Arkansas History (Grades 7-8)

Arkansas History (Grades 7-8)

What impact did WWII have on Arkansas?

Teacher Overview

This two-week unit is designed to introduce middle school Arkansas history students to the experiences of Japanese Americans and Arkansans during World War II. It is based around an essential question, “What impact did World War II have on Arkansas?” which students should be able to answer in detail by the end of the unit. This type of curriculum unit, advocated by educators like Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Grant Wiggins, emphasizes coordinated student learning activities designed to match up with curriculum frameworks and historical content, while at the same time allowing students to connect learning with their own experiences. The unit culminates in a research project, which demonstrates mastery of the essential and guiding questions and is presented in a format chosen by each student. All documents and student activity sheets needed for the lessons are provided at the end of the lesson. A CD-ROM containing additional primary sources is available by emailing Dr. Kristin Mann at kdmann@ualr.edu.

If time is a concern, each lesson is designed both to be part of the larger unit and to stand as an individual lesson. Teachers wanting to present a short version of this unit may wish to take activities from the lessons that address the same guiding questions and try combining them into one lesson per guiding question.

Curriculum Unit Map

Essential Question
What Impact did World War II have on Arkansas?

Guiding Questions

    1. What were the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II? (Lessons 1, 2, 3, 5, 7)
    2. What was it like to live in Arkansas before and during WWII? (Lessons 2, 4, 5)
    3. How did Arkansans react to Japanese American incarceration at Rohwer and Jerome? (Lessons 2, 6)
    4. How does Arkansas remember its WWII past? (Lesson 8)

Download the entire WWII and Arkansas Curriculum (PDF).

Use the following links to download sections of the Arkansas History and WWII Curriculum:

*The banner photo shows an elementary class, including Robert Minoru Mitori and children of camp administrators, John and Bobby, pose for a class portrait.