{"id":5753,"date":"2024-07-17T22:24:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T02:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/materamabilis.org\/ma\/?page_id=5753"},"modified":"2025-06-14T13:05:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T17:05:16","slug":"20th-century-history-update","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/materamabilis.org\/ma\/subjects\/history\/20th-century-history-update\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Century History Update 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notes: These are the 20th Century History plans updated in 2024. To see the old lesson plans, please see our Archived Lesson Plans page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Level 4 20th Century History Lesson Plans<\/h5>\n

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Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s history study focuses on the twentieth century. Studying modern history has certain difficulties that do not apply to earlier periods:<\/p>\n

(1) Most history texts stop either at the beginning or in the middle of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n

(2) Those books that cover the whole century are more suitable for high school or adult reading, rather than younger teenagers.<\/p>\n

(3) The nature of twentieth century history means that secular books with material sufficiently challenging for this age group will almost always have problematic sections or images.<\/p>\n

(4) Books covering the entire century from a Catholic perspective simply aren\u2019t available.<\/p>\n

Due to the lack of a narrative text suitable for this level to provide an overview of world history for this level we have selected texts for the West, the East, World War I, and World War II. These texts are scheduled for lessons three days a week. An optional fourth day can be added to address special topics: the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iraq War, and apartheid in South Africa. A family may choose to cover all or none of these optional topics.<\/p>\n

These units rely heavily on primary source material (original documents from the period being studied). Where possible we have used books from the Witness to History series. These short books on a number of twentieth century history topics consist of double page spreads, with a brief introduction to an aspect of the topic complemented by an extract from an original document. They include sources from different perspectives, ranging from eyewitness accounts to newspaper reports and extracts from speeches and official documents. We have supplemented these with other accounts and documents that can be found online, including Catholic sources where possible.<\/p>\n

Time requirement:<\/strong> Three lessons weekly, of approximately 45 minutes each, plus supplementary reading. One additional lesson weekly is optional.<\/p>\n

Teacher involvement:<\/strong> While students can study the material alone, it is important to remember that twentieth century history is a heavy subject that includes distressing and emotive topics. Please make time to follow up your child\u2019s history lessons with some discussion about what they are learning. This does not need to be formal discussion: conversation while doing dishes would be fine!<\/p>\n

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Key Texts<\/h5>\n

Stream 1 – The West<\/strong><\/p>\n

REQUIRED:<\/span><\/p>\n

Note on Witness to History books: Sometimes these can be difficult to find. We have tried to provide online articles or resources to use instead of Witness to History.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Century for Young People<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We the People<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Note: The page numbers in the lesson plans below are for the 2011 edition. We hope to update with page numbers for the revised edition (2020\/2021) in the near future.<\/em><\/p>\n

Witness to History: World War I<\/em><\/span><\/a> by Sean Connolly<\/span><\/p>\n

Witness to History: World War II<\/span><\/a><\/em> by Sean Connolly<\/span><\/p>\n

Stream 2 – The East<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note on Witness to History books: Sometimes these can be difficult to find. We have tried to provide online articles or resources to use instead of Witness to History.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Witness to History: The War in Vietnam<\/em><\/span><\/a> by Michael Burgan<\/span><\/p>\n

Witness to History: Afghanistan<\/em><\/span><\/a> by David Downing<\/span><\/p>\n

Twentieth Century Perspectives: Rise of Modern China<\/span><\/i><\/a> by Tony Allan<\/p>\n

Twentieth Century Perspectives: The Cold War<\/em><\/span><\/a> by David Taylor<\/span><\/p>\n

Witness to History: The Collapse of Communism<\/em><\/span><\/a> by Stewart Ross<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Stalin: Dictator of the Soviet Union<\/em><\/span><\/a> by Brenda Haugen – Note: This book is out of print and may be hard to find. Feel free to substitute any short biography of Stalin from your local library or to omit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twentieth Century Perspectives: The Russian Revolution<\/em><\/a> by Tony Allen<\/p>\n

Stream 3 – Optional<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note on Witness to History books: Sometimes these can be difficult to find. We have tried to provide online articles or resources to use instead of Witness to History.<\/em><\/p>\n

Witness to History: The Arab-Israeli Conflict<\/span><\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Stewart Ross<\/p>\n

Witness to History: The War in Iraq<\/em><\/span><\/a> by David Downing<\/span><\/p>\n

Witness to History: Apartheid in South Africa<\/span><\/a><\/em> by David Downing
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Note on Websites<\/strong><\/p>\n

This course makes use of a number of articles and primary source documents available through websites. You may wish to print these at the beginning of a unit ready for your student to use. Some of the sites may have ads that are distracting, at best. (History.com in particular has a lot of ads.) Also, websites can disappear or change their organization so articles can become hard to find. If you print at the beginning of the year, you don’t have to worry about them, and you can use the same articles for all your children, even as the internet changes.<\/p>\n

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Lesson Format<\/strong><\/h5>\n