Siege Mentality:

Nigeria Lesson Plan

SIEGE MENTALITY:

Current and past conflicts

by Dave DenHartog

INQUIRY QUESTIONS

How does ethnic background, political allegiance, or religious following interact with conflict?
What geographical features contributed to the success or failure of the following struggles?

OBJECTIVE

To understand how world history has a pattern of repeating itself.

STANDARDS

Standard 3: Analyzing the spatial organization of people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.
Standard 6: The culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions.
Standard 10: The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
Standard 12: The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
Standard 13: How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface
Standard 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past.
Standard 18: How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Bodily/Kinesthetic
Visual/Spatial
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Verbal/Linguistic

KEY TERMS

Genocide
Siege
Riot

MATERIALS

Access to the Internet
*Note - This lesson is best done using access to multiple online computers but can be done without.

ACTIVITY This lesson is designed to take 150-180 minutes.

1. Define all the key terms.
2. Divide into groups of three.
(If you have more than twenty-four in a class the groups could be larger.)
3. Select a historical conflict.
4. Divide tasks among the group:

Reporter: This person will put together a report on the topic.

Story Teller: This person will be creating a fictional story about a character that would have been at or involved in the conflict

Cartographer: This person will be making two different maps on the areas

5. Review expectations.

Report - One to three pages (typed). Should contain the following:

An overview of the situation

A description of the conflicting parties

Define success for both sides

Explain how this conflict fits the definition of a siege

Explain which side "won" and which side "lost"

Story Teller: Using factual information weave together a fictional account of an individual or group that would have been involved in the conflict. The story should be between one to three pages typed. Explain the psychological affects of a siege in your city. Describe how all five senses are affected in your story.

Cartographer: Your job is to create two different maps. One map should be two-dimensional and should include the country and area surrounding the chosen conflict. The other map should focus specifically on the area of conflict. The map should have a three dimensional characteristics. In other words, there should be props that you add to your map.

6. All three people are working together, but will be scored separately.
7. Each group should present their findings to the class.

ASSESSMENT

Students are scored on three different criteria:

I - Thorough completion of role expectation. 70%

Criteria and directions followed.

Work is quality.

II - Presentation covers part and helps all students 10%

understand the conflict.

III - Each group member is a positive, helpful 20%

contributing member of the group

EXTENSION

The lesson - "War and the Animal: One man’s experience during the beginning of the Biafran War" coincides with this lesson but can be done separately.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions concerning this lesson please contact me.

-Mr. David DenHartog

Dave DenHartog

TOPICS AND WEB SITES

Battle of Leningrad

Battle of Leningrad

World War II Through Russian Eyes

Berlin Airlift

Introduction to the Berlin Airlift

Operation Vittles - The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift

Mitrovica, Kosovo, Yugoslavia