Atom Bomb - The War in the Pacific (Second World War / World War Two)

This lesson is one of a series of lessons on the Second World War aimed primarily at students in KS3. The lesson focusses on whether or not dropping the atomic bomb can be justified and begins with an engaging political cartoon starter in which students are asked to work out the cartoonist’s opinion about dropping the atomic bomb. The lesson then uses a card sort activity to consider competing arguments on this topic before discussing the students own opinions. The end of the lesson looks at answering an essay style question which can be used as an assessment activity. Within this activity students are advised on how to structure well-written paragraphs using the PEEL (Point, Evidence, Explain, Link) technique.