The family fallout shelter represents the public policy assumptions of the atomic age, namely, th
Cuban Missile Crisis
Grade Range: 9-12
Resource Type(s): Lessons & Activities
Duration: 90 minutes
Date Posted:
9/21/2010
In this lesson plan students will examine primary sources to determine the level of threat caused by the buildup of Soviet nuclear missiles and weapons sites in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and will analyze President Kennedy’s response. This resource was produced to accompany the exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
National Standards
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
World History Standards (Grades 5-12)
Historical Thinking Standards (Grades 5-12)
Historical Thinking Standard 1: Chronological Thinking
1B: Identify the temporal structure of a historical narrative or story.
1C: Establish temporal order in constructing students' own historical narratives.
1D: Measure and calculate calendar time.
1E: Interpret data presented in time lines.
1F: Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration; explain historical continuity and change.
1G: Compare alternative models for periodization.
Historical Thinking Standard 2: Historical Comprehension
2B: Reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage.
2C: Identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses.
2D: Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.
2E: Read historical narratives imaginatively.
2F: Appreciate historical perspectives.
2G: Draw upon data in historical maps.
2H: Utilize visual, mathematical, and quatitative data.
2I: Draw upon the visual, literary, and musical sources.
Historical Thinking Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation
3B: Consider multiple perspectives.
3C: Analyze cause-and-effect relationships.
3D: Draw comparisons across eras and regions in order to define enduring issues.
3E: Distinguish between unsupported expressions of opinion and informed hypotheses grounded in historical evidence.
3F: Compare competing historical narratives.
3G: Challenge arguments of historical inevitability.
3H: Hold interpretations of history as tentative.
3I: Evaluate major debates among historians.
3J: Hypothesize the influence of the past.