Introduction

In this unit, students will identify and describe how President Ronald Reagan was involved in the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, students will understand and analyze the events and effects of September 11, 2001. Lastly, students will explain the role of the personal computer in American life.

More specifically, students will understand why the United States felt it was important to try to stop the spread of communism and how the United States has worked to combat terrorism to protect U.S. interests. Finally, students will continue to learn about how changes in technology affect many different parts of their everyday life.

For this unit, you will focus on the following questions:

What changes caused the Soviet Union to collapse?

How did America influence the breakup of the Soviet Union?

With the collapse of the Soviet Union has it become a better nation?

What makes a date important to people?

What impact did September 11th have on our country and its citizens?

How should the country decide how to remember the events of September 11th?

How has technology affected our everyday life?

Do changes in technology provide positive or negative changes?

What future technologies could affect our lives?

The Who's & What's of the 21st Century

Welcome Back, Students!

Today we will begin learning about the influence the United States has had in the 21st Century and how that influence has evolved over time.

In your journal: To begin, please draw the following table in your social studies journal. Then, I want you to consider each person or event and record what you know, have heard, or predict about each one. As you learn about the terms, you will come back to this chart and complete the bottom portion.

Resistance
Collapse of the Berlin Wall
Reagan
Gorbachev
Star Wars Idea
Terrorists
Attack on the Pentagon
Flight 93

Al Qaeda
Bin Laden
Homeland Security
Airport Security
War on Terrorism
September 11, 2001
Home Computer
The Internet

Don’t forget to come back to this chart throughout the unit to add information to the “What is it?” section of each person, event, or term.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION