Cuban Missile Crisis EXCOMM Simulation | VIDEO & ACTIVITY

All these resources go with this History For Humans video on the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War. 

This is the third episode and lesson in my Cold War unit that focuses on just how close the world came to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis and how Kennedy and Khrushchev responded to the heating of the Cold War. Capitalizing on how students learn best from stories, this tells the Cuban Missile Crisis as a story that students will understand and remember but also transitions to some essential historical context to make sense of the story- the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the building of the Berlin Wall and how Khrushchev was looking to push and challenge the young Kennedy and then finally how and why the CMC got so close to nuclear war.

The resources include interactive notesheets that has students engage with an anchor image, make a prediction on the exploration question, record and react to notes (definitions shown in the video to help visual learners), a cause/effect chart, and then revisit their hypothesis to analyze the exploration question. Then there is a quick quiz to ensure understanding. Finally, there is an extension lesson that has students get in groups (could be done individually but not as well!) and act as EXCOMM to 'solve the crisis'. They analyze 'top secret' background info, analyze a primary source map, and then weigh the pros/cons of each option to handle the crisis. Lastly, they write a speech to the public as if they are President Kennedy and deliver to class (optional, but encouraged!). 

Cold War Unit:

1) Berlin Airlift & Start of the Cold War
2) McCarthyism and the Red Scare
3) Threat Level Midnight: The Cuban Missile Crisis

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Thanks for checking it out,
Dan ;)