Second World War · 1941-1945

Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific

On 7 December 1941 Japanese planes attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. In six months Japan conquered a huge area, from Burma to the Dutch East Indies. Then the tide turned at Midway. Students follow the war across the largest ocean on Earth.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1938
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

On 7 December 1941 Japanese planes attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. In six months Japan conquered a huge area, from Burma to the Dutch East Indies. Then the tide turned at Midway. Students follow the war across the largest ocean on Earth.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
  • Locate Japan's conquests of 1941-1942 on the map, including the Dutch East Indies.
  • Explain why the Battle of Midway was a turning point and what "island hopping" meant.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1938

An ocean war

Open the map in 1938 and zoom out over the Pacific Ocean. Find Japan, Hawaii, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. How far is Hawaii from Japan?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1938

The Dutch East Indies

Zoom in on the Dutch East Indies. Ask the atlas: "When did Japan conquer the Dutch East Indies?" Why did Japan want these islands so badly?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1938

Island hopping

Find Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Ask the atlas: "What was island hopping?" Why did the Americans skip some islands?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did Japan's leaders decide to attack the United States, a much bigger country?
  2. After Pearl Harbor, Japan conquered a huge area in six months. How was that possible?
  3. In the Dutch East Indies, Dutch civilians were interned in camps and many Indonesians were forced to work for Japan. How did the occupation change relations between Indonesians and the Dutch?
  4. Why were aircraft carriers more important than battleships in this war?
  5. The fighting on islands like Iwo Jima and Okinawa was extremely costly. How did it influence American plans for ending the war?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Tokugawa Ieyasu, who unified Japan. Then compare: how did Japan's leaders in 1941 weigh the risk of attacking the much stronger United States?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.