Exploros | World War II: Vocabulary

Key Vocabulary

Overview

This experience engages students with key vocabulary related to the United States and World War II. The experience can be used as an introduction or a review at the end of the unit.

You can set the experience for self-paced work when you assign it to students.

Which of the following words are you familiar with?

Choose one of the words in the list, and search the Internet to find an image that illustrates the word. Then add a caption explaining how your illustration is connected to the word.

If students are working through this experience as a class, you may ask for volunteers to define the words and present their illustrations.

Encourage students to wait until they have reviewed their classmates’ illustrations before answering the second poll.

Which of the following words are you not familiar with?

These two polls provide a general picture of the students’ familiarity with the vocabulary words. If necessary, discuss unfamiliar words with the class.

Based on the vocabulary words, predict three aspects of World War II that this unit will discuss.

Post your answer

Accept any reasonable predictions, since students haven’t yet been introduced to the topic. Correct examples include, but are not limited to: how atomic weapons helped win the war, how citizens in the U.S. aided the war effort, economic effects of the war, and how some peoples during the war suffered because of their ethnicity or race.

If students are working through the experience as a class, you may give them a broad overview/summary: World War II was prompted by the attempts of three totalitarian states—Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and imperial Japan—to conquer a large number of countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Allies, who opposed the aggression by those Axis powers, included the United States, Great Britain and its Commonwealth countries, France, and the Soviet Union. The war lasted from 1939 to 1945. The United States was brought into it by a Japanese attack on its naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. To end the war, the U.S. developed the first atomic bombs and dropped them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene. The students can complete the experience at their own pace.