Diamond 9: How did the international situation help to cause the 'Red Scare' in the USA?

This outstanding resource is designed to provide stretch and challenge for students studying how the international situation helped to cause the ‘Red Scare’ in the USA. It can also be used as a starter, plenary or as a revision activity on how the international situation helped to cause the ‘Red Scare’ in the USA during the 1950s.

The resource includes nine diamond shaped cards which include a range of factors to explain how the international situation helped to increase the fear and mistrust of the USSR. Once students have cut the cards out they are set three tasks including:

1. Remove any reasons that you don’t think are important. Record and explain why you have removed them.
2. Arrange the remaining diamonds to show any links that you can find between the different reasons. Record and explain your reasons.
3. Make a smaller diamond shape using what you think are the four most important international events or factors that helped to cause the Red Scare in the 1950s?

At each stage students should be feeding back to their group or the class and explaining their choices. The discussion and explanation around the choices that they have made are critical in helping them develop their thinking skills as well as their understanding of the topic.

The aims and objectives for this lesson are:

Theme: Origins of McCarthyism
Know: What key international events increased mistrust and tension between the USA & USSR?
Understand: How did the international situation help to ignite the ‘Red Scare’?
Evaluate: How far was the international situation responsible for causing the ‘Red Scare’?

WILF: What Am I looking For?
Identify and describe: The international situation from 1945 to 1953
Explain: How did the international situation help to ignite the ‘Red Scare’?
Analyse: How far was the international situation responsible for causing the ‘Red Scare’?

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Kind Regards

Roy