A date which will live in infamy
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Each year, we commemorate Pearl Harbor Day to remember and honor the 2,403 Americans killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This significant event led to the United States’s consequential decision to declare war on Japan and enter World War II.
Although this date seems to be far in the past, the last survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona, Lou Conter, just died on April 1, 2024, at the age of 102.
Because the attack on Pearl Harbor led to many consequential events, students should have opportunities to look at this event from many different viewpoints. One way to share this information is through choice boards, which allow students to choose different activities that relate to the same topic. Providing students with choices leads to higher engagement because it gives them a say in the materials they use in the learning process and the task they complete to demonstrate their understanding of the content.
Here are some suggestions to use when creating a task choice board about Pearl Harbor:
Pearl Harbor-Themed Choice Board Activities:
- Ask students to build an Interactive Timeline of the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the repercussions that followed using Canva’s timeline creator (reviewed here) or Timeline JS (reviewed here).
- Produce and share a podcast where students role-play diplomatic discussions after the attack. Anchor (reviewed here) and Buzzsprout (reviewed here) are two free and easy-to-use podcast creation tools.
- Ask students to write diary entries and letters to home from different perspectives, such as those of soldiers, civilians, and survivors of the attack on the USS Arizona.
- Have students create a map using Google My Maps (reviewed here) that shows the positions of ships and airplanes involved in the attack.
- Political cartoons offer a unique perspective on a country’s attitudes and feelings about a significant event. Ask students to analyze political cartoons about Pearl Harbor using a graphic organizer like this one from the National Archives.
- Infographics are an excellent way to share information. Ask students to create infographics that display a timeline of Pearl Harbor events and statistics about the attack, such as the number of casualties, ships damaged, and the cost of the damage to infrastructure. Use Canva Infographic Creator (reviewed here) or Adobe Express Free Infographic Creator (reviewed here) to design and share professional-style infographics.
- Challenge students to write a persuasive essay discussing controversial topics related to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Include ideas such as “Was the US prepared?” and “Could the attack have been prevented?”
- Produce a documentary video about Pearl Harbor using the tools available on Adobe Express Video Maker (reviewed here). Encourage students to use built-in images, templates, and charts to share the details of the events and famous figures involved with Pearl Harbor.
- The events at Pearl Harbor are similar to the more recent events of September 11, 2001. Offer students the opportunity to compare and contrast these events using a graphic organizer like this one from Read Write Think (reviewed here), or use the Circly App (reviewed here) to create visuals to demonstrate more complex comparisons.
Resources for Students
After you select your choice board activities, provide students with different types of resources such as primary source documents, videos, and news articles that they can use to research the events at Pearl Harbor.
- Watch this video interview with Lou Conter, the last Pearl Harbor survivor.
- Use the iCivics (reviewed here) game Executive Command to help students understand the complex and vital decisions made daily by the president. This game also emphasizes the value of diplomacy as part of crisis negotiations.
- “What Happened at Pearl Harbor” is a PDF document with a map and timeline of events. It also includes short stories about three Pearl Harbor heroes.
- This TeachersFirst special topics collection about Pearl Harbor and World War II includes resources, like lesson plans, photos, and audio recordings.
- The Short History of… podcast (reviewed here) offers three episodes that discuss the events of Pearl Harbor. Scroll down the playlist to find the episodes.
- History.com’s Pearl Harbor Firsthand Accounts: Video features stories from veterans that were on the naval base on December 7. Hear about their path to Pearl Harbor, how they were caught by surprise, and what happened as the first wave of Japanese bombers arrived at the port.
- Visit the National Park Service’s Pearl Harbor National Memorial website to explore the history and stories of sacrifice and courage from members of the community who experienced this event.
- The Attack on Pearl Harbor: A Map-based Exhibition from the Gilder Lehman Institute (reviewed here) is an interactive guide to the Japanese attack and its aftermath.
- Notebook LM (reviewed here) is a new AI research and note-taking tool from Google that creates resources using your links, documents, and text. Notebook LM even generates a downloadable podcast utilizing the information you upload. Use a podcast like this one to introduce the topic of of Pearl Harbor Day to students and engage them in the study of the events of December 7, 1941.
Choice Board Templates:
- Search SlidesMania (reviewed here) search for the choice board template for Google Slides and PowerPoint.
- Canva for Education (reviewed here) has several choice board templates.
- Open the blank choice board with Kami (reviewed here) and add text, images, and videos, then automatically assign the choice board to students.
- Click File, then click Copy to begin using and editing this Google Slides template from EngageEducate.com.
- Padlet (reviewed here) offers a choice board template as one of its automatic creation options. Find this board in the gallery, then click Create to add activity choices to the Padlet.
Learn more about Choice Boards:
Find more information about the different types of choice boards and how to use them effectively in these resources:
- OK2Ask: Engage & Inspire: Choice Boards for Differentiation Part 1
- OK2Ask: Engage & Inspire: Choice Boards for Differentiation Part 2
- Choice Boards: Benefits, Design Tips & Differentiation by Catlin Tucker
Offering students choice and diversity in how to learn and explore the events of December 7, 1941, opens up opportunities for them to engage with materials that appeal to their learning style while building critical thinking and creativity. By sharing different perspectives on this solemn day, we allow students to honor the past as part of their understanding of the world today.
How do you commemorate Pearl Harbor Day? Share your ideas and suggestions in the comments as we learn together.