Tag: Propaganda

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DBQ “The Red Scare” Reflection

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Christina Steiner and I have been working on this project for several weeks. We started out with the idea that propaganda is meant to stir feelings in a certain direction, bad or good. Then we decided that we wanted students to recognize the use of propaganda throughout history. Our general question was “What do we want students to learn from the DBQ overall?” The generative question that we formed out of this starting idea was: “How does a nation develop such an intense fear of an enemy, creating mass hysteria?”

We thought that a good starting point to understand such hysteria would be the Red Scare in 1950’s America. We wanted students to learn about the paralyzing fear of communism that existed among Americans at that time. We wanted students to understand what caused such terror to develop. We wanted students to think about what words, images, actions, and depictions might cause fear and what is needed to cause mass hysteria. Student will then be able to understand the driving force of the Red Scare in 1950’s America. The DBQ slowly leads students to think in an investigative manner.

Christina and I chose documents that would help answer the generative question. We found A LOT of interesting documents and images, but we tried to stick to those that would answer that generative question. This kept us focused on the task at hand. We also ended each document or image with follow-up questions, to scaffold student understanding of propaganda. We wanted each document or image to provide a great deal of information that could lead to greater student discovery and interaction with each piece.

The final project can be found here on Learnist and will soon be part of a larger iBook. Through this project, students will come to see and learn how America held such great fear of communism though images, books, comics, films, and posters. We looked specifically at media, examining the creation of enemies based on common perceptions rather than true events or facts.

This DBQ is part of our class-produced, multi-touch iBook. Available free at iTunes

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DBQ Reflection

When I started my DBQ project I wanted to show how propaganda was used throughout history and see how propaganda evolved throughout the years.  However, I decided to focus my attention at WWII and the Cold War Era.  I was able to find some great documents showing the propaganda used during that time.  I wanted to somehow link the idea of propaganda to today’s society and challenge the students to think about how propaganda may be used today.  However, I didn’t come up with a great way to do that without making the project much larger in scope. See my DBQ –“The Power of Propaganda”

I think I should have focused my attention to either WWII or the Cold War exclusively.  I think I would have been able to dive in deeper with one of them, rather than trying to span over a long time and different conflicts.  However, this DBQ could be used to try to connect the two events and show how propaganda played a part in both of these.

This DBQ is part of our class-produced, multi-touch iBook. Available free at iTunes

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Class 9: DBQ Project Showcase / Sites for Social Studies / Fishbowl Continues

1950s analog computer

This class continued in our 3rd session of Lesson Studies Fishbowls, but added a tech focus.

The class showcased and offered feedback on our student-designed DBQs at Learnist>
More on DBQ Design assignment

  1. Red Scare DBQ by Christina Steiner & Kristi Convissor
  2. The Vietnam War by Samuel TS Kelley
  3. Visions of Freedom: The American Revolution by CRSoderberg
  4. Media and War: An Analysis of Vietnam War Propaganda by Damian Wierzbicki
  5. Cross-Cultural Contact Between Native American Residents and European Conquerors by Tom Malone
  6. Propaganda of the American Suffrage Movement c. 1910-1920 by Heather Treanor and Cory Cassanova
  7. Anne Frank: A Timeless Story by Erin Deatherage
  8. Images and Emotion – WWII Propaganda Posters by Aram Glick
  9. The Irish Revolutionary Period by Peter Gallagher
  10. The Power of Propaganda by Kyle Stephens

Peter shared a few of his favorite websites for students applying analytic thinking to history and social studies. They included:

Sources for historic content:

Image Credit:
1950s Analog Computer : Consolidated/Convair Aircraft Factory San Diego
San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive Archives No.: 10-000861

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Propaganda Used Throughout History

For my generative question, I want students thinking about how the state uses resources in order to aggrandize themselves.  This can be applied to ancient empires, the United States (Particularly in WWII, Cold War, etc), Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, etc.  I like this question because it’s applicable in World and US History and can be applied today.

This will involve fining documents and allowing students to think about why the state (whoever they may be learning about) would produce such a document.  Why would this benefit them?  Of course with the historical context hopefully provided by the class, the students will be able to hypothesize why the state would produce these documents.

Hopefully this allows the students to have a better understanding of how the people of a certain age or nation were thinking throughout history and also the decision process that state/government was making at the time.  Furthermore, students will also be able to understand how and why propaganda may be used today throughout the world.