Diamond 9 Activity: Exploring Britain’s Policy of Appeasement in the 1930s

This Diamond 9 activity has been designed by experienced history educators to provide meaningful challenge for high school students studying why Britain adopted a policy of appeasement in the late 1930s.

Diamond ranking is an effective and engaging strategy increasingly used in US classrooms because it strengthens critical thinking and analytical skills. By ranking, comparing, and organizing information, students must articulate their reasoning, justify their choices, and make clear the connections they see between different historical factors. This makes the activity ideal for promoting deeper understanding and higher-order thinking in social studies and history classes.

This resource works well as a warm-up activity, exit task, review lesson, or formative assessment. It includes nine diamond-shaped cards, each presenting a different factor that influenced Britain’s decision to pursue appeasement in 1938. The file is provided in Microsoft Word, so you can easily customize or adapt it to your curriculum, state standards, or students’ needs. We have also included a detailed PowerPoint presentation, which includes aims, objectives, differentiated outcomes, starters, plenaries, information slides, appropriate video clips, templates and writing frames to support the D9 activity for a full lesson.

Students work through three structured tasks that gradually increase the level of thinking required. First, they remove any factors they believe are less important and explain their reasoning. Next, they organize the remaining cards into a diamond shape that reflects the relationships and connections between the causes. Finally, they create a smaller diamond showing what they believe were the four most significant reasons for Britain’s policy of appeasement. Throughout the process, students are encouraged to discuss, debate, challenge, and refine their ideas with peers. This collaborative reasoning is what makes the strategy so powerful for developing strong historical thinking skills.

Aims and Objectives

Theme: Causes of the Second World War
Know: What was Britain’s policy of appeasement?
Understand: What arguments were made for and against this policy in 1938?
Evaluate: Why did Britain ultimately choose appeasement?

WILF – What Am I Looking For?

Identify and describe the policy of appeasement
Explain arguments for and against the policy
Analyze why Britain adopted appeasement in 1938

If you find this resource useful, feel free to explore my other activities on this topic in my TES store. You can also follow The History Academy on social media for updates, new resources, and opportunities to share how you’ve used this activity in your classroom.

Thank you for your support — and happy teaching!

Kind Regards
Roy