Monmouth Comprehensive School National Grid for Learning USA 1929 - 1990
Lesson number and title : Lesson 16 Détente and the end of the Cold War
Aims and objectives: By the end of the lesson students should gain a greater understanding of what Detente means and the reasons why it became advantageous for both sides in to begin negotiating.
Historical skills: Historical Enquiry
Key skills: Media studies and numeracy
Resources: PowerPoint ISM, You will need a copy of Forrest Gump, Publisher cards, word détente jumble/card sort
ISM: Pupils should be encouraged to see if they can firstly identify the abstract images e.g. the salt pot, hot line and the melting ice cube. What do they think the connection is? What could have brought about the changes between these two countries? A scene from Forrest Gump could be shown this scene highlights Forrest’s visits to China and ping pong games that would played. Students should be encouraged to comment on the significance of a two counties competing in the sporting arena and of Nixon’s visit to China
Activity 1: Option 1 students can in pairs place the publisher cards into the correct order. They can then stick them into their exercise book or précis the cards. They can then colour code the points into cold and hot i.e. Blue and Red.
Or
Option 2 if you have access to a suite of computers students could be given the Détente information in the form of a jumbled word document. The students have to first order the document into chorological order. They can then cut and paste the document into the correct order. Having done this they can then colour code the document into Blue and Red and even transfer information into excel .
Activity 2: Students can be given the when did the Cold War thaw overview graph. They can then either in a computer room compete the sheet using the cards, their textbooks and the internet. Or students can compete an A3 version of the graph this will provide them with an excellent summary of the period, as they should plot a rough graph to show the nature of the tension and there is space to make brief notes on each event.
Plenary: Pictionary The teacher calls a student to the front of the class and gives them a title from one of the images. The student must then without using words or numbers draw the events, people and places. There are also a number of websites that can be set at homework http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/quizzes/coldwar/coldwar.htm
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/quizzes/pairs/coldwar.htm
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/quizzes/flashcards/depression.shtml