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Using a Social Networking Site to Engage Students in Online Discussion about War. Just War Ning. Just War Home Page. Participating Teachers. Brian Bechard – Pioneer Ridge Middle School, Gardner, Kansas (7 th grade social studies)
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Using a Social Networking Site to Engage Students in Online Discussion about War Just War Ning
Participating Teachers • Brian Bechard – Pioneer Ridge Middle School, Gardner, Kansas (7th grade social studies) • Thomas Fulbright – Hope Street Academy, Topeka, Kansas (9th grade world history) • Kori Green – El Dorado Middle School, El Dorado, Kansas (8th grade U.S. history) • Nick Lawrence – East Bronx Academy, Bronx, New York (8th grade U.S. history) • Jamie Sawatzky – Rocky Run Middle School, Chantilly, Virginia (8th Grade U.S. history)
Behind the Scenes • Dr. Joe O’Brien- University of Kansas • Professor of Social Studies Education • Tina Ellsworth- University of Kansas • Doctoral Student
2 Groups of Students • School-based, face-to-face (f2f) Groups (Used for f2f, synchronous discussions) • Interschool, online class period groups (Used for online discussions)
Instructional Approach • Formative Round: Students engage in f2f and online discussion to generate list of reasons for what justifies going to war. • Application Rounds: Students engage in f2f and online discussion to apply their list of reasons to handful of hypothetical situations grounded in U.S. history • Summative Round: Students synthesize their list thinking, finalize the list, and present online to group of teachers in mock U.N. hearing.
Common Core Grade 6-8 Standards • Write arguments focused on disciplined-specific content: • Introduce claims about a topic or issue… • Support claims with logical reasoning… • Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationship(s) among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. • Establish and maintain a formal style. • Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and support the argument presented.
3 “Rounds” of Discussion:Round 1 - Formative • Students are placed in role of advisor to the president as described earlier and post their initial thinking. They then engage in online discussion between several classes of students.
Should this man use the U.S. armed forces or find another solution?
Students take on a similar roles with peers from 4 other schools…
…on this site to engage in a series of online discussions about what justifies war.
As with any class or social situation there are appropriate ways to act. For example… • Discussions depend upon respect for one another • Discussions are an exchange of ideas • Critique ideas, not people • Discussion require broad participation • Opinions are a beginning, reasoned thinking is the desired end
How will we get started? Presentation to Students: • Since you are the most important people in this series of ongoing discussion, we would like to start by learning about what you think justifies a war. • To help you get started, we have created the following situation for you…
Setting Stage: Opening Activity One of the hardest decisions a leader has to make is whether to send people off to fight, and possibly to die. While few people ever face such a decision, as citizens we are expected to elect a president who is required to make this decision. What is it like to confront such a decision? What should leaders consider when deciding whether to use military force against another nation? What ideas might guide them when selecting among several options? While the president consults advisors, in the end the president alone decides. On rare occasions the decision is an “easy” one. After the Japanese bombed the U.S. navy at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, President Franklin Roosevelt knew that declaring war was the right decision. He realized though that a lot of people would die because of his “easy” decision. At other times the decision is harder to make since what is right or just is not as clear. For example, how many people would have to die to make the decision to declare war against a nation a just decision? You are about to embark on a several month online journey with your classmates and those from around the U.S. to try and answer such questions. You first will decide when it is just or okay for a leader to declare war against another nation. You also will discuss what types of military action are just or okay for a president to use against another nation. For example, should a president use a nuclear bomb if this might help the U.S. win a war? After crafting some guidelines for when a president is justified in going to war and what military actions are justifiable to use, we will consider situations where presidents faced such decisions.
The U. N. has asked each nation’s leader to decide on a list of reasons that justify going to war
What Reasons Justify Going to War? In groups you need to answer this question…
Student List of Justifiable Reasons to Go to War • 1. Self defense – another nation(s) attacks the U.S. Examples include: • A. Another nation bombs us • B. If U.S. ships are invaded • C. Make sure soldiers/citizens outside U.S. have access to food/shelter • 2. “Preemptive” self-defense – if another nation seems prepared to attack or harm U.S., then is justified in attacking first. Examples are: • A. Stop another nation from developing weapons of mass destruction. • B. If it appears another nation(s) planning to attack U.S. • C. Ensure national self-respect – if U.S. doesn’t act, other nations are likely to lose respect and believe U.S. won’t act if a future crisis arose.
Reasons – cont. 3. Help allies/friends – even if U.S. is not attacked, U.S. can go to war. Examples include: A. Another nation forcing one of our allies to stop trading. B. Another nation is keeping us from entering our ally’s territory. 4. Protect what we believe in. There are some ideals or democratic principles that are so important, the U.S. needs to make sure that they are honored. Examples include: • A. Freedom – if another nation keeps a people from becoming free, then U.S. can go to war. • B. Religious beliefs – if another nation is killing or even persecuting people because of their religious beliefs, then it is okay to use military force to protect them. • C. Oppose dictators – the U.S. is permitted to remove bad dictators from power
Reasons – Cont. 5. Protect U.S. economic interests – health of U.S. depends upon getting goods such as oil and food. If a nation keeps oil from U.S., then U.S. can use force to get the oil. 6. Protect innocent & punish the inhumane treatment of other people. Examples are: A. Killed citizens on live television. B. Another nation is killing a large number of people. 7. A nation is not willing and/or able to stop something that harms U.S. Examples are: A. Mexico & drug cartels are fighting a war. Mexico is unable to stop flow of drugs into U.S. Also, U.S. citizens are getting killed in the drug war. B. A nation can’t stop illegal shipping guns. These guns are a threat to U.S.
Reasons – Cont. 8. Stop war between other nations. If a war threatens U.S. interests, such as the shipping of important goods such as oil or food. 9. Fight threats to U.S. that are not caused by a nation. Examples include: terrorism. 10. Remain strong – if other nations realize your strength, then they are not likely to take advantage of you. It is okay to fight simply to prove that you can and you will.
TO: U.S. President and advisorsFROM: Joe O’Brien, International Delegate First and foremost, I am very impressed with how well you have thought through this question of what justifies war. For those that had a chance to participate in the online discussion, your thinking and the respectful manner in which you carried on the discussion impressed me. I reviewed what you wrote, grouped together common ideas, and gave a name or title to each group of common ideas. For example, most everyone said that self-defense was a good or just reason to go to war. I used ideas expressed during the online discussion as examples of how you defined each group of common ideas. For example, when talking about self-defense, people said things like if another nation bombs the U.S. or attacked U.S. ships. Since so many people participated in the discussion, forgive me if you do not recognize your exact words. On the following page is a list of reasons for going to war and examples to help explain each reason. The order of reasons roughly follows how much support each reason received. For example, since most everyone thought that self-defense was a reason to go to war, I put it first.
Round 2 (Application) • Last year, after generating list of reasons when it is okay for a president to go to war, they applied their thinking to 5 hypothetical situations, grounded in U.S. history. Added one for this year • Adams & undeclared war with France • Native Americans • War of 1812 • Civil War • Spanish-American War • World War I
Setting Stage • Do you remember what it was like moving from elementary to middle school? While exciting, for some of you, did it also seem a little scary? How big did the 8th graders seem to you at the time? How likely were you to socialize with 8th graders? In a way, new nations are like 6th graders entering a world school or society of nations. New nations typically are weaker, less confident, and have more to lose in a conflict than older nations.
Historical Context • Imagine you are a leader of a new nation called Jayhawk. About 15 years ago you were a colony of the Bronx. You & many other people wanted to create an independent nation. Knowing the “enemy of my enemy is my friend,” you sought El Dorado’s help. The Bronx & El Dorado had fought each other for many decades. El Dorado agreed to become your ally or friend because it would hurt the Bronx. El Dorado’s help was crucial in the last battle of the war with the Bronx. While not happy, the Bronx agreed to let Jayhawk become a new nation. The violent struggle between the Bronx and El Dorado though had continued since Jayhawk became independent. To make matters worse, the El Dorado people became so angry with their ruler, they violently kicked him out. Many El Dorado people wanted a more democratic government. Jayhawk has found itself once again drawn into the struggle between the Bronx and El Dorado.
Situation After the war, the Bronx became Jayhawk’s greatest trading partner. Jayhawk’s economic health depended upon good relations with the Bronx. Since Jayhawk traded with El Dorado as well, the Bronx started seizing Jayhawk commercial ships. Jayhawk’s prior leader wanted to protect trade with the Bronx. He made an agreement or treaty with the Bronx. As part of the agreement, the Bronx stopped seizing ships. This angered El Dorado’s leaders for several reasons. First, they had been Jayhawk’s ally since the nation’s beginning, yet Jayhawk now had made friends with the Bronx. Second, guaranteeing good trade or economic relations with Jayhawk better enabled the Bronx to fight El Dorado. Finally, the El Dorado leaders got rid of their ruler to become more democratic, yet Jayhawk had made friends with the Bronx ruler that they opposed 15 years ago. El Dorado felt betrayed and could not permit the Bronx to get stronger. El Dorado started seizing hundreds of defenseless Jayhawk’s trade ships headed to the Bronx. People in Jayhawk that oppose you want to end the treaty with the Bronx. They fear that the treaty takes Jayhawk back to when it was a colony of the Bronx. As the leader of Jayhawk, you think that war with the Bronx would prove disastrous. The revolution in El Dorado is continuing and getting more violent. As El Dorado continues to seize Jayhawk ships, your own supporters are demanding that Jayhawk go to war against El Dorado. Since you just learned that El Dorado tortured a Jayhawk ship’s captain, you understand why so many want war. What can you do? What should you do?
War of 1812 • You represent a young nation known as Jayhawk. While you have a lot of land, your army & navy are very small. You have benefited from conflicts between 2 powerful nations. An ocean separates you from the 2 nations. 1 of the 2 nations, known as Topeka, has a large, strong navy & the other one, called Gardner, has a strong army. Both of them import food from your nation… • You are Topeka’s leader, a very powerful nation. You have territory on several continents & the strongest navy in the world. You have fought an on-again and off-again war with Gardner, another powerful nation. Gardner has conquered several nations on its continent & has a very strong army. You are concerned that Gardner will keep conquering nations until it controls the continent & then threaten your trade empire. Since Topeka is fairly small, yet with a large population, you need to import a lot of food from Jayhawk…
Final Activity: A Call for Clarity Representatives of the United Nations Security Council seek your wisdom…
Round 3 - Summative Finalize List & Apply to Contemporary Situation Spring, 2012 – Addressing the Situation in Syria Participants: 300 students American Air Museum (UK) Project Leaders Leaders of NYC iZone Initiative Additional Teachers and Colleagues
So what did they decide? • Tier I: Consensus • Self-defense • Get/Protect Resources • Stop inhumane treatment
…and? • Tier II: Majority or close to it • Protect what we believe in (freedom) • Defend allies • Protect territory • Assassination of a leader • Tier III: Strong support • Prevent WMDs • Fight to preserve peace
Students Buy-In • Teacher observations • Survey results • Tenor of online comments • What do they like? • The content • Working with one another • Using technology • Doing something “real” • Interacting with multiple audiences
Making it Work! • Curricular Alignment – while wars abound in state curricula, some wars deemed more significant than others. Also, scope of U.S. history curricula differ. • Scheduling Logistics – different time zones & daily/weekly schedules. Just the beginning…. • Technology Logistics – student access to social networking site; wireless access; availability of computers…. • Online decorum – a need to socialize students to online academic discussion. • Integration into Ongoing Instruction – online discussion opportunity to enrich, not begin, thinking about topic. • Facilitating & Monitoring Discussion – synchronous, yet time lag due to keyboarding
Next Steps • Finesse use of online discussion • Better sequencing of online discussions • Conduct content analysis of students entries across course of year to chart the growth in their thinking • Incorporate of more primary text documents • Refine alignment to the Common Core • Explore more mediums for interaction • Video (live and recorded), chat functions, etc.
