Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, (7:3, November 1990)

Grade Levels: 7, 8

Subject(s):

• Social Studies/World History
• Information Literacy/Research Skills

Curriculum (subject area) Objectives:
The activity may be used in connection with a social studies lesson/unit on diplomatic relationships.

Resources :
General reference section for sources related to countries of the world.

Instructional Roles :
The library media specialist and classroom teacher may cooperatively introduce students to reference reading. The lesson may be initiated in the library media center with a general introduction to sources from the reference section so that students may browse and read references selectively and for "fun" or to find interesting facts.

Activity and Procedures for Completion:
The library media specialist may prepare a display of reference sources from the library media center which include information about the countries of the world almanacs, encyclopedias, and geographical references. The library media specialist may list some interesting aspects of each reference on small cards which may be attached to the references. The aspects listed may be written in the form of questions: i.e., "Do you know that . . .?"

The library media specialist will explain that students may browse and read the reference sources before using them to solve a problem. Allow about ten minutes so that each student or pair of students have an opportunity to browse through at least one reference source.

The classroom teacher and the library media specialist may explain that countries of the world often behave like individuals: that is, they have relationships with other countries. Sometimes countries and their actions may be personified. The word "diplomacy" may be written on the blackboard and the students may be asked to think about the word and its meaning. The library media specialist will tell the students that they must define the word after they have had an opportunity to practice "reading reference."  The library media specialist may introduce cards on which names of countries and dates are listed e.g.., "American colonies, Great Britain, and France during 1775." The students use reference and browsing skills to find information about the relationships among the countries during the specified historical period or year. Cards may include:

France and Scotland-1295
England and France-1340
Venice, Italy, and Hungary-1370
Turkey and Athens, Greece-1456
England and Holland-1653
Russia and Poland-1654
etc.

The library media specialist may develop the cards using The Timetables of History (Simon and Schuster, 1979). The students may take a card and begin a search for information about the relationship between the specified countries during the specified historical period/date. Some may look at the chronological sources for a general understanding of the historical period and may use general, historical, and geographical references to fill out the details diplomatic relationships, economics, important events, etc.

Students may collect the facts and prepare a brief composite description of the international relationships. They may then compare these international relationships with interpersonal relationships. Do countries actually behave in the same way as individuals behave?

Following this exercise, the students may look at a dictionary definition of diplomacy and discuss how it applies to the examples which they researched.  If needed, students may return to the reference sources for additional information.

Evaluation :
The student will use reference sources to investigate a topic.

Follow-Up :
The students may:

 
• Investigate the international relationships of additional countries during other time periods.
• Compare international diplomatic relationships with interpersonal relationships in the class or school.