Teacher Notes

This unit on the First World War contains the following sections:

• Why the war happened
• Battle and Conflict
• Different Experiences in the Life of a Soldier
• Technology and Tactics
• The Legacy of War

There is lots of valuable material on World War 1 on the internet so if internet access is available the links should provide plenty of scope for research and project work.

The unit contains two interactive tasks;

• Place events leading up to the outbreak of war in sequence.

• Create a personalised web page on the causes of the war. This page can be printed out.

  This is quite a detailed task and so might be best used in conjunction with class discussion or with supplementary material.

In addition, the unit contains three sections of short questions. With these questions is a 'notepad' button. This enables students to make make their learning more active by making notes of their responses to the questions which. As with the personalised web page, the notes can be printed out. This note pad is a new function which we hope to improve. To use it press 'launch notepad'. This launches a new window with a text box. When the notes are completed, press 'done'. This creates a printable page. To print the page use the 'print option' on the computer ('File', then 'print' on the top bar).

Supplementary questions:

• Different life experiences of a soldier a) Examine the differences in attitude between the poets Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen.

  b) Examine and compare two soldier's accounts of battle. This section also includes a link to the full diary of one of the soldiers, though the activity does not need an internet connection as excerpts are given in the text.

• The legacy of the war. Examine different responses to the peace treaty (Hitler, David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson). Locate elements likely to cause trouble. Explain why the three views were different.

This unit also has a glossary explaining the main terms and events.