Cold War Webquests

When I teach the Cold War, for either US History or World History, I struggle.  One, it is at the end of the school year, so the kids are mentally checked out.  We all know teachers are just tired at the end of the year!  We all smell Summer Break!  Not to mention the end of the year activities that get in the way of this unit (at least for me): State Testing, Benchmarks, Assemblies, and end of the year activities.  I find this unit the most difficult for those reasons, not to mention, students like blood and guts, which doesn't happen so much with the Cold War compared to previous units.  I like to give my students webquests for this unit.  It is easy to assign them, they can look up the info on their phone or electronic device.  They can work on this at home or at school.  I find at the end of the year- teaching this unit through webquests is my saving grace!  That is not to say I don't do other actives, like posters, maps, direct instruction, etc.  But a big majority of their reading comes from webquests for this unit.  Here are all the webquests that I use for both my World History and US History class.  I also have them all available in one giant bundle if you are like me and teach both classes.

Cold War Webquest- general overview.  I always assign this first to both World and US History.  This is a good overview for the entire unit.









Berlin Airlift Webquest.  This explains why Berlin was split: the tensions between the Soviets and USA.  Then of course a great comprehensive explanation of the Berlin Airlift- why it began and how it ended.







Berlin Wall Webquest.  This webquest explains how and why Berlin was split.  But goes into the tensions of the two sides more, the reason for the wall, how people were escaping before and trying to escape afterwards.  Then how the wall finally came down.







Space Race Webquest.  Love this topic of the Cold War.  I mean it is Space!  And man lands on the moon!  This webquest explains the significance of this event during the Cold War, how NASA was created, the scare Sputnik caused for Americans, and how Americans finally won by landing on the moon.







Korean War Webquest.  The Forgotten War.  Explains how the war started and ended, along with the significance of the war.







Vietnam War Webquest.  This one is a bigger webquest, 30 questions, because the Vietnam War was so controversial to Americans.  So this webquest explain why and how America entered the war and goes into great explanation of the controversy and the protests Americans were having at this time.  Then it goes into the controversy of the memorial wall that was built- I am an Art History nerd!  I couldn't help but add some art in this!

Bay of Pigs Webquest.  This webquest covers how Fidel took over Cuba and how that became a problem with the USA.  Then it explains why America wanted to invade Cuba, how they trained the Cubans, and how miserably it failed.

Cuban Missile Crisis Webquest.  This covers the 13 days of pure panic during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  After my students complete this webquest, I actually have them draw a timeline with images to depict the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.