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Step-by-Step Instruction
Critical Thinking
SKILLS
Objective
As you teach this section, keep students
focused on the following objective to help
them master core content.
Use a systematic approach to critically
analyze and evaluate texts, visuals, and
media sources.
About Texts, Visuals, and Media Sources
Handbook
Analyze Graphic Data
The study of history requires that you think critically about the text you’re
reading as well as any visuals or media sources. This section of the Skills
Handbook will allow you to practice and apply some important skills for critical thinking.
Graphs show numerical facts in picture form. Bar graphs and line graphs
compare things at different times or places, such as changes in school enrollment. Circle graphs show how a whole is divided into parts. To interpret a
graph, look closely at its features. Use the graphs below and the steps that follow to practice analyzing graphic data.
Prepare to Read
Build Background Knowledge
L3
Give students five minutes to list as
many visual and media sources they can
think of, such as political cartoons, ads,
graphs, and timelines. Explain that
responding critically to these materials
will help them be more active readers.
Protestant and Catholic Land
Ownership in Ireland
10%
Travel Times to London
Birmingham
22%
Brighton
90%
Teach
1603
Analyze Graphic Data
L3
Instruct
■
■
Introduce Tell students that they will
encounter graphs frequently, in textbooks, tests, or newspapers.
Teach Have students read the steps
under Analyze Graphic Data. Invite
a student to read the graph titles and
describe the main topic of each.
Transparency 35: Analyze Graphic
Data
Note Taking Transparencies, 35
Analyze Graphic Data worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 39
78%
Manchester
1685
Protestant
Catholic
SOURCE: Ruth D. Edwards, An Atlas of Irish History
0
10
20
1750
1830
1850
30
40
50
Hours
60
70
80
SOURCE: E. J. Hobsbaum, Industry and Empire
Read the title to learn the main topic of the graph.
Use labels and the key to read the data given in the graph. The bar graph is
labeled in hours, with intervals of 10 hours. The keys on all three graphs assign
different colors to different groups or dates.
Interpret the graph. Look for interesting patterns in the data. Look at
changes over time or compare information for different groups.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the graphs above to answer the following questions:
1. What is the title of the bar graph? What is its topic?
2. Which cities show the longest travel times to London, and in which years?
What does this tell you about changes in transportation?
Independent Practice
3. What color on the circle graphs shows Catholic land ownership? How did
Irish land ownership change over time? What might explain this change?
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions.
4. Could the information in the circle graph be shown as a bar graph? Explain.
Monitor Progress
Make sure students can identify each feature of the graphs.
Answers
1. Travel Times to London; how long it took to
travel to London from three different cities during three different time periods
2. Birmingham and Manchester in 1750. It got
faster.
3. blue; Protestant ownership increased, Catholic
ownership decreased; Protestants gained political power.
4. Yes, one could use colored bars instead of wedges.
SH30
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Analyze Images
Television, film, the Internet, and print media all carry images that seek to
convey information or influence attitudes. To respond, you must develop the
ability to understand and interpret visuals. Use the photograph below and the
steps that follow to practice analyzing images.
Critical
Thinking
Analyze Images
L3
Instruct
■
Introduce Write the saying “A picture
is worth a thousand words” on the
board. Ask students what they think it
means. Point out how important it is to
recognize and critically evaluate the
message in every visual image, especially if that message is meant to persuade viewers.
■
Teach Have students read the steps
under Analyze Images and share any
questions they have. Then ask students
in turn to complete one step in analyzing the image on the text page and
share their findings with the class.
Invite other students to add information or comment on the findings. Reach
consensus on the content, emotions,
background, purpose, and context of the
“radiation-resistant” blanket advertisement pictured.
In the 1950s, people
everywhere worried about
nuclear attack. This 1954
image advertised a bogus
“radiation-resistant” blanket.
Transparency 36: Analyze Images
Note Taking Transparencies, 36
Identify the content. Look at all parts of the image and determine which
are most important.
Note emotions. Study facial expressions and body positions. Consider the
emotions they may suggest.
Analyze Images worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 40
Independent Practice
Read captions/credits. Gather information about the image, such as when
it was produced.
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Study purpose. Consider who might have created this image. Decide if the
purpose was to entertain, inform, or persuade.
Monitor Progress
Consider context. Determine the context in which the image was created—
in this case, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Respond. Decide if a visual’s impact achieves its purpose—to inform, to
entertain, or to persuade.
Practice and Apply the Skill
As students complete the practice questions, allow them to ask questions if they
are confused. Remind them to look for key
words in the questions that will help
them identify what information is being
sought.
Use the photograph above to answer the following questions:
1. What are the three main images in this photograph?
2. What feelings are conveyed by the boy’s facial expression?
3. What do you think the photograph’s purpose is?
4. When was this image produced? How did historical context influence its
production?
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice analyzing
graphic data and other visuals, ask each student to
skim his or her textbook and choose a graph, chart,
diagram, photograph, or painting of interest. Remind
L2 English Language Learners
students of the steps in their text for analyzing
graphic data and visuals, then ask them to lead the
class in an analysis of their chosen piece.
Answers
1. the mushroom cloud, the child’s face, and the
blanket
2. anxiety and fear
3. to sell blankets
4. 1954; Cold War anxiety meant there was a market for a blanket such as this.
SH31
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PM
Analyze Timelines
L3
Analyze Timelines
Critical
Thinking
Timelines show the order in which events occur as well as the amount of time
that passes between events. To understand a timeline, study its labels and
captions carefully. Use the timeline below and the steps that follow to practice
analyzing timelines
Instruct
■
■
Introduce Point out that timelines are
essential to the study of history because
they allow readers to quickly and easily
see a progression of events. In addition,
timelines help readers place events in
an overall context.
Teach Have students read the steps
under Analyze Timelines and share
any questions they have. Then ask a
volunteer to read the title of the timeline aloud. Ask How do the entries on
the top of the timeline differ from
those on the bottom? (Events on the
top are from a particular chapter on the
Industrial Revolution; those on the bottom are global events happening during
the same time period.) Have volunteers
read the timeline entries out loud. Ask
students to identify events that fall into
similar categories.
Key Events of
the Industrial
Revolution
Chapter Events
Global Events
Early 1800s
Romanticism begins
to shape Western
art and literature.
1800
1807
First factories open
in Belgium, setting
off the Industrial
Revolution on the
European continent.
1815
1839
French inventor
Louis Daguerre
perfects an
effective method
of photography.
1830
1859
Charles Darwin publishes
On the Origin of Species.
Many religious leaders
denounce his theory of
evolution.
1845
1860
1819
1842
Simón Bolívar
The Treaty of Nanjing
establishes Gran gives Britain trading
Colombia.
rights in China.
Identify time units. Find the main time units of the timeline. Determine
how much time is represented by the entire timeline.
Read each entry. Read each of the entries on the timeline. Connect each
entry to the events before and after it.
Look for patterns among the events shown. Determine if any of the
entries fall into a common category. Think about whether the events might be
causes and/or effects.
Transparency 37: Analyze
Timelines
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the timeline above to answer the following questions.
Note Taking Transparencies, 37
1. What is the most recent event on the timeline?
When did it take place?
Analyze Timelines worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 41
2. When did the first factories open in Belgium?
3. How many years after the first factories opened
did Louis Daguerre perfect his method of
photography?
Independent Practice
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
4. What happened in 1859?
Monitor Progress
As students complete the questions, circulate to check on students with difficulties. Remind them to read the timeline
from left to right, and to use the progression of dates from earliest to latest as a
guide.
Simón Bolívar
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
emancipation of the serfs, 1861
1807
32
Darwin published On the Origin of Species
SH32
1861
Tsar Alexander II
emancipates
Russian serfs.
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice analyzing
timelines, ask them to create a simple timeline of their
own lives so far, or of the life of a friend or public figure. Then have them create a double timeline by add-
L2 English Language Learners
ing a timeline underneath the first that records
important events outside of, but concurrent with,
the person’s life.
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Analyze Primary Sources
Primary sources include official documents and firsthand accounts of events or
visual evidence such as photographs, paintings, and political cartoons. Such
sources provide valuable information about the past. Use the excerpt below
and the steps that follow to learn to analyze primary sources.
The following excerpt is a translation from The Satires, a series of poems
written in Latin by Juvenal about life in Rome in the first century A.D. In this
excerpt, Juvenal recounts a friend’s reasons for moving away from Rome.
Critical
Thinking
Analyze Primary Sources
Instruct
■
Introduce Ask students to locate
examples of primary sources in their
texts, including photographs, political
cartoons, and quotations. Explain that
primary sources convey or support main
ideas in the writing. Readers must identify the key ideas in the primary source
material and link them to surrounding
text.
■
Teach Have students read the steps
under Analyze Primary Sources and
share any questions they have. Then
have a student read the introduction to
the primary source quotation on the
text page and the quotation itself aloud.
Work as a group to paraphrase it, then
help students work through the steps in
the text to analyze the quotation.
Primary Source
Since at Rome there is no place for honest pursuits, no profit to be got by honest
“toil—my
fortune is less to-day than it was yesterday. . . .
What shall I do at Rome? I can not lie; if a book is bad, I can not praise it and beg a
copy. I know not the motions of the stars. . . . no one shall be a thief by my cooperation. . . .
Who, now-a-days, is beloved except the confidant of crime. . .?
—Juvenal, The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius
”
Read the headnote, caption, or attribution line. Determine the source’s
historical context—who wrote it, when, and why.
Read the primary source. Identify and define unfamiliar words. Then look
for the writer’s main point.
Identify facts and opinions. Facts can be proven. Opinions reflect a person’s views or feelings. Use opinion clues to help: exaggeration, phrases such
as “I think,” or descriptive words such as “gorgeous.”
Identify bias and evaluate credibility. Consider whether the author’s
opinions suggest bias. Evaluate other factors that might lead to author bias,
such as his or her previous experiences. Decide if the author knows enough to
be credible and was objective enough to be reliable. Determine whether the
source might be propaganda, that is, material published to promote a policy,
idea, or cause.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Political cartoons reflect an artist’s observations about events of the time.
They often use symbols to represent things or exaggeration to make a point.
Use the cartoon at right to answer the following questions.
1. Who is the author of this primary source?
2. What does the bulldozer represent?
3. What is exaggerated in this cartoon?
4. What opinion is the cartoonist expressing?
5. Do you think the cartoonist’s opinion is
valid? Why or why not?
L3
Transparency 38: Analyze Primary
Sources
Note Taking Transparencies, 38
Analyze Primary Sources worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 42
Independent Practice
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Monitor Progress
As students complete the questions, circulate to provide guidance. If necessary,
ask additional questions to help facilitate
understanding (What is the size of the
earth at the beginning of the cartoon? What is its size at the end? What
does this change in size suggest?)
This cartoon by Arcadio Esquivel
of Costa Rica comments on
environmental destruction.
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice analyzing
primary sources, ask each student to skim his or her
textbook to choose primary sources of interest. Ask
them to read aloud the steps for analyzing primary
L2 English Language Learners
sources in the text and explain each in their own
words. Then ask them to lead the class in an analysis
of the primary source that they have chosen.
Answers
1. Arcadio Esquivel
2. progress
3. the size of the bulldozer relative to the size of
the world
4. that progress is destroying the environment.
5. Sample: The cartoon may be making a valid
point but is vastly exaggerated.
SH33
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Compare Viewpoints
L3
Compare Viewpoints
Critical
Thinking
A person’s viewpoint is shaped by subjective influences such as feelings, prejudices, and past experiences. Two politicians will recommend different policies
to address the same problem. Comparing such viewpoints will help you understand issues and form your own views. The excerpts below offer two different
views on the purpose of education. Use the excerpts and the steps that follow
to learn about comparing viewpoints.
Instruct
■
■
Introduce Recall a recent school, local,
or national election. Identify a key issue
in the candidate’s debate and the differing viewpoints expressed about it.
Stress that voters had to understand,
compare, and choose among the different viewpoints expressed.
King Henri Christophe of Haiti set up schools for outstanding students. He believed these schools would
secure Haiti’s new and hard-won freedom. In 1817,
he wrote:
Teach Have students read the steps
under Compare Viewpoints. Then
organize students into pairs. Have each
partner read one of the primary sources
on the text page and its introduction,
explain its main idea, and list one supporting reason that the writer gave. Ask
partners to share ideas about which
viewpoint makes most sense to them.
Primary Source
To form good citizens we must educate our
“children.
From our national institutions will
proceed a race of men capable of defending
by their knowledge and talents those rights so
long denied by tyrants. It is from these
sources that light will be diffused among the
whole mass of the population.
Transparency 39: Compare
Viewpoints
—Henri Christophe, 1817
”
Leo Tolstoy, a Russian aristocrat of the late
1800s, became a famous novelist as a
young man. As he grew older, he increasingly focused on social issues in his writing.
In 1902, he wrote:
Primary Source
take a puppy and feed
“him,Youandcanteach
him to carry something, and enjoy the sight of him; but
it is not enough to rear and bring up
a man, and teach him Greek: he has
to be taught to live, that is, to take
less from others, and give more.
—Leo Tolstoy, 1902
”
Note Taking Transparencies, 39
Compare Viewpoints worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p.
43
Identify the authors. Determine when and where the authors lived.
Examine the viewpoints. Identify the author’s main idea and evaluate his
or her supporting arguments. Determine whether the arguments are logical
and the evidence is sufficient to support the main idea. Confirm that the evidence is valid by doing research if necessary.
Independent Practice
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Determine the author’s frame of reference. Consider how the author’s
attitudes, beliefs, and past experiences might affect his or her viewpoint.
Recognize facts and opinions. Identify which statements are opinions and
which are facts. Opinions represent the author’s viewpoint.
Monitor Progress
Evaluate each viewpoint’s validity. Decide whether the viewpoints are
based on facts and/or reasonable arguments. Consider whether or not you
agree with the viewpoints.
As students complete the questions, circulate to provide assistance as needed. If
students are struggling, read through the
Compare Viewpoints steps with them.
Confirm their understanding of the key
concepts, then urge them to try again to
answer the questions.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the excerpts above to answer the following questions.
1. Who are the authors of these two documents? Where and when did each
one live?
2. What is each man’s main argument about education? What evidence or
supporting arguments does each provide?
3. How might each man’s frame of reference affect his viewpoint?
Answers
4. How does Tolstoy’s phrase “he has to be taught to live” signal an opinion?
1. King Henri Christophe—Haiti, early 1800s; Leo
Tolstoy—Russia around 1900
2. Henri Christophe argues that educated citizens
can resist tyranny. Tolstoy uses an analogy to
training a puppy to argue that rote learning
alone will not help children live a moral life.
3. Sample: The king’s frame of reference is a
largely uneducated population, so he is concerned with basic education. Tolstoy’s frame of
reference are people who already have a basic
education.
4. He says has to be rather than is.
5. Yes, it makes sense that educated citizens
would be better able to resist tyranny and that
citizens educated in mind and character will
contribute more to society.
5. Are these two viewpoints based on reasonable arguments? Explain.
SH34
Solutions for All Learners
L4 Advanced Readers
L4 Gifted and Talented Students
Ask students who need more of a challenge to find
two viewpoints on a single topic having to do with
current events. Viewpoints may be from the editorial
page of a newspaper, from news magazines written
from different perspectives, or from the Internet.
Review students’ choices and help them make copies
for the class. Then have students lead the class
through a discussion that works through the steps for
comparing viewpoints in the text.
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Synthesize Information
Just as you might ask several friends about a movie before deciding to see it,
you can combine information from different sources to develop a fuller understanding of any topic. This process, called synthesizing, will help you become
better informed. Study the documents below about developments in the 1400s
and 1500s. Then use the steps that follow to learn to synthesize information.
Document A
This caravel helped Europeans sail
across and into the wind.
Critical
Thinking
Synthesize Information
Instruct
■
Introduce Direct students to a poster
in the classroom or halls, or to another
piece of media containing both visual
and textual information. Ask them to
identify information from each part of
the poster. Tell them that this process is
synthesizing information.
■
Teach Have students read the steps
under Synthesize Information and
share any questions they have. Invite
volunteers to identify and describe each
document in the text. Ask What kind
of source is this? (Document A is a
drawing. Document B is explanatory
text. Document C is a primary source
journal entry.) Then discuss the kind of
information each source can provide
(visual, firsthand account, background).
As a whole, how do they contribute to a
fuller understanding of the topic than
one document alone?
Document B
Improved Technology
Several improvements in technology helped Europeans navigate the
vast oceans of the world. Cartographers, or mapmakers, created
more accurate maps and sea charts. European sailors learned to use
the astrolabe, an instrument developed by the ancient Greeks and
perfected by the Arabs, to determine their latitude at sea.
Europeans also designed larger and better ships. The Portuguese
developed the caravel, which combined the square sails of European
ships with Arab lateen, or triangular, sails. Caravels also adapted the
sternpost rudder and numerous masts used on Chinese ships. The
new rigging made it easier to sail across or even into the wind.
Document C
Hardships on the Uncharted Sea
In his journal, Italian sailor Antonio Pigafetta detailed the desperate conditions Magellan’s sailors
experienced as they crossed the Pacific Ocean:
Primary Source
three months and twenty days without taking in provisions or other refreshments,
“andWeweremained
only ate old biscuit reduced to powder, and full of grubs, and stinking from the dirt which the
rats had made on it. . . . we drank water that was yellow and stinking. We also ate the ox hides which
were under the main-yard [and] were very hard on account of the sun, rain, and wind. . . .
—Journal of Antonio Pigafetta
”
L3
Transparency 40: Synthesize
Information
Note Taking Transparencies, 40
Synthesize Information worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 44
Independent Practice
Identify thesis statements. Before you can synthesize, you must understand
the thesis, or main idea, of each source.
Compare and contrast. Analyze how the information and ideas in the
sources are the same or different. When several sources agree, the information
is more reliable and thus more significant.
Draw conclusions and generalize. Look at all the information. Use it to
draw conclusions that form a single picture of the topic. Make a generalization,
or statement that applies to all the sources.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the documents above to answer the following questions.
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Monitor Progress
If students are struggling to answer the
questions, model how to create a 3-column main idea chart. Make a column for
each source and list its main idea. Urge
students to refer to this information as
they answer the questions.
1. What is the main idea of each source?
2. Which sources support the idea that European sailors became better
equipped to sail the seas?
3. What view does Antonio Pigafetta contribute to the topic?
4. Draw a conclusion about European ocean exploration in the early 1500s.
Answers
1. Document A: The caravel helped Europeans sail
more easily; Document B: Improvements in
technology helped Europeans explore the
oceans; Document C: Crossing the ocean was a
wretched experience.
2. Documents A and B
3. that ocean travel was miserable
4. Ocean travel was difficult for Europeans in the
early 1500s, but advancing technology began to
ease the task.
SH35
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Analyze Cause and Effect
L3
Analyze Cause and Effect
Critical
Thinking
One of a historian’s main tasks is to understand the causes and effects of the
event he or she is studying. Study the facts below, which are listed in random
order. Then use the steps that follow to learn how to analyze cause and effect.
Instruct
■
■
Introduce Identify a recent school success, such as an athletic victory or wellreceived artistic production. Ask students what factors contributed to the
success. List these on the board. Then
ask students how the success has
affected the school community. List
effects on the board. Explain that like
this event, events in history result from
actions and attitudes, and in turn cause
new actions and attitudes.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Soviet Union underwent a major change in its economy
and government. As a result, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. This list shows key
elements in that change.
Teach Have students read the steps
under Analyze Cause and Effect and
share any questions they have. Have
students read the bulleted items in the
boxed text on the student page. Poll the
class to identify the central event. Then
work through the bulleted items one at
a time. Ask students if they think each
is a cause or an effect and to explain
their reasoning.
•
Low output of crops and consumer goods
•
Soviets want to ensure influence in neighboring Afghanistan, so they invade that
nation in 1979
•
Soviet Union breaks up into 15 republics after its central government collapses
•
Changeover to market economy in Russia
•
Ethnic and nationalist movements to achieve independence from Soviet Union
•
Cold War with United States leads to high military spending
•
Food and fuel shortages
•
Rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985
•
Russian republic approves a new constitution
•
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania demonstrate for independence
•
Cold War ends
Identify the central event. Determine to what event or issue all the facts
listed relate.
Transparency 41: Analyze Cause
and Effect
Locate clue words. Use words such as because, so, and due to to spot causes
and effects.
Note Taking Transparencies, 41
Identify causes and effects. Causes precede the central event and contribute to its occurrence. Effects come after the central event. They occur or
emerge as a result of it.
Analyze Cause and Effect worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 45
Independent Practice
Consider timeframe. Decide if causes have existed for a long period of time
or emerged just prior to the central event. Short-term causes are usually single or narrowly defined events. Long-term causes usually arise from ongoing
conditions.
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Make recommendations. Use what you’ve learned to suggest actions or
make predictions.
Monitor Progress
If students are struggling to answer the
questions, review the definitions of longterm and short-term causes with them.
Review their charts and ask questions to
redirect if necessary. Sample: Why do
you think this event is a (cause/
effect)?
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the list above to answer the following questions:
1. Which item on the list describes the central event whose causes and effects
can be determined?
2. Name three facts that are long-term causes.
3. Name three facts that are probably short-term causes.
4. Name three facts that were most likely effects of the central event.
Answers
1. the collapse of the Soviet Union
2. low output of crops and consumer goods; high
military spending for Cold War, ethnic and
nationalist movements for independence
3. food and fuel shortages, 1979 war with Afghanistan, rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, Baltic
states demonstrate for independence
4. changeover to market economy, Russian republics approve a new constitution, Cold War ends
SH36
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice analyzing
cause and effect, ask students to use the boxed list in
the text to create a cause and effect graphic organizer.
Ask them to draw three large boxes on a sheet of
paper, with arrows leading from the first box to the
second, and from the second to the third. Have them
L2 English Language Learners
write the central event from the list in their text in the
center box, with causes in the left-hand box and
effects in the right-hand box. Explain that they can
use this type of graphic organizer to help them understand causes and effects in history and current events.
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Problem Solving and Decision Making
You will face many problems in your life, from disputes with friends to how to
vote on issues facing your nation. You will be most likely to find solutions if you
make decisions in a logical way. Study the situation outlined below. Then use
the steps that follow to learn the skills of problem solving and decision making.
Critical
Thinking
A Problem for Japan and China
Problem Solving and
Decision Making
Instruct
■
Introduce Invite volunteers to share a
problem from their lives, such as too
much homework or an annoying
younger sibling. Ask students to contribute ideas for solving these problems.
■
Teach Have students read the steps
under Problem Solving and Decision
Making and share any questions they
have. Read the boxed text as a class.
Ask What is the main idea? (China
and Japan responded differently to the
challenge of keeping up with industrialized nations.) Ask students to identify
the possible solutions listed on the
chart, and identify additional advantages and disadvantages of each. Poll
students on whether they think each
nation made a wise decision. Invite volunteers to explain their votes.
In the 1800s, Japan and China faced a problem. Industrialized nations had developed machinery and weapons that were
superior to those that the Japanese and Chinese had. Some industrialized nations used their new power to demand special
trading privileges in Asia.
Options for Japan and China
Option
Advantages
Disadvantages
1. Give in to demands of the
industrialized powers.
• Avoid conflict.
•
• Native merchants lose profits to
foreigners.
2. Give in to demands, but also build
modern machines and weapons.
•
•
•
•
3. Refuse the demands and reject much
of the new technology.
•
•
•
•
The Decisions
• The Japanese government decided to follow option 2.
• The Chinese government decided to follow option 3.
Effects of the Decisions
• Japan quickly became a modern industrial and military power. Although it demilitarized after suffering defeat in
World War II, it remains one of the world’s leading industrial powers.
• China was weakened by a century of conflict with Great Britain and other major powers, and was invaded and
occupied by Japan. Foreign nations gained special privileges in China. Today, China is still struggling to become a
leading industrial power.
Identify the problem. You cannot solve a problem until you examine it and
understand it.
Gather information and identify options. Most problems have many solutions. Identify as many solution options as possible.
L3
Transparency 42: Problem Solving
and Decision Making
Note Taking Transparencies, 42
Problem Solving and Decision
Making worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 46
Independent Practice
Consider advantages and disadvantages. Analyze each option by predicting benefits and drawbacks.
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Decide on and implement the solution. Pick the option with the most
desirable benefits and least important drawbacks.
Monitor Progress
Evaluate the decision. After time, reexamine your solution. If necessary,
make a new decision.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use information from the box above to answer the following questions:
If students are struggling to answer question #4, direct them to reread the text
under Options for Japan and China. Confirm that students understand the choices
each nation made.
1. What problem did China and Japan face? What caused this problem?
2. Describe an option that Japan or China could have chosen other than
those in the list.
3. Identify two advantages and two disadvantages for options 2 and 3.
4. Why do you think China and Japan chose the options they did?
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice in problem
solving and decision making, ask them to name a problem they have solved or decision they have made in
their own lives. Examples may include whether to find
an after school job, play a sport, or make an important
L2 English Language Learners
purchase. Using the chart in the text as a model, ask
students to create their own problem solving and decision making chart based on their own decisions. Charts
should include a description of the problem, options,
decision(s), and effects of the decision(s).
Answers
1. Some industrialized nations were demanding
trading rights. They had superior machinery and
weapons.
2. refuse the demands but still accept and pursue
new technology
3. Option 2: avoid conflict and gain power over
time, but native merchants lose profits, and
money is needed to fund modernization; Option
3: keep profits for native merchants and minimize foreign influences but failure to modernize
and possible military conflict
4. China probably valued limiting foreign influence and maintaining traditions most highly.
Japan probably wished to avoid conflict, but
also wanted to modernize.
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Draw Inferences and
Conclusions
Critical
Thinking
L3
Instruct
■
■
Introduce Ask students what kind of
day it is outside and what they would
expect to feel outside. Discuss the clues
students used to answer, such as previous experiences with days that look like
this. Point out that we draw inferences
and conclusions every day.
Teach Have students read the steps
under Draw Inferences and Conclusions. Then help them use the boxed
text and illustrations on the student
page to practice the skill. Ask What do
you know from the illustrations?
(that Watt lived a long time ago and was
associated with the steam engine.)
Given this information, what inferences
and conclusions can they draw about
Watt?
Transparency 43: Drawing Inferences and Conclusions
Note Taking Transparencies, 43
Draw Inferences and Conclusions
Text and artwork may not contain all the facts and ideas you need to understand a topic. You may need to add information from your own experience or
knowledge, or use information that is implied but not directly stated in the
text or artwork. Study the biography below. Then use the steps that follow to
learn how to draw inferences and conclusions.
BIOGRAPHY
James Watt
How did a clever Scottish engineer become the
“Father of the Industrial Revolution”? After repairing
a Newcomen steam engine, James Watt (1736–1819)
had become fascinated with the idea of improving
the device. Within a few months, he knew he had a
product that would sell. Still, Watt lacked the money
needed to produce and market it.
Fortunately, he was able to form a partnership
with the shrewd manufacturer Matthew Boulton.
They then founded Soho Engineering Works in
Birmingham, England, to manufacture steam engines.
Watt’s version of the steam engine shown here had a
separate condensing chamber and was patented in
1769. Eventually, a measure of mechanical and
electrical power, the watt, would be named for James
Watt. How might the Industrial Revolution
have been different if Watt had not found a
business partner?
Drawing Inferences and Conclusions worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 47
Study the facts. Determine what facts and information the text states.
Independent Practice
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Monitor Progress
If students are struggling to answer the
last question, ask them to compare the
steam engine to another invention, such
as television, the telephone, or the camera. How have these inventions been
improved over the years?
Summarize information. Confirm your understanding of the text by briefly
summarizing it.
Ask questions. Use who, what, when, where, why, and how questions to analyze the text and learn more. For example, you might compare and contrast, or
look for causes or effects.
Add your own knowledge. Consider what you know about the topic. Use
this knowledge to evaluate the information.
Draw inferences and conclusions. Use what you learned from the text and
your own knowledge to draw inferences and conclusions about the topic.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use the biography above to answer these questions.
1. Who is discussed in the biography? When did he live?
2. Briefly summarize the text.
3. How do Watt’s accomplishments still have an impact on our lives today?
4. Why do you think Watt wanted to improve a technology that already
existed?
Answers
1. James Watt, 1736–1819
2. Sample: Watt became the Father of the Industrial Revolution by improving and selling the
steam engine.
3. We still measure electrical power in watts.
4. Sample: He had ideas to make it more useful
and efficient.
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Use the Internet for Research
The Internet is a valuable research tool that provides links to millions of
sources of information created by businesses, governments, schools, organizations, and individuals all over the world. Follow the steps to learn how you
could use the Internet to research the European Renaissance.
Critical
Thinking
Use the Internet for
Research
Instruct
■
Introduce Invite volunteers to tell how
and why they have most recently used
the Internet. Then, discuss the many
ways that people use the Internet, listing students’ ideas on the board. If necessary, point out that research is a
major asset of the Internet.
■
Teach Have students read the steps
under Use the Internet for Research
and share any questions they have.
Then invite students to name a topic of
interest to them. As a group, discuss
key words that would be good research
starting points. Identify the more and
less effective ideas, and give reasons for
each decision. For example, it may be
better to search by words likely to
appear in a Web site that by the topic of
the Web site.
■
Display Transparency 44: Use the
Internet for Research
Advanced Web Search
Example search engine
10 results per page
Search
Show results with
all of these words
any part of the page
the exact phrase
any part of the page
any of these words
any part of the page
none of these words
any part of the page
text in this language
French
Updated
in the last year
Any domain
Site/Domain
Only .com domains
Only .edu domains
Only .gov domains
Only .org domains
Begin a search. Use search engines on the Internet to help you find useful
Web sites. Type in key words that briefly summarize your topic. Use and
between words to find documents containing all your keywords. Use or
between words to find documents containing any one of several keywords.
Find reliable information. Universities, museums, libraries, and government agencies are usually the most reliable and useful for social studies
research. The URLs for education sites end in .edu, government sites in .gov,
and not-for-profit organization sites in .org. Read each site summary and
choose those most likely to be reliable. Click on links to access individual sites.
Evaluate Web sites. Explore each Web site. Note its sponsor and when it was
last updated.
Use advanced searches. Try advanced search options. Limit by date or type
of site, such as educational institutions. Try new or different key words if you
still don’t get what you need.
Practice and Apply the Skill
Use a computer connected to the Internet to answer the following questions:
L3
Note Taking Transparencies, 44
■
Have students fill in the Use the Internet for Research worksheet
Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 48
Independent Practice
Have students complete the Practice and
Apply questions. Discuss their responses
as a class.
Monitor Progress
Circulate to make sure that students are
finding appropriate and useful information on the Internet about the European
Renaissance.
1. What key words might you use to learn about the European Renaissance?
Type them into a search engine Web site and see what results you get.
2. Which of the first ten sites that came up in your search is most likely to be
reliable? Why?
3. Who is the sponsor of the site you chose? What does this suggest about its
quality or its possible bias?
Solutions for All Learners
L1 Special Needs
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students who need further practice in using
the Internet for research, model a search for a history
topic of their choice, such as the French or American
revolutions. First, help them narrow their search to a
specific event or person, then choose a few key words
L2 English Language Learners
to type into a search engine. Have them click on the
sites that they think will be most useful. Finally,
review how to find reliable information and help students to evaluate the credibility of the sites they have
found.
Answers
1. European and Renaissance
2. Students should choose sites that are sponsored by reliable sources such as universities
and museums.
3. Answers will vary according to individual
searches.
SH39