The Middle East 7 th  Grade Social Studies The Middle East
8/04 What do these 3 countries have  in common?
Unit Essential Questions 1.  What are the causes of the conflicts in the Middle East?  2.  Who is entitled to the land that is in dispute in the region? 3.  Why is the United States fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? 4.  What are possible solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East?
K/W/L What do you already know? What do you want to learn? What did you learn? the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; oil;  Islam;  9/11;  Weapons of mass destruction “ Why do they hate us?” Why  did 9/11 happen? Why are we fighting in these countries? Stay tuned to find out!
Middle East Map

Middle East Introduction

  • 1.
    The Middle East7 th Grade Social Studies The Middle East
  • 2.
    8/04 What dothese 3 countries have in common?
  • 3.
    Unit Essential Questions1. What are the causes of the conflicts in the Middle East? 2. Who is entitled to the land that is in dispute in the region? 3. Why is the United States fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? 4. What are possible solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East?
  • 4.
    K/W/L What doyou already know? What do you want to learn? What did you learn? the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; oil; Islam; 9/11; Weapons of mass destruction “ Why do they hate us?” Why did 9/11 happen? Why are we fighting in these countries? Stay tuned to find out!
  • 5.

Editor's Notes

  • #3 These are the flags of the US, Iraq (left), and Afghanistan (right). What do we have in common: right now the US maintains a military presence in both nations after invading Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. However, at various points in the last 50 years, the US has supported these nations financially and militarily…in essence, we were allies. Ask: What went wrong?
  • #4 Introduce the unit essential questions (see PowerPoint). Explain that the content about to be studied is incredibly sensitive and deals with what is likely the world’s most complex conflict.
  • #5 Have students complete a KWL chart about the Middle East.
  • #6 Introduce geographic features from Fact #1 and have students label and color a blank map. It is recommended that they label these specific nations as well: Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan although this need not be assessed. END DAY ONE