Every year, my IB Theory of Knowledge classes do a What If? History Project (see The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons for all the needed hand-outs and tons of examples.

This post contains a few examples from this year’s classes.

In addition, after they complete this project, about a third of those students assist my English Language Learner World and U.S. History students create ones, too.  They are doing that now, and I’ll share examples from the ELL students next week.

This year, Kelsie Burnell, one of the talented student teachers working with me, created this simple hand-out for my ELL students to introduce the idea of a “What If?” project to them, and it seemed to go fairly well.  Here’s what the hand-out contains, and you can download it here:

“What If” Project

Think of an important moment in your life that led to other things happening (moving, starting at a new school, playing on a sports team, divorce, loss, etc.).  Write down the specific event that took place.

 

What did that event lead to?  What other events occurred as a result?

 

What may have happened if that event never happened at all?

 

What If? The Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) – PowerPoint version