NY Social Studies 10.5c

Social Studies10th GradeKey Idea 10.5

The Standard

The devastation of the world wars and use of total war led people to explore ways to prevent future world wars.

New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework

Key Idea 10.5

UNRESOLVED GLOBAL CONFLICT (1914–1945): World War I and World War II led to geopolitical changes, human and environmental devastation, and attempts to bring stability and peace.

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how mass casualties, civilian suffering, and destruction pushed leaders to seek international cooperation. They compare the goals, structure, and limits of major peace plans and organizations.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can explain how the Fourteen Points differed from the Treaty of Versailles. They use evidence to identify League of Nations weaknesses and ways the United Nations addressed them.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume the Treaty of Versailles followed all of Wilson’s ideas or that the United States joined the League of Nations. They may also treat the League and United Nations as identical organizations.
How to Assess It: Use this exit ticket: Name one weakness of the League of Nations and explain one way the United Nations was designed to address it.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give groups goal, policy, and outcome cards to sort under the Fourteen Points, Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations, or United Nations.
Ask students to write whether punishment or cooperation offered the better path to peace after World War I, using two facts.
Run a matching relay in which teams connect each peace effort to its goals, members, powers, and limits.
Have students examine a recent United Nations peacekeeping case and compare its tools with those available to the League of Nations.

Free download