Using Historical Statistics To Teach about World War II. ERIC Digest.

World War II was a turning point in global history, an event that had a large and lasting impact on many people and places across broad areas of the earth. Compared to other wars, World War II involved the largest armed forces, the longest battle lines, the most destructive weapons, the most casualties, the most destruction of cities and other human assets, and the highest monetary expenditures. Thus, World War II deserves a prominent place in the middle and high school social studies curriculum. Using historical statistics is an often neglected but potentially fruitful way to teach about the causes, conditions, and consequences of World War II. This Digest presents a rationale for using historical statistics to teach about World War II, discusses instructional methods for doing so, and recommends World Wide Web resources to facilitate teaching and learning with statistics about World War II. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/BB)