

Summarize Key Actions

Involve students in peer coaching to provide and receive feedback about the pertinence of the information they provided in their summary of the key actions of their selected nation–state during the Second World War. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.

Feedback Prompts:

  • Have I focused on the big ideas?
  • Did I provide accurate information?
  • Did I provide enough information?
  • Is the information I gathered on-topic?

These feedback prompts have been incorporated into the Summarize Key Actions: 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 PDF.

Linking to the Summative Assessment Task

  • As students summarize key actions through the suggested activity Making Sense of the Second World War: Identifying Key Actions, they will have completed the first 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 feedback received through 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
  • Pages 133–135 Kosovo and Russia: Nationalism and Ultranationalism
  • Pages 144–145 Propaganda and Censorship in Canada

Teaching Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:

  • Reproducible 2.5.7 In the National Interest
  • Reproducible 2.5.9 Canada's National Interests
  • Reproducible 2.6.2 Factors That Can Contribute to the Development of UltranationalismShow more
  • Reproducible 2.6.3 Recognizing Propaganda
  • Reproducible 2.6.4 Analyzing a Victory Bonds Poster

Teaching Resource—Oxford University Press (Social Studies 10-2), Living in a Globalizing World:

  • Assessment Master AM 1: Demonstrating Understanding Rubric

Web Resources

Web Links for Online Sources:

Videos:

Distributed Learning/Tools4Teachers Resources:

Critical Challenges: