Introduction:
Welcome back to another blog post, and this time, again, we go back to the 1940’s to study the cold war. The driving question of the whole unit was: How has fear been used as a political, defensive, and cultural tool to shape our society? However, for our final product of the project, we got to make our own driving question, and mine was: How did nuclear weapons influence government and political decisions?
Zettlekasten
One of the main ways we learned things this unit, was by keeping a Zettlekasten, which contains fleeting, permanent, and literature notes. Every video we watched or book we read for this project was documented in our Zettlekasten, and were handy to go back to for reference. Zettlekastens are so good to have because of how organized the format of it is, and how all your information is in a unique, but effective style, and in one place, labeled. Having a Zettlekasten helped me quite a bit throughout this unit, and is definitely something I will use moving on.
The Final Product
The way I displayed my learning in this project, was by making an informative video, to answer the driving question I made. I chose to make a video because this year I have improved a lot with my editing and film making skills. I used a program I am familiar with, Capcut, to make an 8 minute video with images and videos relating to my topic, with me narrating the whole time. I enjoyed making the video and researching for it, since the cold war is such an interesting time period and topic. Some of the sources that helped me the most, were the Netflix documentary series: Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War. We watched some of these long episodes in class, and took notes. While completing my final product, I kept on going back to information I learned from this documentary series. The people interviewed, and facts displayed, were really helpful to include in my own project, and made me glad that I took so many notes and remembered to go back and watch those episodes. Other sources included Wikipedia, and World History Encyclopedia, that gave much information to work off of. My video is now available on youtube right here
Answer to the Driving Question
Through completing this project I have had much time to think about the driving project and how it can be answered. In case you forgot, the driving question is: How has fear been used as a political, defensive, and cultural tool to shape our society? My answer is that fear has been a multifaceted force in shaping societies, serving as a political, defensive, and cultural tool. Politically, fear has been used by leaders to control populations, enforce law, and gain respect from others. It can be used to justify military actions, or influence policy decisions. Defensively, fear prompts individuals and societies to take precautions against threats, such as McCarthyism and the Red Scare, in the United States. Culturally, fear can start social problems by uniting groups against perceived threats and influencing norms and values. Since the dawn of time, fear has been used in all kinds of ways, and is highlighted in the cold war. I am glad I got to learn about this time period and conflict because of how interesting it is, and I now walk away from this project with so many more skills learned and information taken in than before.