Last updated: January 31, 2023
Lesson Plan
Boxed-In: The Women of Hanford, Washington
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- Grade Level:
- High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 9-10.L.1, 9-10.L.2, 9-10.L.2.c, 11-12.L.2.b, 9-10.RH.2, 9-10.RH.3, 9-10.RH.7, 11-12.RH.2, 11-12.RH.3, K.RI.2, 9-10.SL.1, 9-10.SL.1.b, 9-10.SL.1.c, 11-12.SL.1, 11-12.SL.1.b, 9-10.W.2, 11-12.W.2, 9-10.WHST.2
- State Standards:
- Washington State Standards:
H1.9-10.2
H1.9-10.3
H1.11-12.1
H1.11-12.2
H3.11-12.1 - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
How did sex-based discrimination limit the contributions of women to the Manhattan Project at Hanford, Washington?
Objective
1. Identify Manhattan Project photographs and caption them.
2. Describe women’s contributions to the Manhattan Project at Hanford, Washington.
3. Explain how women’s contributions were limited by sex discrimination.
4. Investigate their own beliefs towards gender and sex and how biases can influence how history is written and interpreted.
5. Compare and contrast the Hanford women of World War II to modern-day Hanford women.
Background
World War II officially began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Soon countries from around the world were fighting the largest war the world has ever seen. There were two main groups of countries that fought in World War II: the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. The United States (US) joined the Allied Powers after Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by Japan, an Axis Power, on December 7, 1941. These two groups were fighting the war on two main fronts referred to as the Pacific Theater and the European Theater. The European Theater included countries in northern Africa and western Asia.
If they wanted to win the war, the US decided they had to create better weapons, and they were going to have to beat Nazi Germany in the race to create the atomic bomb. US Military leaders hired well known and highly skilled scientists and engineers to develop the new weapons. Many of them were refugees from the war or had fled Nazi Germany prior to the war to avoid persecution by the Nazi government. The government established this as a top-secret project so that these devices could be made without the Axis countries, especially Nazi Germany, knowing. The first secret headquarters for this project was in a skyscraper hidden in plain sight in the heart of Manhattan in New York City, hence the name “Manhattan Project.” Once the project leaders realized they needed thousands of workers and large areas of land to be successful, they created three “secret cities” in, Hanford Washington, Los Alamos New Mexico, and Oak Ridge Tennessee. There were many other secret sites located throughout the US and even a few in Canada, but none were as large as the three “secret cities” of Hanford, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge.
World War II in Europe ended when Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 2, 1945, but Germany’s Axis ally Japan did not surrender, and war continued in the Pacific Theater. US President Harry S. Truman gave the order to drop Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945 and then demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan. Japan answered with only silence, refusing to surrender. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb, Fat Man, over Nagasaki, Japan. On September 2, 1945, Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese government surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II.
While the Manhattan Project was a wartime effort during World War II, it has had lasting impacts and the entire world is affected by the advent of nuclear science. The use of atomic weapons in the last days of the war launched the nuclear age and the many scientific developments during the Manhattan Project led to significant changes and evolutions in science and technology. Nuclear energy provides electricity for millions of people and nuclear medicine has created major advancements in health care and life-saving technology for many ailments, including cancer.
On the other hand, when the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in the waning days of World War II, tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, lost their lives, and many who survived suffered lifelong health impacts. Further, the environment in and around Hiroshima and Nagasaki endured significant radioactive contamination. The Manhattan Project also started a “Cold War” and a nuclear arms race that resulted in the development of thousands of nuclear weapons throughout the world and it created environmental damage that will impact the earth for tens of thousands of years. In the development of the “secret cities” the Manhattan Project displaced people from their land, many of which were traditional homelands where their ancestors had lived and worked the land for thousands of years. Tens of thousands of people who moved to the secret cities to work on the Manhattan Project were people of color and the Manhattan Project would not have been possible without them. Yet, they were segregated from their white co-workers and required to live in terrible housing conditions, and many were not allowed to bring their children, nor could they live with their spouse. Most of them were only granted access to low paying jobs, often with no opportunity for promotion, and their work on the Manhattan Project is not well recognized.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is tasked with researching and learning about these stories and presenting them to the public in a genuine manner that talks about how the Manhattan Project impacted people, politics, history, science, technology, the environment, human health, and the modern world.
Preparation
Prepare supplies and digital technology.
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Print a caption worksheet for each student.
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Print station signs if facilitating Extension 1.
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Prepare pencils, crayons, markers, and colored pencils for students.
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Download assessment PowerPoint.
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Prepare and preview Hanford Made video to ensure internet signal is strong enough for streaming.
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Each student should have a lined piece of notebook paper for writing if facilitating Enrichment Activity 1.
Materials
Students will listen to a facilitator read content about the Manhattan Project in order to draw and caption pictures about the Manhattan Project.
Station signs for Extension 1: Vote with Your Feet.
Download Vote with Your Feet: Station Signs
A worksheet based on data from the Federal Census Bureau that shows women's participation in the workforce over time.
Download Boxed In: By the Numbers
Lesson Hook/Preview
Watch Hanford Made video (15 minutes). YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMLuvRcUFc
Procedure
- Prepare supplies and digital technology.
- Assign partners if working in pairs or groups.
- Provide each student with a caption worksheet and assessment worksheet.
- Introduce and explain lesson.
- Play Hanford Made video.
- Facilitate lesson.
- Facilitate assessment.
Vocabulary
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caption- noun; a short explanation of a drawing.
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clerical- adjective; (of a job or person) concerned with or relating to work in an office.
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non-binary person- noun; a person who neither identifies with the male sex nor the female sex.
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cryptographer- noun; a clerk who enciphers and deciphers messages; a person who decodes messages.
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draftswoman- noun; woman who makes detailed technical plans or drawings.
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plutonium- noun; radioactive metal, rarely found in nature, that splits and releases neutrons and energy. Manhattan Project workers built a factory at Hanford that produced pounds of plutonium for the Trinity Test and Fat Man atomic bomb.
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uranium- noun; a radioactive element found in nature.
Assessment Materials
Boxed In: Photo Identification WorksheetFacilitator will show a PowerPoint slide show with eight slides. Each slide will have a photo. Students will match the photos to captions from the Photo Identification Worksheet.
Photo captioning worksheet.
Rubric/Answer Key
Boxed In: Photo Identification WorksheetThe Boxed In: Photo Identification Worksheet answer key provides the photo numbers and corresponding captions.
Boxed-In assessment answer key.
Enrichment Activities
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Student will write one paragraph summarizing what they learned. They will write a second paragraph comparing and contrasting the Hanford women of WWII to the modern-day women of Hanford.
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Create an expanded vocabulary list for advanced learners and review vocabulary with class.
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Assign student homework - to research and write and five-paragraph-essay about Marie Curie and her contributions to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).
Additional Resources
Rosie the Riveter World War II Homefront National Historical Park: https://www.nps.gov/rori/learn/education/index.htm
The National WWII Museum: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/women-world-war-ii