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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 11 - 20 of 57 lesson plans:

DMZ: Symbol of Peace or Division?

Excerpt from armistice

In this lesson, students will explore the impact of the DMZ on North and South Korea and analyze its complex perceptions within South Korea. By engaging with a variety of primary and secondary sources, students will gain insights into the historical and contemporary significance of the DMZ. They will develop their own opinions on the inquiry question, “Does the existence of the DMZ serve as a symbol of division or a potential for future reunification?” Students will be tasked with using evidence from the sources to support and defend their responses, fostering critical thinking and deeper understanding of this pivotal topic.

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PDFWord

Author: Sarah Troxell

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2024

Skills: Analysis, Comparison

Topics: World History

Do Borders Matter?

landscape

Students will research and compare the current economic development of Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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PDFWord

Author: Linda Burrows

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: Two 55-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation

Topics: Economics, Politics

Dokdo as an Important Part of Korean National Identity

map

This lesson focuses on “Dokdo”, a set of islets in the East Sea, as an important component to Korean national identity, and the source of a tense territorial dispute between Korea and Japan. Students will first analyze maps of this territory and define vocabulary terms. Next students will analyze primary and secondary sources (documents) by answering questions and making inferences about Korean claims to this region, sentiment, and the importance to national identity.

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PDFWord

Author: Elyse Williams

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: Two 50-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis, Inference

Topics: Geography

Economic Development: Is Korea the Key?

city seen from above with river

During the Development Unit of AP Human Geography, students will look at data from other countries who were similar to South Korea in the 1960s, then the same data for today. Based on GDP, IHDI, and GNI they will use the obvious differences in development to draw conclusions as to how South Korea was able to develop so quickly, and what those countries can do to in an attempt to reach the same development level as South Korea.

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PDFWord

Author: Karen Coss

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: Two 50-minute classes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2018

Skills: Analysis, Comparison

Topics: Economics, Geography

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

Get to Know a Korean War Veteran

Medal of Honor

This lesson will help students and multilingual students know the significance of U.S. forces and other soldiers from the 22 nations that participated in the Korean War and the impact of their service, along with some of them receiving the Medal of Honor from their actions. The students will be tasked with helping a local author with researching for their book on veterans and the awards they received from participating in the war. The students will learn about the spotlighted soldiers. These soldiers will tell their story through videos and articles written about them. Students will be using citations and videos from The Korean War Legacy Foundation, the Medal of Honor Foundation, and The 22: Korean War International Legacy websites. Students will flow through the WebQuest and will be asked to click on a hyperdoc. This hyperdoc will ask the students to go deeper into the stories of Tibor Rubin and Hiroshi Mayamura. After reading the citations and watching the videos, students will be asked to fill in graphic organizers on good character traits that the soldiers displayed. This will lead into the student’s learning about the assignment that will be a formative assessment project. Students will be tasked in researching and creating a presentation that will be shown to the local author writing a book on soldier life in the Korean War.

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PDFWord

Author: Heather Brindle

Grades: Middle (6-8)

Time: 3 class periods, 75 minutes each

Participation Year: Fellowship 2024

Skills: Analysis

Topics: ESOL World History, World History

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 Viewpoints of North and South Korean Reunification Differ Today?

Korea and the Cold War

This lesson is accessible to students with little to no English. It includes many images and modified readings. In this lesson, the students will learn about why the Korean War is still very topical and how it affects millions of people today. This lesson assesses differing viewpoints on the idea of reunifying the two Koreas. It also assesses current discussions on reunification.

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PDFWord

Author: Ann Krois

Grades: Secondary (9-12)

Time: 90 minutes

Participation Year: Fellowship 2024

Skills: Analysis

Topics: US History, World History

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

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