Alabama Social Studies SS24.5.13
The Standard
Summarize why the United States sought to contain communism during the Cold War, and locate major communist countries from the Cold War era on a map.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why U.S. leaders tried to stop communism from spreading after World War II. They find and label key communist countries on a map from the Cold War era.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student explains that U.S. leaders feared growing Soviet influence and wanted to protect their allies. They correctly locate the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and East Germany on a 1962 map.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think containment meant removing communism from countries where it already existed. They may label present-day Russia as the whole Soviet Union or look for East Germany on a current map.
How to Assess It
- Give students a blank 1962 world map. Ask them to label the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and East Germany, then write one sentence explaining why U.S. leaders wanted to stop communism from spreading.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a blank 1962 map and country cards for the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and East Germany; have them shade and label each.
Show a 1962 map and ask, "Why might U.S. leaders have worried about communist governments in Europe, Asia, and Cuba?"
Play map bingo: call out the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and East Germany while students cover each on a 1962 map.
Compare a 1962 map with a current atlas, then find Germany and three countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.
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Related Standards
- SS24.WH.15
Trace the progression of the Cold War from the end of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- SS24.WH.15b
Evaluate the extent to which efforts to contain or spread communism contributed to global conflict.
- SS24.US2.13
Explain the evolution of America’s Cold War policy to defend democracy and contain communism around the world and how this led to an escalation in armed conflic...
- SS24.US2.9b
Compare the application of the United States’ policy of containment to various areas of the world outside the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s.
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