Happy Monday

Today we began with a fun review quiz of the 1914 map of Europe.  Instead of just asking students to draw the map using geometric shapes, or just labeling countries, today's quiz included a more realistic format that asked for factoid recall paired with the ability to show where the response country was located;

Example: Look at the map.  "The invasion of which numbered country brought Britain into the First World War?"
Answer: "5"-  (Belgium)

Sample map quiz

Next, we continued with the sharing of student responses to the DeMarco Chapter One exercises.  Last day we covered Ex 1-7 and today we covered 8-12.  In our discussion we identified two problems with primary source information given by participants who participate in historical events: 1) bias; and, 2) inaccurate recall over time.

We also discussed how misleading statistics can be.  For example, if the Germans lost 80 submarines and the British lost 200, does that mean the Germans won the submarine war?  Not necessarily.  If the British started with 1000 subs, we could say they lost only 10% of their fleet (clearly able to continue fighting).  If the Germans started with only 100 subs (and lost 80% of their fleet) we might say they were unable to continue.  The lesson: DON'T TAKE NUMBERS AT THEIR FACE VALUE - THINK DEEPER.

We ended the lesson with the following writing activity.  Please be prepared to hand in your paragraph on Wednesday, at the start of class.  If you type your paragraph, please e-mail me a copy (there is a link on this blog).  Feel free to get help/feedback before it is due.

Your first "what/so-what" paragraph assignment