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Lesson Plan
North Korea and Nuclear Weapons
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons is a one-week unit that gives students the tools they need to wrestle with the questions that surround the future of nuclear weapons.
Choices curricular resources are designed to be used in an interactive format that engages students in active consideration of historical and current background material and then places them in the role of decision-makers as they explore divergent policy alternatives. After exploring divergent views, students should deliberate together on the merits and tradeoffs of each. Finally, students should be given an opportunity to express their own considered judgments on future policy direction. We recommend that you use a similar approach to the resources posted here.
Resources
The Policy Options presented in this material are not intended as a menu of choices. Rather, they are framed in stark terms to highlight very different policy approaches, the values that underlie them, and the critiques. (Note: Critiques come from the perspective of supporters of the other Options.)
It is important that students understand that no one Option as it is framed here reflects the views of any one organization or national leader. It is the students' job to sort through the three Options, think about their concerns and values, discuss these with their peers, and then frame an "Option 4" that reflects their own views. .
This is a handout that offers a brief summary of U.S. - North Korean relations from the close of World War II to the present.
Nuclear Weapons Policy: What do you think?
The U.S. Role in the World
DAY I—Preparation and Presentation of the Options
[Note: This lesson should follow content preparation. "North Korea and Nuclear Weapons" (above) provides brief background. Links to additional resources are provided online.]
Break your class up into five groups. Assign four of the groups a Policy Option (one for each group). Assign the remaining group the role of the President and his advisors or of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Options Presenters: Their task will be to review their assigned Option, consider the values that underlie it as well as the tradeoffs involved, and then develop a short presentation to give to the class. This presentation should make the best possible case for this Option.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Their task will be to review each of the Options presented in the material and prepare clarifying questions to ask of the "advocates" of each Option after their presentation. The intent is to make sure that the Options, as they are written, are fully understood prior to deliberation on their merits, risks, and tradeoffs.
Foreign Representatives: If your class is large, you may want to assign some students the role of representatives of other nations. They can be asked to present their views on the Options after all of them have been presented.
DAY II—Shared Deliberation and Individual Judgment
With the Options presented and understood, students have a foundation for deliberation on the merits and the tradeoffs of each. Ultimately students will articulate their own perspective on the issue.
Deliberating on the Options: Begin your deliberation by asking students to identify the things they like and the things that concern them about each of the options presented. Encourage students to listen carefully to each other rather than to try to "win" the argument. The intent of deliberative discourse is to see that all perspectives are heard and considered and that all participants have a place at the table. The outcome should involve a more sophisticated understanding on the part of all participating. See Guidelines for Deliberation. You may also find Deliberating "Pros" and "Cons" of Policy Options a useful activity.
Articulating Their Own Views: After students have deliberated together on the merits and tradeoffs of the Options presented in this lesson, give all of the students an opportunity to come to terms with their own views on this issue. What should we do? Have them articulate their own considered judgments on the issue by framing their "Option 5" using the format of the Options presented. It may help them to use the questions provided with the Options as an organizing tool.
Online Ballot: Finally, students are encouraged to participate in online ballot activities focused on (1) nuclear weapons policy, and (2) the overarching question of the role of the United States in the world. These ballots [found at www.choices.edu/resources/ballots.php] provide an opportunity for students to express their beliefs and concerns after considering alternative views on a range of international issues. A report will be developed periodically and disseminated to elected officials and policymakers.
Let Your Voice Be Heard: Encourage your students to express their views to elected officials. Students can find contact information for the White House at www.whitehouse.gov/contact and their U.S. Senators and their Representatives at thomas.loc.gov.
Additional Resources from the Choices Program
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons
Online Ballot: Nuclear Weapons Policy
The U.S. Role in a Changing World
Online Ballot: The U.S. Role in the World
Additional Background Resources from the Web
1994 Agreed Framework The Arms Control Association web site offers a complete text of the 1994 Agreed Framework.
The BBC News Online analyzes the North Korean nuclear threat in Q&A: North Korea's Nuclear Threat. This site includes many useful links to news and analysis on other aspects of the North Korean situation.
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) has posted North Korea: Nuclear Standoff. This site includes links to a series of background pieces on the subject.
See Supplemental Resources for additional resources on nuclear weapons.