From 1961 to 1973, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong held hundreds of Americans captive.
POWs
Grade Range: 7-12
Resource Type(s): Lessons & Activities
Duration: 45 minutes
Date Posted:
9/21/2010
In this lesson plan, students analyze news sources from the Vietnam War era to describe how POWs and their families were represented in the media, then write letters from the perspective of the relative of a POW that describes the concerns of POW families. 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 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.