Diamond 9: Why did the League of Nations fail?

This outstanding diamond 9 activity has been designed by experienced teachers to help provide stretch and challenge for students studying the League of Nations by looking at the key reasons why it failed. The key pedagogy underpinning this strategy is that when we rank items, either statements, objects or images, we are required to make explicit the over- arching relationships by which we organise our knowledge and connect our learning. It can also be used as a starter, plenary, revision or as a focus for an assessment activity.

The resource includes nine diamond shaped cards which include a range of factors to explain why the League of Nations failed. The document is provided in Microsoft Word so you can edit the resource if you wish to customise it further by changing any of the key factors that I have included. Once students have cut out the cards out they are set three tasks including:

1. Remove any reasons you don’t think are important. Record and explain why you have removed them.
2. Arrange the remaining diamonds to show any links that you can find between the different reasons. Record and explain your reasons.
3. Make a smaller diamond shape using what you think are the four most important reasons why the League of Nations failed in the 1930s?

At each stage students should be feeding back to their group or the class and explaining their choices. The discussion and explanation around the choices that they have made are critical in helping them develop their thinking skills as well as their understanding of the topic.

The aims and objectives for this lesson are:

Theme: The League of Nations 1919 - 1939
Know: What were the aims of the League?
Understand: What key factors undermined it’s success?
Evaluate: Which factors were the most important it causing the League to fail?

WILF - What Am I Looking For?
Identify and describe: Why the League of Nations failed?
Explain: How each key factor undermined the success of the League of Nations?
Analyse: Which key factors contributed the most to the League of Nations downfall?

If you like this resource then why not check out my other resources on this topic in my TES shop. You can also follow ‘The History Academy’ on Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube and Facebook for the latest updates or even to get in touch and chat about how you have used this resource or to ask questions. We aim to produce cheap and affordable resources for either the price of a good cup of coffee or a happy meal so that you can spend more time doing the things that you want.

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Kind Regards

Roy