Project Based Learning in World War II

Propaganda was a major tool used by both our allies and enemies during both World War I and World War II. Propaganda was used by the government for a variety of reasons and there were three specific types of propaganda used during this time period. Front propaganda was used to increase the moral of your troops and to weaken the moral of the enemies. Homefront propaganda was aimed at the population at home, this was used to get them behind the war, to get them to buy war bonds or create Freedom Gardens. Foreign propaganda was used to try to counter the enemy propaganda abroad. These could all be done in a way that showed pride in your nation, in your soldiers, in your sacrifices or they could be done in a way that created hate and dehumanized the enemy. These were the two most common ways of reaching the people. Germany is portrayed as a giant King Kong type animal carrying away poor, helpless Lady Liberty or Uncle Sam is calling on you to do your part. Each country had their own propaganda machine at work during these wars. After teaching my students on the different types of propaganda and how it was used during both wars, I have created a project where they create their own propaganda for World War II during specific times of the war and for the specific country that their group is assigned. Here is the assignment in full, I will explain differentiation after it.

World War II Propaganda Project

CCSS: 10.8:1,3,4,8

During the duration of the World War II unit students will be broken up into groups of four and create propaganda for their assigned country at different points leading up to and during the war. 

Each group will be assigned a country that they will be responsible for creating propaganda for. The countries will be Britain, France, Germany, Italy, United States, and the USSR. Depending on the size of the class the number of countries will vary. 

Students have the choice of creating propaganda posters either by hand or by using a computer program. This is up to the group as a whole, the media chosen will need to be used on all propaganda throughout the project.

Students will spend one week on each time period. This includes my teaching, discussions, and their research/development. 

Once the unit has finished the students will present their project to the class, describing the propaganda they chose and how they came to that decision.

Propaganda Posters:

Students will have to create posters using the three different methods of propaganda used during World War II. They will produce a Front, Home Front, and Foreign propaganda poster and for their fourth poster they will get to choose which of the three they would like to repeat. 

Each poster will address something specific that happened during that time period using one of the types of propaganda. The groups will have to choose the topic, come up with a slogan, and decide how they will depict the propaganda. 

Time Periods:

1935- 1939: Period of Germany public rearming, Germany asking for Sudetenland, and the declaration of war

1940- 1941: The beginning of the war all the way through surrender of France, Battle of Britain, bombing of Pearl Harbor, and US declaration of war

1942- 1944: A global war- looking to both Atlantic and Pacific fronts

1945: From the surrender of Germany, bombing of Japan, and surrender of Japan

Differentiating 
With this project I believe it would be best to put together groups based on interests. Someone who learns best by reading would be important in this group for figuring out the topic that they are going to illustrate because they will need to look through notes, their textbook, articles, etc. to pick the best topic. A student who loves writing and being creative with words would be best for coming up with a propaganda slogan. And finally, an artistic and/or techie student who shows their learning and understanding best through illustrating or creating on the computer. By grouping students by interests for this project they will all be able to contribute equally to the project in the way that would interest them the most. The student who does the research would have to show their learning by finding an event in the time period assigned that would be able to stir the people up and get them to back whatever their government wanted them to get behind. The student creating the slogan would have to really understand what happened and how it would affect the people so that they could come up with a slogan that would reach and stir up the people. And the student creating the illustration for the poster would have to show their understanding by creating a depiction that illustrates the slogan and shows how the people of their country view and think of different things and people. With the interest  needs of the students met, the students will be more engaged in the project and learning the content to complete the assignment.