The final project for my 8th grade Social Studies class was to complete a World War I debate. As an alternative assessment to a standard test, the debates forced the students to dig deep into specific topics. Each group of 3 was given 6 different topics they could debate. The topics were:
- Should the United States have entered World War I? Pro/Antiwar arguments
- Was the League of Nations a good idea in theory? Why did it fail? What is nation building?
- Was the instituting of a draft to secure troops fair to American men? Was it the only way?
- Were there reasons to go to war like helping the economy that pushed the U.S. into WWI?
- Was the Treaty of Versailles too hard or not harsh enough for Germany?
- Should there be laws banning certain types of weapons during warfare?
I created a rubric where the groups were graded on 6 different components. The components consisted of the following categories:
- Quality of information
- Debate rebuttal
- Use of facts/statistics
- Presentation style
- Organization
- Understanding of Topic
Each group spent considerable time using primary resources, their textbooks, research in the computer lab, and notes from lectures. They also added their own insight into the debates and added unique names for themselves or news stations they were reporting for during these debates. Needless to say and despite arriving back from our class trip the day before, the class was prepared and ready for their debates. It was a wonderful moment to spend my last class with a special group of hard working 8th graders before their paths into high school. Below are video samples that had excellent point and counter points that my students recorded in class.
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