WEB QUEST

THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

TIPS-GHPPA

henryuri@aol.com DR. SPIERER

GLOBAL HISTORY IV

INTRODUCTION:

In April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev decided to place intermediate range missiles in Cuba. The crisis began on October 15, 1962, when U.S. reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet missile installations under construction in Cuba. President Kennedy, in a televised address on October 22, 1962, revealed the discovery of the missile installations and proclaimed that a nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be seen as an attack by the Soviet Union. President Kennedy Also imposed a naval quarantine on Cuba to prevent further shipment of Soviet offensive weapons from arriving in there. President Kennedy also demanded that the Soviet Union agree to remove the ballistic missiles from Cuba.

In this web quest you will be a diplomat for the United States. You have been assigned the task to resolve the problem of the Cuban Missile Crisis. You have been assigned by the president of the United States to broker an agreement that could save our country, our world and our planet from mass destruction and a “nuclear winter”. Your recommendations will be read by the Soviet Union as well as the United Nations. They are waiting at this very moment. Good luck ! You have a daunting task !

TASK:

You will study the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis with the purpose of determining why Nikita Khrushchev wanted to install the missiles in Cuba and why Fidel Castro agreed to have the Soviet missiles installed in Cuba.

You will be able to show how the failed Bay of Pigs invasion influenced Castro in this respect.

You will be able to explain why the U.S. saw the presence of the Soviet

missiles in Cuba as an unacceptable threat.

You will be able to show how the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the

the world ever came to nuclear war.

You will be able to explain the roles played by Soviet Premier Nikita

Khrushchev, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Cuban President

Fidel Castro in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

You will be able to show how the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved.

You will write a five page report dealing with and explaining the issues

rose above. The report should be typed using MS Word.

The report should have an attractive cover and be neatly prepared.

PROCESS:

You will use the Internet to find material dealing with the problems faced by

The Soviet Union, Cuba, and the U.S. which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis

As well as the problems faced by these three nations as a consequence of the

Crisis.

You will use the TIPS GHPPA links below to guide your research. Each student will use the Internet web sites, given in the resource section, to complete the worksheets under each of the SIX-STEP Global Public Policy Analyst. You will then use these worksheets and other notes you have taken to complete the task.

You will be put into groups and each group will be required to prepare a five page report to be presented in class. Students will be required to:

Identify Problem

Gather the Evidence

Determine Causes

Evaluate the Policy

Do a Comparative Analysis

You will list and explain the reasons the Soviet Union felt that this was needed to install the missiles in Cuba.

You will show and explain why Fidel Castro felt a need for these missiles.

You will explain why the U.S. saw these missiles a major threat.

You will show how the missile crisis was resolved.

Step 1. You will work with five other students in a group

Step 2. You will discuss and analyze the assigned task with your group members

Step 3. Your group members will divide up responsibilities for the completion of the task

Step 4. You will use the http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips.html

Step 5. You will identify the problem http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/PPA/ghppaip1.html,

Gather the evidence http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/PPA/ghppari1.html,

Determine causes http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/PPA/ghppadc1.html,

Evaluate the policy http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/PPA/ghppaep1.html,

Do a comparative analysis http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/PPA/ghppacomp.html

RESOURCES:

You will use the following websites to gather information on the assigned topic. You should find additional websites.

www.personal.psu.edu/staff/r/x/rxb297/CUBA/MAIN.HTML

http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/?tqskip1=1

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1962-cuba-un1.html

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-1.htm

http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/subject/missile-crisis/

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/cmc/cmc.html

http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00033.cfm

You should use the following search engines:

https://www.google.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.altavista.com/

http://www.dogpile.com/

http://www.askjeevees.com/

EVALUATION:

 Your written presentation will be evaluated on a group basis. Each individual will receive the same evaluation as the group.

You will be evaluated based on the rubric chart below for your written report

:	UNACCEPTABLE	NEEDS IMPROVEMENT	SATISFACTORY	EXEMPLARY
Quality of information	Inaccurate Information	General information Use one specific example Has a vague understanding of the issue	Accurate information. Use one specific example.	Accurate information Use two or more specific examples
Accuracy	Serious grammatical errors	A few serious errors	Few spelling Mistakes	Grammatically perfect
Format	No format Followed	A format is followed	A general format is followed	Format is followed Perfectly

STANDARDS:

:

This Web Quest responds to the followings curriculum standards:

Social Studies:

2:1.2:2

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

4:1

Explain how societies and nations attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by utilizing scarce capital, natural, and human resources.

Understand how scarcity requires people and nations to make choices that relate to costs and future considerations.

English Language Arts:

Standard 1:   Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

1:1 Interpret and analyze information from websites in the Internet and other sources.

Compare and synthesize information from different sources in the Internet and other textbooks.

Speaking and Writing.

Relate new information to prior knowledge and experience.

CONCLUSION:

You should have learned why Khrushchev felt the need to place missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba. You should also have learned why Castro felt he needed these missiles. You should have leaned why the U.S. viewed these missiles as a major threat. Further you should have leaned how this missile crisis was the closest the world came to a nuclear war. Finally you should have learned how the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved. In the process you will become skilled in the use of the computer and specifically in using Web Quest.