The Cuban Missile Crisis

This KS3 lesson should take at least one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with an accompanying student task booklet.

Aims and Objectives:

• To know the key events of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• To understand why it happened and with what consequences.
• To understand its significance in changing the course of history.

Activities include a quick starter recap on communist dictatorships vs. capitalist democracies, followed by the necessary background information. Students label a political cartoon and then create a caption. They then analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the various options open to Kennedy. Using the time line of events, students create a tension chart to demonstrate the rise and fall of tensions. They then consider reactions to and effects of the crisis before a final plenary discussion on what can be learnt from this.