Boardman High School using Ukraine crisis as teaching tool

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – As the situation in Ukraine changes rapidly after Russia’s invasion, teachers in local schools started explaining the conflict to their students.

Boardman High School history teacher Pat Birch has started to tie in the conflict to his lesson plan. He tries to draw parallels between history and current events, like World War II and the Cold War.

“There’s definitely the connection there between the beginning of the Cold War and what’s going on right now. Trying to draw those parallels between the tensions that we see between Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Russia,” Birch says.

Since students are used to hearing about conflict in the Middle East, learning about the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a new experience.

Juniors in a different advanced placement government class are also interested in keeping up with the events.

“I’ve been checking it a lot, too, because my dad’s in the military so I’ve been reading about it and seeing what’s happening because I think we’re all curious about what’s going on,” says Rebekah Bader, a junior AP government student.

“When we study deeper into the government, it kind of helps us better to understand how our government is going to handle things like this and how it affects not only everyone’s everyday life in the military but how it affects the economy,” explains Sydney Yauger, another junior AP government student.

Yauger says she wants to keep up with the conflict because of how it could affect the lives of her friends and family if the U.S. were to get involved.

As the situation develops, Birch says he will continue to inform his students about the conflict and the events leading up to it.