Lesson Plan Library

Free Lesson Plans for Teachers

WHDE offers a set of free resources for teachers to help students better understand Korea. The lesson plans cover a variety of topics including geography, religion, economic development, culture, history, and the Korean War. Search our archive of lessons plans by topic, skill or grade level. You can find more teaching resources on the Korean War on the Korean War Legacy Foundation website. Visit teachingaboutnorthkorea.org to find lesson plans and activities for teaching about North Korea.

 
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Showing 1 - 10 of 20 lesson plans:

A Child’s Perspective of the Korean War

woman with child on her back in front of tank

The main focus of this lesson plan is to make students aware of the impact the Korean War had on children. They will examine pictures and text to help them make a connection to children during war. The reflection piece of the lesson lets them compare how children (maybe their age) were affected by the war and its implications.

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PDFWord

Author: Michelle Sowinski

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: 50 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2019

Skills: Comparison

Topics: Korean War

Choosing Sides in the Korean War

convoy of military trucks

This lesson is primarily designed for use in a modern world history survey course, specifically within a unit that examines how forces unleashed by the Cold War and decolonization affected many developing nations in the post-WWII era. The lesson is purposely brief so that it can be realistically incorporated into a survey course, although lesson activities could be expanded. In this lesson, students will explore how the forces of decolonization and the Cold War impacted the people of Korea between 1945-1950, as well as determined policy choices made by the United States and the Soviet Union. Students will examine the various perspectives that existed within post-colonial Korea, as well as those from the Americans and Soviets. Students will use these perspectives to identify likely allies and will create a criteria for alliances.

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PDFWord

Author: Kristin Kramer

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 1-2 50-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2019

Skills: Cause and Effect, Comparison

Topics: Cold War, Korean War

Freedom’s Legacy

black and white photo of street with tanks

This lesson is intended to succeed lessons covering the end of World War II and the rise of Communism at the onset of Cold War and to supplement the scant content on the Korean War in the Tennessee World History and Geographytextbook published in 2015 by McGraw Hill Education. Prior to the start of this lesson, students should be able to differentiate between Capitalism and Communism (website link included in the resources section for review purposes if needed) and should possess basic knowledge of the competition between the world’s two superpowers representing each at the time—the United States and the Soviet Union. This lesson (or lessons dependent upon time allowance) touch upon the Korean War itself in regards to the lead up, start of the war, relations between countries involved, US intervention and aftermath. The main focus of this lesson/lessons is to develop a deeper understanding of why the US chose to defend freedom in Asia and of freedom’s legacy in the Republic of Korea in comparison to North Korea.

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PDFWord

Author: Maranda Wilkinson

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 1 90- minute block

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Freedom, Korean War, Legacy, Soviet Union

History Beyond the Textbook

video frame of man with glasses

Students will learn about the improtance of oral histories as they relate to the Korean War.

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PDFWordPowerPoint

Author: Jennifer Madden

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2020

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Korean War

Honoring Korean War Veterans

black and white photo of bugler in military cemetery

This lesson will allow students to apply the information they have learned about the Korean War and develop a medium to honor the sacrifices of Korean War Veterans. The lesson will be the culminating activity on the study of the Korean War. It is designed to develop empathy and understanding of sacrifice and need to honor veterans.

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PDFWord

Author: Bobbie Downs

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: Three- five 40-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis, Presentation

Topics: Korean War, Veterans

How Do We Memorialize a “Forgotten War”?

white statues of soliders in field

This lesson helps students answer the question, “How do we choose to remember and memorialize people and events from history?”

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PDFWordPowerPoint

Author: India Meissel

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2020

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Korean War

International Conflicts

three soldiers with rifles jumping over wall

In this lesson, students analyze secondary source documents in an effort to answer the central historical question: Who started the Korean War? The teacher begins by first explaining that textbooks can be biased sources and then uses a brief PowerPoint to show the geography of Korea and why/when war began there. Students then form pairs and read 2 accounts of the war: one from a South Korean textbook and another from a North Korean book. For both, students not only summarize and answer questions, but they must identify which source is which (North or South Korea?) and use textual details to prove it. In a class discussion, students share their answers. Students will also study the Montford Point Marines. They exceeded expectations and served tenaciously in the Korean War. These African American men were finally recognized by Congress and received the Gold Medal of Honor as a group on June 28, 2012. Guest speaker will be an academic coach from the school whose father served in the war and she has several primary documents to share with the students about her father’s experience in the war. Our school is primarily African American so I must incorporate the Montford Point Marines in this lesson, especially since a relative of a Korean War veteran works at the school. The conversation will lend itself to African Americans serving in a war and returning home to constant racism.

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PDFWord

Author: Valencia Robinson

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: Five 45-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Korean War

Korea and the United States: Postwar Perceptions

soldier on the march

In this lesson, students will examine how Americans and South Koreans view each other today.

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PDFWord

Author: Donald Jenkins

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2020

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Culture, Korean War, Perspectives

Korea and the United States: Postwar Perceptions

desolate war scene in black and white

The main topic of the lesson comes from a chapter on the Korean War Legacy Foundation website called Korea and the United States: Postwar Perceptions. Students do a close reading on the chapter, summarize the chapter, listen to one of the interviews in the chapter, and then use what they learned as a springboard to form their own research question about a topic related to the chapter. This is related to Korea because students will learn how the Korean War affected soldiers and civilians and then they will research a topic related to the Korean War or Korea today.

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PDFWord

Author: Donald Jenkins

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: 2-3 45 minute periods

Participation Year: Fellowship 2019

Skills: Analysis, Inquiry, Perspectives

Topics: Korean War

Korean War Chapters: Korea: Forgetting and Remembering

soldiers in battle with rifles and sandbags

This lesson focuses on the question, “Why is the Korean War considered one of the most important conflicts of the Cold War and why should we remember it?”

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PDFWord

Author: Natia Deisadze

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2020

Skills: Analysis

Topics: Korean War