Human Heritage: A World History

Chapter 38: The Cold War Era

Web Activity Lesson Plans

“The Cold War”

Introduction
Students have read about the tensions of the Cold War era. In this exercise, students will visit the "CNN Perspective Series: The Cold War" Web site and take a closer look at what life was like during the Cold War.

Lesson Description
Students will use information from the "CNN Perspective Series: The Cold War" Web site to learn about culture, technology, espionage, and the atomic bomb. Students will explore interactive timelines and read firsthand accounts. Students will then answer four questions and apply this information by writing a one-page essay about the culture of the Cold War era.

Instruction Objectives

1. Students will analyze the fears that the Cold War era generated and examine people's responses to those fears.
2. Students will use this knowledge to write a one-page essay illustrating what they have learned about the culture of the Cold War era.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. Star Trek was the television show that addressed this conflict.
2. NASA was always worried about a catastrophe occurring in space. With the skylab space station, a new possibility arose—a disaster from which astronauts could escape if they were given enough warning. NASA enlisted Honeywell to develop the first smoke detector.
3. Spies operating before the cold war gave the Soviet Union an early advantage. Klaus Fuchs and Ted Hall were scientists employed at Los Alamos on the project to make the atomic bomb. They passed to their Soviet controllers detailed drawings of the implosion method of exploding the bomb.
4. The fallout shelters were stocked with a one-week supply of food and medical supplies and a two-week supply of water for the shelter occupants.
5. Students' essays will vary.