Introduction

Unfortunately, war can be a powerful force in the history of a nation. There is a classic economic principle of “Guns or Butter.” A nation has limited resources and must decide how to use those limited resources. If it chooses to use resources on military expansion- Guns, the resources may not be available to provide for basic needs of its citizens- Butter. The United States has been fortunate. Very few wars have been fought in the continental United States. However, this means most wars the U.S. was involved in were fought in someone else’s backyard.

War causes vast death and destruction. War also establishes a winning nation(s) as a powerful force in the world and subjugates the losing nation(s). The United States has established its status in the world through economic muscle and military muscle. It is very helpful to understand our recent history of war involvement.

For example, the two largest nations that emerged as victors in WWII were the Soviet Union and the United States. Knowing that fact, it is not surprising to learn that the Cold War was a prolonged struggled between these two nations to see which was most powerful.

Task

Students will research the major military wars and conflicts that the United States was involved in from the Indian Wars beginning in 1864 to the present War on Terrorism. You will research in teams of two, or possibly three. Each team will be assigned to one war. Each team will teach the class about their war using PowerPoint slides.

Your task is two-fold:

1. Learn the basic facts about your war.

2. Create part of a class PowerPoint that gives an overview of your war.

Two class periods will be allotted for team work time. The first class period is your research time. The second class period is the time to create your three PowerPoint slides. Every team’s slides will be saved in a shared folder and be presented on the third day. Every student will take notes on the chart provided on this third class day. This chart will be saved and used for quizzes throughout the school year. It is VERY important for each person to save his or her completed chart for the entire school year.

Process

1. Choose a partner- get permission if you want a third person.

2. Sign out a war.

3. Sign out one laptop.

4. Go to www.Answers.com and stay on this site.

5. Research your war. Read your article carefully.

6. Record and understand your war in terms of where, when, and why.

7. Create 3 PPT slides on your war.

a. Topic slide- name war, give beginning and ending dates

b. Cause slide- long-term cause of war and the event that actually started the war.

c. Result slide- event that officially ended the war, i.e. treaty, and the long term results of the war

8. Save your 3 slides in your class period in the shared folder.

Evaluation

See attached rubric .

Conclusion

The United States has become a world power through flexing its power in economic ways and military ways. This class PowerPoint highlighted the military endeavors of our country. It will be important for students to know the basic facts of each major war the United States was involved in from 1864 to the present. This knowledge will enable students to correctly place new knowledge on a timeline and will give meaning to historical events.

General PowerPoint Slide Guidelines

· Keep the data on slides simple. If you have a great deal of data, divide it among several slides. The content of a single slide should be easily comprehended in 20 seconds. Remember: Seven lines per slide and seven words per line!

· Use large, legible letters.

· If your data slides are black and white, white on a black background shows up better than black on a white background.

· If your data slides are in color, use only light colors, such as white and yellow, on a dark background, such as dark blue. Do not use colors such as red or purple.

Source: http://www.ismrm.org

Extra Credit

If you have extra time, go to www.google.com and research the ethics of war. On the back of your chart answer the following question:

“Is war ever a good thing?” In a complete paragraph, answer the question, give an example to support your answer, and cite your source.

Name:

U.S. Wars 1861-Present

Notes on Peer PowerPoint Slides

War		Where? (What countries?)	When? (What event triggered the war? In what year? What event officially ended the war and when?)	Why? (Give the basic reason for the war and the result of the war.)
Indian Wars
Spanish American War
World War I
World War II
Cold War
Korean War
Vietnam War (Conflict)
Persian Gulf War
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Global War on Terror
	U.S. Wars, 1861-Present Teacher Name: Mrs. Haney Student Names: _________________________________

CATEGORY	16 Total- A	14 B	12 C	10 D
Content- max 4 pts	All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors.	Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate.	The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate.	Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error.
Slide Sequence- max 4 pts	Information is organized in a clear, logical way. Topic Slide, Cause Slide, and Result Slide	Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One slide of information is out of place.	Slides are out of order or do not follow the format instructions.	Slides take away from the content for the following reason: _____________
Readable text- max 4 pts	Font formats (e.g., color, bold, italic) have been carefully planned to enhance readability and content.	Font formats have been carefully planned to enhance readability.	Font formatting has been carefully planned to complement the content. It may be a little hard to read.	Font formatting makes it very difficult to read the material.
Cooperation- max 4 pts	Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all of the time.	Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most of the time.	Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some of the time.	Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing responsibility.