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The Vietnam War Mini Unit Study

 

In November, those in the United States celebrated Veteran's Day, while Britons, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders celebrated the same holiday by a different name, Remembrance Day. In this issue of Learning Through History News, we'll focus on the war that produced the largest amount of U.S. combat casualties (over 58,000) to date since WWII - the Vietnam War.

Sadly, even though the Vietnam War has been the topic of numerous feature films and best selling books, students of history, particularly American students, still do not study it widely. There are a myriad of reasons for this, ranging from a superficial treatment by textbooks to a shortage of time devoted to modern history in general. In addition, the topic of the Vietnam War is often challenging to teach because of the enormous political difference of opinion regarding both the rationale and conduct of the war that still exists today, almost 30 years after the Fall of Saigon.

Because of the adult nature and the complexity of the Vietnam War, we recommend the material in this mini-unit for high school age students and mature middle-schoolers.

In this mini unit study, you can: read facts about Vietnam today, read a short overview of the Vietnam War, read historical newspaper articles on the war, look at primary documents, hear oral stories about the war, analyze wartime photographs, watch an hour and a half of documentary footage, review a timeline of events via an interactive timeline and work through a series of activities designed to examine the war from a variety of angles.

Reading

Facts on Vietnam from the CIA Factbook

Vietnam key facts

An overview of the Vietnam War

An overview of the war

Look at an interactive hyperlinked timeline of key events in the Vietnam War

Timeline of the Vietnam War

Primary Sources

Examine a wide variety of key primary source documents regarding the Vietnam War:

Primary documents

Read historical newspaper stories on the waning days of the conflict from the New York Times:

Newspaper accounts

Multimedia

Listen to people talk about their Vietnam War experiences:

(select the names beneath the quotes, then choose the Quicktime recordings to hear interviews rather than reading them)

Oral accounts

See over an hour and a half of documentary footage of the Vietnam War:

Vietnam documentaries online

Analyze real-life photographs from the war from the national archives:

Archive photos

Assignments and Projects

An entire series of downloadable curriculum units w/activities and projects from the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund. Topics include:

• Module 1: Escalating Involvement in the Vietnam War
• Module 2: Conflict on the Home Front
• Module 3: Those Who Served
• Module 4: The Vietnamese and Vietnam
• Module 5: The Wall as Healer
• Module 6: The Legacy of the Vietnam War

Go to Modules

Recommended Resource

The Things They Carried

This fictional book of short stories of U.S. soldiers' experiences
in Vietnam has been a staple of literature classes since its
publication. Beyond the facts and policies behind the war, these
compelling tales give the reader a searing look into the souls of
men in war. A must-read for teachers and parents as well.

Book (Paperback)
Authors: TIM O'BRIEN

Lists at: $14.95, Amazon Price: $10.17

Read more about the book on Amazon