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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 10 of 15

The Cold War

Containment, Korea, Vietnam and the space race

What your child practices

The rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, containment from the Truman Doctrine to Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space race and the end of the Cold War.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8.7; 8.7a; 8.7b · the Cold War and the US policy of containment from 1945 to 1991

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Cold War was a long rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union, without direct war between them.
  2. The US followed containment, trying to stop communism spreading, including in Korea and Vietnam. NATO faced the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
  3. The arms race and space race were contests to build more nuclear weapons and reach space first.

Example: What was the arms race? The US and the Soviet Union did not trust each other. Each wanted more power than the other. They kept building more nuclear weapons. Answer: the US and the Soviet Union building more and more nuclear weapons

The Cold War in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 10 of 15 in 8th grade Social Studies, after World War II and before A Changing World.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    McCarthyism, named for Senator Joseph McCarthy, meant…

    • accusing people of being communists, often without evidence
    • landing on the moon
    • sending aid to Europe
    • building fallout shelters

  2. Question 2

    The first people to walk on the moon landed there in…

    • 1945
    • 1969
    • 1991
    • 1957

  3. Question 3

    The Soviet Union's alliance with Eastern European countries was called the…

    • Open Door Policy
    • Monroe Doctrine
    • Marshall Plan
    • Warsaw Pact

  4. Question 4

    The Vietnam War ended in 1975 when…

    • the US won a final battle
    • South Vietnam conquered the North
    • the United Nations divided the country
    • North Vietnam took over South Vietnam

  5. Question 5

    The Truman Doctrine (1947) promised aid to…

    • Cuba to grow sugar
    • the Soviet Union
    • Japan to rebuild its army
    • Greece and Turkey to help them resist communism

  6. Question 6

    Why was the space race part of the Cold War?

    • each side used achievements in space to show its strength and technology
    • the UN required it
    • it had nothing to do with rivalry
    • space had gold to mine

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