Resources to Discuss Global Conflicts

• How to Talk to Kids About Violence, Crime, and War (Common Sense Media): Common Sense Media gathers tips and conversation starters to help you talk to kids of different ages about the toughest topics.
• War, Crisis, Tragedy: How to Talk to Kids When the News is Scary (KQED): More support to help teachers and parents hold discussions about current events.

• Ukraine-Russia Conflict 2022 Choice Board (Various Authors): Build media literacy skills by examining news from the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
• Critical Media Literacy (UCLA): Learn how to use critical media literacy to engage with media by critically examining representations, systems, structures, ideologies, and power dynamics that shape and reproduce culture and society.
• Weed Out Propaganda (Newseum ED): Help students learn how to spot propaganda by recognizing four of its key techniques.

• Fostering Civic Discourse (Facing History): In order to facilitate discussions, this resource can be useful to help set the conditions.
• Cause and Consequence Analysis (Integrated Action Civics Project): This strategy encourages students to look at the intricate chains of factors leading to or stemming from a problem, condition, or event, revealing the underlying systemic roots of the problem or event and its consequences. (Class Template)
• Critical Historical Thinking Cheat Sheet (Integrated Action Civics Project): This cheat sheet for Critical Inquiry poses a series of powerful questions that can help guide the critical examination of who, what, why, where, when, and how of an issue, event, or policy.
• Expressions of Power (Integrated Action Civics Project): This cheat sheet for Critical Inquiry poses a series of powerful questions that can help guide the critical examination of who, what, why, where, when, and how of an issue, event, or policy.

About Ukraine

Ukraine became an independent country after the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, although it struggled to obtain democracy, economic reform, and civil liberties. Learn more about the history of Ukraine and its relationship with Russia below.

• Ukraine (The World Factbook): Details the geography, society, environment, economy, and other factors about Ukraine.
• A Historical Timeline of Post-Independence of Ukraine (PBS): Provides a timeline of events leading up to February 2022.

Overview of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Sequence of Events

• Ukraine Invasion Explained (NPR): The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine go back decades and run deep. Here are some helpful resources to make sense of it all.
• Transcript: Vladimir Putin’s Televised Address on Ukraine (Bloomberg): Read a full transcript of Vladimir Putin's order to invade Ukraine.
• The Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map: This tool maps, documents, and verifies significant incidents during the conflict in Ukraine. It aims to provide reliable information for policymakers, journalists as well as justice and accountability bodies about the evolving situations both on-the-ground and online.
• Assessing the Ukraine-Russia Crisis (Stanford): Stanford scholars provide expert analysis and commentary on the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
• Democracy Now!: This is a non-partisan news source that can be used to review the latest information regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

Response from the United States

• The West’s Plan to Isolate Putin: Undermine the Ruble (The New York Times): Details the United States' efforts to restrict the Russian central bank's ability to support the ruble.
• In an effort to choke Russian economy, new sanctions target Russia’s central bank (NPR): The United States and its allies are taking additional steps to squeeze the Russian economy in response to the invasion of Ukraine. 
• What are economic sanctions, and how did they become Washington’s foreign policy tool of choice? (The Washington Post): Learn more about economic sanctions and how they are used in foreign policy.

• The Ukraine Crisis (The Choices Program from Brown University): This resource provides information, resources, and lessons to engage students in a comprehensive analysis of the lead-up to the Russian invasion.
• How Russia Attacked and What Happens Next (The New York Times): Lesson plan to help with discussing the Ukraine/Russia conflict.
• Invasion of Ukraine (History Project at UC Davis): A collection of resources with regard to history, the contemporary moment, reinforcing media literacy, and supporting the emotional well-being of students.