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Lesson plan: Is it war?
From Making Sense of World Conflicts online resource
Age group:
14–17
Objectives
Learning outcomes
You will need
What to do
Objectives
- To explore the meanings of ‘conflict’ and ‘war’.
- To make deductions and practise reasoning skills.
Learning outcomes
Pupils will have:
- practised thinking skills.
- discussed a topical issue.
You will need
What to do
Starter
1. Ask the class in pairs to write two sentences – one using the word ‘conflict’ and one using the word ‘war’. Ask for examples with explanations of why they have chosen particular contexts. Have a brief discussion about any ideas or ‘rules’ that emerge about the different usage and meanings.
Activity
2. Then
give pairs or threes of pupils the 14 cut up sentences from When is conflict a war? These sentences were originally written in the order given in the box at the bottom of this page but have been muddled up except for the first and last sentence.
3. Pupils should read the statements and sequence them to put them in an order which makes sense and answers the question, ‘What is the difference between war and conflict?’ They should create a readable piece which follows a logical argument and which gives an explanation of differences and similarities between conflict and war.
If carried out as an English lesson pupils can be directed towards the language clues such as the conjunctive words at the beginning of sentences, as well as looking at the content. They can try different sequences and consider the reasons for coming to their final conclusion. This activity requires high level thinking skills. It encourages pupils to sort, classify, sequence, compare and to analyse structure and syntax. NB, you can download the piece in the right order here.
4. Obtain feedback from the pairs. First of all discuss the different sequences that pupils have identified and ask for reasons for their choices. In an English lesson pupils might discuss how similar or different the results are and the consequent changes in meaning.
5. Discuss the content of the piece. Is there anything they didn’t understand that needs clarifying? Do they agree with the points made? In their own words can they answer the question about the difference between war and conflict?
Closing discussion
6. Why do pupils think that ‘war’ and ‘conflict’ are sometimes used loosely as terms? Can there really be ‘a war on terror’ or a ‘war on drugs’? Have a brief discussion.
7. You
could bring in the fact that there are strict rules governing the conduct of war, which have been agreed on by all world governments. These rules aim to protect civilians, prisoners of war and casualties. They are part of International Humanitarian Law, and include the fact that civilians may not be directly attacked, for example. The rules are summarised in the handout, The rules of war: International Humanitarian Law.
Further work
8. For
homework they could collect and comment on some examples from literature they have read or newspapers and magazines.
9. An
extension to this activity could be to access a range of newspapers from around the world through online newspapers and to compare their use of the words ‘war’ and ‘conflict’ in main headlines. You could suggest that pupils are alert to the use and meaning of the terms in literature and the media in future.
A suggested order for the statements is A, G, I, K, B, D, F, L, E, H, M, J, C, N.
There are other possibilities which can be discussed with pupils.
From Making Sense of World Conflicts online resource
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