Social Studies - 6th Grade (2024)
Lesson Plans

Strand 3: Colonization, Imperialism and Independence Movements

Students will describe how the political and economic impacts of this time period (c. 1500 C.E.–2000 C.E.) created new political ideologies and technology, providing prime conditions and motivations for colonization, imperialism, and independence that continue to be echoed in current conversations.

Compelling Questions:

• Why do nations often desire to create empires, and how do they do so?
• What conditions can lead to revolutions?
• What are the pros and cons of global interconnectedness?
• In what ways does immigration impact the conditions and motivations of exploration, colonization, or independence movements?
• In what ways do the ideals of Industrial Imperialism and 19th century Enlightenment lead to desires for independence, self-rule, and rights?

Standard 6.3.1

Describe how the conditions and motivations of exploration, colonization, and/or imperialism around the world connect to globalization.

• How Did Sugar Feed Slavery?
  C3. Inquiry based lesson plan. Students explore the connection between the consumption of sugar and the reliance of slave labor to cultivate sugar plantations. Includes multiple opportunities to explore the supporting questions and develop an argument with claims, including charts, graphs, illustrations, reading excerpts, and background information.
• I'm Going on an Immigration
  Students learn about the experience of being an immigrant, which requires the traveler to plan for the journey, to pack, and to make difficult decisions. People from many cultures have created trunks or others containers to hold their belongings while they travel. The size of the carrying device limits the number of personal possessions, mementos, and material goods brought from home to begin a new life.
• Japanese American Incarceration: Through Primary Sources: The Diary of Stanley Hayami
  Also from a Smithsonian museum, this resource provides students with a primary resource (an excerpt written by an incarcerated Japanese American boy) and opportunities to analyze this resource as a means to understand the conditions of the Japanese American concentration camps in the U.S. during WW2. Standards based and includes questions, activities, videos, and more.
• Teaching Japanese American Incarceration Through Comics & Graphic Novels
  Smithsonian resource. Students learn about the experiences of incarcerated Japanese Americans during WW2 through reading a series of comics developed for this purpose. Can be used as an introduction to this topic. Blank comic template is also included for assessment opportunities.
• Was American Expansion Abroad Justified?
  C3 Inquiry based lesson plan offers supporting questions for students to investigate the arguments for and against imperialism as it relates to the United States' involvement in the Spanish-American War. Includes background information, newspaper clippings, newspaper illustrations, campaign speeches, political cartoons, for students to analyze as they develop their evidence-based argument as to whether or not American expansion abroad was (is) justified.
• Was It Destiny to Move West?
  C3. Inquiry based lesson plan. Students investigate the conflicts, conditions, and factors of the western expansion in the U.S. prior to the Civil War. Includes supporting questions and a summative performance task. Also includes a song, maps, charts, excerpts from articles, posters/artwork from the time period, and more for students to analyze as a means of preparing their arguments.

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http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Robert  Austin and see the Social Studies website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Jennifer  Throndsen.

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