Graphing the Great War
Author: Christopher Van Dyke
Date created: 03/10/2008 11:39 AM UMST ; Date modified: 03/10/2008 9:12 PM UMST
Basic Information
Summary
Students will examine the toll taken on the countries that were combatants in World War I in terms of men dead,
injured, and missing. This activity allows students to use a technology tool ­­ an online graph creator ­­ to
manipulate data quickly. The focus in this lesson is making sense of the data, rather than learning how to create
graphs in a program such as Excel. Students will present their data whole class, to be compiled by the teacher.
Grade/Level
Grade 7
Time Frame
One Class Period (45­55 minutes) although this could be extended.
Subject(s)
Social Studies, Technology
Topic(s)
Wold War I
Notes
To keep this lesson to one class period, we are using the online graphic tool Create­a­Graph and students will
present their data orally. You could make this into an Excel lesson and have students write or post their data,
which would extend the lesson another day or even two more.
Standards And Key Concepts
Standards
AZ- Arizona Academics Standards
Subject: Social Studies (2006 Final)
Subject/ Grade/ Domain: Seventh Grade
Strand: Strand 2: World History
Concept: Concept 8: World at War
Performance Objective: PO 1. Explain how the following world movements led to World War I: a. militarism b. imperialism c. nationalism d.
formation of alliances
Performance Objective: PO 2. Summarize the outcomes of World War I: a. Treaty of Versailles (e.g., restrictions on Germany, end of the
Ottoman Empire, redrawing of European boundaries) b. economic issues (e.g., national debt, spread of socialism)
Strand: Strand 5: Economics
Concept: Concept 3: Macroeconomics
Performance Objective: PO 4. Describe how scarcity influences the choices (e.g., war time rationing, women in the work force, reallocation
of resources) made by governments and businesses.
Subject: Technology (OLD)
Standard 3: Technology, Productivity,Tools.
Students use technology tools to enhance learning, to increase productivity and creativity, and to collaboratively construct technology-enhanced
models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
Grade Range: ESSENTIALS (Grades 4 - 8)
Key Idea/Concept 3T-E2: Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis See: Social Studies (1SS-E8, PO1) and Mathematics
(5M-E6)
Performance Objective PO 2: Create and use a spreadsheet to analyze data (e.g., use formulas, create charts and graphs)
Understandings
World War I took a huge toll on combtants, both in terms of money and human lives. Students will learn that it is
not just the money (reparations) that angered the Germans and set the groundwork for another world war, but the
cost in lives ­­ dead as well as injured ­­ that devastated all of the countries involved.
Essential Questions
How many casualties (dead/wounded/missing) would you accept before giving up in a war? How much should a
winner in a war "punish" the loser(s) (reparations)?
Knowledge and Skills
Students will be able to enter and format data into a pie chart (using Create­a­Graph). They must also be able to
do some basic math to get the number of survivors of the war. They will be able to demonstrate an understanding
of percentages ­­ in this case, "how many of every 100 men" were either killed, maimed, or missing from the war.
Performance Tasks And Assessment
Performance Task
Students will be able to express the percentage of combatants killed, maimed, and missing from World War I for
their respective assigned countries. They need to put this into context ­­ the absolute numbers of casualties
versus percentages.
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Performance Prompt
What percentage of "your" country's military were killed? Injured? Missing? Did your country suffer losses greater or
less than other countries experienced?
Assessment/Rubrics
Each pair of students will express orally, correctly answers to the performance prompts (percentage casualties and
compared to other countries).
Learning Experiences And Resources
Sequence of Activities
Introduction:
In war, people die or are injured. For example, in Iraq there are up to 160,000 U.S. troups deployed at a given
time. Almost 4,000 soldiers have died, with anywhere from 23,000 to as many as 100,000 injured (see
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/). Many more died in World War I. What is an acceptible level of dead and
injured in a war? Each pair will take a look at the data for different countries and see how much your country
suffered.
Before we do that, take a look at other data on the war at http://www.worldwar1.com/sfnum.htm and consider
the amount of money it cost for the war and how much the loser (Germany) was forced to pay at its end. Note
that adjusted for inflation, the $23 billion in reparations from the war is equivalent to about $27 trillion today! All
told, the countries at war spent aver $980 trillion in today's dollars (see http://www.westegg.com/inflation/).
Assign pairs of students to the following countries:
Russia
Germany
Great Britain
France
Austria­Hungary
Italy
US
Turkey
Bulgaria
Japan
Rumania
Serbia
Belgium
Greece
Portugal
Montenegro
Demonstrate the Create­a­Graph tool at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx by taking a
survey in class (favorite color) and showing how to make a pie chart using the data, as well as what the data
looks like using other graphinc formats (column, etc.)
Have students independently (in pairs) create a graph breaking down the number of combatants for their country
into dead, injured and missing, and those who survived intact. Note: they will have to subtract the
dead/injured/missing from the total to find those who came through intact and alive.
Each student pair will print and save their finished graphs to display using the digital projector. Each pair presents
their findings, finishing with a discussion about the relative devastation incurred by each country.
As a group discussion and exit question, remind students of reparations and ask whether reparations were justified.
ASSESSMENT
Brehm, J. L. (1996).Graphing and Social Studies: An Interdisciplinary Activity. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School. 2, 110.
Attachments:
1. Create-a-Graph DirectionsThis shows the process students would follow to create the necessary graph, using bogus
data.
Links:
1. 1914-1918 Casualty Figures Data on killed, injured and missing from World War I
2. Create-a-Graph Online tool for creating graphs that can be printed or downloaded
3. The Great War In Numbers Data (including reparations) from World War I
Differentiated Instruction
Careful student pairing will assist students with needs (for example, a stronger language or math student working
with a student with deficiencies in language or math). Advanced students will be encouraged to extend the
activity ­­ building graphs to compare two or even all of the countries at once, getting credit for a written/web
posted analysis, etc.
Resources
Materials and resources:
Internet Acccess
The number of computers required is 1 per 2 students.
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Students Familiarity with Software Tool:
Students need a login and the ability to get to the Internet. They should also have some prior experience with graphing,
generally from math and elementary school. No prior knowledge with the Create-a-Graph online tool is expected.
Student pairs need access to a shared computer.
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