CNN Student News Learning Activity: Exploring Pakistan

(CNN Student News) -- Students will conduct research to learn about the country of Pakistan and the political crisis that is taking place there.

Procedure

Divide the class into small groups. Direct groups to online resources, including the Web sites provided, to develop profiles of Pakistan. The profiles should include the following topics:

1. History
2. Government or political system
3. Demographics
4. Economy
5. Relations with neighboring countries
6. Position in the international community

Next, have groups research the political crisis taking place in Pakistan. Students should consider the status of the crisis, its contributing factors and the international community's response.

Finally, have groups assume the role of advisers to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Based on their research, challenge each group to create a briefing document for the secretary, as she and her staff craft the U.S. response to recent events in Pakistan. Have groups present their documents to the class.

Correlated Standards

Social Studies Standards

Standard VI. Power, Authority, and Governance: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance.

The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands/) are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://ncss.org/).

Technology

Standard 3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.

b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

d. process data and report results.

The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students (http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS) are published by the International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org).

Keywords

Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, Islamabad E-mail to a friend