Lesson 5: DBQ – Cold War and Decolonization
Duration of Days: 4
Lesson Objective
Students will construct a historically defensible argument explaining how Cold War competition influenced decolonization or global politics using evidence from multiple documents.
How did ideology shape political outcomes after 1900?
How can documents be used to analyze causation and comparison?
document-based question, sourcing, evidence, reasoning, complexity
APWH Unit 8 Topics 8.1–8.4
Skill 5.A, 6.A
Reasoning Process: Causation and Comparison
Planning and organizing evidence-based analytical writing.
Students complete a full AP-style DBQ with emphasis on causation and comparison.
Purpose: Summative skill demonstration
DOK: 4
Using evidence to evaluate modern geopolitical conflicts.
Students may summarize documents rather than analyze them comparatively.
DBQ planning scaffolds; revision opportunities.
Full document-based question scored with AP rubric.
DBQ document set, scoring guidelines