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.