Topic 1: Germany’s Changing Position in Europe               and the World

Strategy: Reconstructive Responses

Activities

Students should work in four groups. Give each group a resource folder. Use these resources that are provided to make up the folders:

#1. Country Size by Land Area	#2. Country Size by Population
#3. Country Size by Gross Domestic Product	#4. Population Statistics on the European States

Each group should review the information in the resource folder. Assign each group a different transparency to review in depth. Have the group use one of the reconstructive response techniques to elicit clear and concise information from the transparency. For example:

Summary Response – Have the group come up with the basic message of the transparency. Have the students create one or two summary statements about what the transparency says about Germany in relation to other nations.

Precise Response – Briefly state in a paragraph the key information from the transparency with all unnecessary words removed. The result is a factual reinterpretation of the transparency in paragraph form.

Question Response – Put the main points of the transparency in question format. Have the students create one question that will lead to a discussion of the main points of the transparency.

Each group should report back to the rest of the class. Record the statements/ questions on the board. Focus the discussion so that the following statements are clearly made:

Geographically, Europe is small compared to other cultural regions of the world.

The relative size of Europe in terms of population is increasing, but is still relatively small.

The economic power of Europe is enormous compared to its land size and population.

Use Why Study Germany to summarize the discussion.