Causation: Recipe for a Revolution
WORLD HISTORY PROJECTAP/ LESSON 5.2ACTIVITYCAUSATION: RECIPE FOR A REVOLUTIONUnless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Causation: Recipe for a Revolution”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/1PurposeIn this activity, you’ll create a recipe that explains the causes for a particular political revolution. Since revolutions are often messy (and bloody!), analyzing the causes and categorizing them will allow you to expand your understanding of how causation helps to explain historical processes and how historians focus on particular causes to shape people’s understanding of these events.PracticesComparison, claim testingYou will further develop your causation skills by comparing different revolutions. By evaluating the similarities between revolutions, you will be able to understand causal relationships more fully, specifically as they relate to the causes of revolutions across different temporal and spatial settings. Asalways, you should claim test the assertions you make in order to provide sound logic and solid reasoning when determining the causes and effects of a historical event.ProcessFor this activity, you’ll be creating a recipe to “cook up” a political revolution. First, you’ll be assigned one of the revolutions you’ve already read about in this unit. Then, you’ll create a recipe that consists of causes (your list of “ingredients”) for your revolution. You’ll also include detailed directions about how to combine all the ingredients in your recipe. These directions will actually be an account of how the causes led to a revolution.Part 1: Categorizing CausesFirst, your teacher will break the class into groups of two to three students and assign each group one of the following political revolutions: American, French, or Latin American. Then, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Causation—Recipe for a Revolution worksheet, which includes the Causation Tool. Review the article “The Atlantic Revolutions” and take notes on the causes and consequences of your assigned revolution. You might need to conduct additional research to find enough causes (you must have eight to ten) to create your recipe. If you do outside research, make sure someone in your group keeps a list of where you found your information. As you research, be sure to include the appropriate evidence (that is, the “good” evidence)for the causes and effects for your revolution. These might include dates, key terms, and names that relate to the revolution.After your group has identified all the causes and effects, your teacher will review a few more aspects of causation with you, along with the language we use to describe them:•Time: Short term, intermediate term, long term, triggering event
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.2ACTIVITYCAUSATION: RECIPE FOR A REVOLUTION2•Historical significance:οAmount—How many people’s lives were affected by the cause/effect?οDepth—Were people living in the time period being studied deeply affected by the cause/effect?οEndurance—Were the changes people experienced as a result ofthis cause/effect long-lasting and/or recurring?In this activity, you are adding one more category: type. Categorizing causes by historical type will help you group similar causes together, which is the kind of analysis that historians do when they categorize the economic or political causes of an eventor process. Review the different categories for type. There’s also a mnemonic device to help you remember these categories: PIECES.•Type: Historical type:ο(P) Political—What type of government, organization, or power structure was there? Who was in charge? Did people vote or have a say?ο(I) Innovation—What did they invent? Were there any new developments or technologies?ο($) Economic—What jobs were there? Did they use money? Did they trade?ο(C) Cultural—What/whom did they worship? What/whom did they believe in? Did they have written language? Did they leave any artifacts behind, such as art, customs, sports, dress, language, music, dance, foods, celebrations?ο(E) Environmental—How did they attempt to control or use the environment? What impact did the land, water, and nature around them have on the way they lived?ο(S) Social—Were there different roles for men and women? Did they live in family units? Did they interact with other groups? Did they have a social structure (enslaved, priests, kings)?After you’ve reviewed this category of causal analysis, complete the Causation Tool. You should categorize your causes for time and type (we’ll get to the other categories of causation in later activities) and list the effects.Part 2: Creating the RecipeUse your causes from the Causation Tool to create your recipe for revolution. Here are the steps you’ll have to follow to create your recipe:1.Write the list of “ingredients” (the causes of the revolution). Note: You should have eight to ten causes in your list of ingredients.2.Next, rank your causes from most essential to least essential, with 1 being the most essential. This will be your ingredient list for the recipe. Then, explain how your top three ingredients compare with the bottom three. Ranking the causes will help you understand the relative significance of each cause.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.2ACTIVITYCAUSATION: RECIPE FOR A REVOLUTION33.Create “directions” (that is, preparation steps). This can be accomplished by answering the question, How does each cause come together (or get “mixed”) to create revolution? Think about the verbs you might see in a recipe such as mix, blend, stir, chop, and sprinkle. There are lots of other examples—use your imagination! Your directions must include:•The event that triggered the revolution•Timeframe/periodization•Historical context4.Don’tforgettociteyoursourcesandbepreparedtoshareyourrecipewiththeclass.Your teacher may have you share your recipes with the class, and will collect your worksheet and use it to assess how your causation skills are progressing.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT AP / LESSON 5.2ACTIVITYCAUSATION: RECIPE FOR A REVOLUTION4Causation ToolDirections: First, add the event you are analyzing (in the middle of the page). Be sure to include dates, location, and a brief description of the event. Then, list your causes (at the top of the page) and use the legend to help you label type and role. Finally, list the effects of the event (bottom of page), and again use the legend to help you label type and role. If your teacher asks you to create a causal map, use your answers here to help construct that causal representation.Causes:Long-TermIntermediate-TermShort-TermEvent(includethe name,dates, location,and abrief description)EffectsLegendType: (P) Political (I) Innovation ($) Economic (C) Cultural (E) Environmental (S) SocialRole: (*) Triggering Event Necessary Relevant