Mrs. Djan

Truman High School

Global and US History

Introduction: Welcome to 1962. Over the next 13 days, the fate of the world will rest in your hands. You are a policy maker that will be deciding what options to pursue while securing your interests. It is the middle of the Cold War, and tensions between the United States and Russia have come to a head. Capitalism is at war with communism on the battle ground of a dictatorial regime under Fidel Castro. In Cuba, a communist named Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries have recently overthrown their despotic government. Now Cuba has decided to become a part of the action in the Cold War by happily receiving a large shipment of nuclear missiles from Russia. Cuba has agreed to “take care” of the missiles for Russia.

Fidel

Castro

Of

Cuba

Premier Nakita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union

President John F. Kennedy of the United States

President Kennedy in the White House during the crisis

Task:

Your goal will be to succeed in a simulation game of the Cuban Crisis. You will develop a plan to deal with the threat of Soviet Missiles. You will need to convince people in your group and the game’s judges of the value of your plan using the Public Policy Analyst method. You want to avoid war, but that IS an option if all else fails. Good luck in trying to save the world!

Process:

You will work in your groups, each of which represents a different country, to create a presentation. You will first need to read your background information sheet in order to be “briefed” about the current situation. Then, you and your group will decide what to do based on your own security interests. Remember that you will be required to back up your choice with evidence. Every group will have the option to fire a nuclear weapon. Remember though, that some of you have more weapons than others. Furthermore, if one of you fires, all of you will be forced to fire. In addition to the oral presentation of your choice, you will also need to come up with a bumper sticker to persuade the judges in your favor. This bumper sticker needs to include a slogan, and some artwork.

You will need to examine your evidence

And make a decision.

Follow the steps outlined below:

1) Read through your background information sheet.

2) Take notes on the most important information in your background information.

3) You will fill out the worksheets from the TIPS website Identifying the Problem(Worksheet 1,Gathering Evidence of the problem Worksheet 2) to help you formulate your presentation.

4) Then you will determine Causes of the problem and evaluate the policies followed during the Cuban crisis

5) Work with your group to decide what policy option your country should pursue, backing up your suggestions using evidence for your choice.

6) Write four (4) paragraphs that you will present to the class and the judges.

7) Assign people to present.

8) Create your bumper sticker, complete with slogan.

9) HAVE FUN, HAVE FUN, HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Resources for you to use: (for gathering your evidence, search the Cuban Missile Crisis and your country name)

Thomas (congressional records): Thomas

Yahoo Search: Yahoo

Google Search Google

TIPS Information TIPS PPA Page

Evaluation:

You and your group will be evaluated on the following rubric for your oral presentation

Cuban Missile Crisis Rubric

Name: ________________________

Teacher: Mrs. Djan

Date of Presentation: ____________

Title of Work: ___________________

Criteria

Points

	1	2	3	4
Organization	Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information.	Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which audience can follow.	Student presents information in logical, interesting sequence which audience can follow.	____
Content Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions.	Student is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) with explanations and elaboration.	____
Visuals	Student used no visuals.	Student occasional used visuals that rarely support text and presentation.	Visuals related to text and presentation.	Student used visuals to reinforce screen text and presentation.	____
Mechanics	Student's presentation had four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors. No use of PPA Materials	Presentation had three misspellings and/or grammatical errors. Only used a few questions from the PPA materials.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors. Used most of the PPA questions to guide the written report.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. Used all of the questions to provide guidance and a format for the written report and the presentation.	____
Delivery	Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear.	Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation.	Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly.	Student used a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms.
				Total---->	____

Teacher Comments:

Conclusion:

Upon completion of this Web Quest, you will have a better understanding of what occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Students will have experienced being on the inside of policy decisions. Students will have presented to their classmates to persuade them to try to follow your policy decision to help and support your country. Students will also present and create bumper stickers to help illustrate their presentation. Bumper stickers will be displayed prominently through out the classroom after the work is done.

Standards:

Social Studies Standards

Standard 2:World History
Students 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.

Standard 3:Geography
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS
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.
Standard 3:Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.
Standard 4:Language for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people.