Lesson Plan August 5, 2025
Resource Guide: What Japan’s Atom Bomb Survivors Have Taught Us About the Dangers of Nuclear War
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In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the only use of nuclear weapons in war. The blast and radiation killed an estimated 200,000 people. Nearly 80 years later, as the world faces renewed nuclear tensions, Retro Report produced the short film, What Japan’s Atom Bomb Survivors Have Taught Us About the Dangers of Nuclear War, to revisit this pivotal moment through the eyes of the hibakusha, the survivors of the American attacks. This resource guide from the education teams at Retro Report and the Pulitzer Center includes lesson plans, videos, and additional text resources that can be used to build on student engagement with the short film. Materials have been organized into the following topic categories:
- What Japan’s Atom Bomb Survivors Have Taught Us About the Dangers of Nuclear War Short Doc Resources
- Additional World War II Resources
- Ethics, Obligations and Lessons – Resources for English/ELA
- Teaching Materials for Student-Led Journalism Projects
Retro Report producer Scott Michels, and the education teams at Pulitzer Center and Retro Report, will host a virtual meeting for educators on Wednesday, August 13 from 7:00-8:15pm EDT to discuss the film and explore this resource guide. Click here to register.
The event will also feature a reading by Fighting Words Poetry Contest winner Collin Kim, who incorporated lines and themes from the film into his poem “Split Horizons: A Contrapuntal.”
This resource includes lesson plans, videos, and other news articles that can be used to support student analysis of the film, What Japan’s Atom Bomb Survivors Have Taught Us About the Dangers of Nuclear War, by Scott Michels for Retro Report.
Atom Bomb Short Doc Resources
| Lesson #1: U.S./World History | This lesson and activity focus on the context of the use of atomic weapons during WWII and asks students to evaluate different moral and ethical theories of decisionmaking. |
| Lesson #2: English/ELA | This lesson and activity ask students to analyze survivor testimonies and create an empathy map based on the experience and resilience of the atomic bomb survivors. |
Additional World War II Resources
| "Beyond the Battlefield: Double V and Black Americans’ Fight for Equality," Retro Report | This lesson introduces students to the Double V campaign and the fight for civil rights through primary source analysis and examination of Executive Orders. |
| "How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning," Retro Report | This short doc and accompanying lessons focus on Japanese American incarceration and the legacy of the Korematsu decision. One lesson is best for Civics/Government courses and asks students to analyze the Supreme Court decision. The other lesson is geared toward U.S. History and has students engage in primary source analysis of images and historical newspapers. |
| "Holocaust Survivors Fleeing Ukraine Find New Home in Germany," Retro Report | Students will examine the history of how Ukrainian Jews experienced the Holocaust along with the current challenges of protecting civilians in an active war zone. |
| "How Saba Kept Singing," Retro Report | This feature-length doc includes a Viewing Guide and four separate lessons built around excerpts of the film. The documentary follows Auschwitz survivor David Wisnia as he and his grandson travel back to the concentration camp and explores themes of humanity and perseverance and the power of music. |
| WWII: Collateral Damage, 80 Years On, Honolulu Civil Beat and Pulitzer Center | This multimedia series of investigative stories explores how a war between the U.S. and Japan continues to impact Indigenous Pacific Islanders 80 years on. The Pulitzer Center-supported project includes stories investigating what happened to landmines left behind in the Solomon Islands and the mental health impacts of the war on residents over time. |
| Harmfully Relevant History Unit Plan, Pulitzer Center | Students explore how events from the past influence the present, how rhetoric can be used to inspire empathy, and how journalism/media can be used as a tool for justice and reform through analysis of various reporting stories, including reporting on the lasting impact of WWII on communities in the Solomon Islands. This unit was written and taught by Pulitzer Center teacher fellow Brittany Goldsby for her High School ELA students. |
Ethics, Obligations and Lessons – Resources for English/ELA
| "How the U.S. Has Treated Wartime Refugees," Retro Report | What obligation do countries have to people fleeing war and violence? How do we decide who gets to immigrate and seek safety? This short doc explores connections between Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and people fleeing Afghanistan and Ukraine today. |
| "Attacks in New York City Renew Questions About Forced Mental Health Treatment," Retro Report | In the 1980s, a homeless woman named Joyce Brown, who called herself Billie Boggs, went to court to challenge her forced hospitalization. The case pitted civil liberties advocates against Mayor Edward I. Koch and his efforts to address homelessness, making national headlines. This lesson examines the history of forced mental health treatment, the ethical arguments for and against the process and alternative methods for treating challenging populations. |
| AI Accountability Classroom Toolkits | Pulitzer Center | This resource is designed to support classroom engagement with AI accountability journalism by providing background information and key concepts for better understanding artificial intelligence and its societal impacts. |
Peace and Conflict Reporting and Teaching Materials for Multiple Subjects
| "How the U.S. Has Treated Wartime Refugees," Retro Report | What obligation do countries have to people fleeing war and violence? How do we decide who gets to immigrate and seek safety? This short doc explores connections between Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and people fleeing Afghanistan and Ukraine today. |
| "Growing Up During Wartime," Rolling Stone and Pulitzer Center | This Pulitzer Center-supported photo essay and article visualizes the experiences of teens in Kyiv, Ukraine as they study, volunteer, party, and many train for future military roles which could begin within months. |
| Women and War in Eastern Congo, Pulitzer Center and multiple outlets | Reporting from displacement camps, maternity wards, and paramilitary bases, journalist Sophie Neiman explores the myriad challenges facing women in the ongoing crisis in eastern Congo—and how they are responding. |
| "Could a Conflict-Borne Superbug Bring On Our Next Pandemic?," Rolling Stone and Pulitzer Center | This article investigates how new breeds of drug-resistant bacteria are proliferating in war-torn parts of the globe—and spreading from the battlefield to hospitals and across borders. |
| A Spreading Political Conflict video series from PBS NewsHour and Pulitzer Center | This multi-episode series investigates the causes and impacts of ongoing conflict in Sudan. |
Teaching Materials for Student-Led Journalism Projects
| Journalism Skillbuilder Lesson Series | Pulitzer Center | What stories tend to go underreported, and how can we seek them out? What tools does a journalist use to find and tell stories that engage and inform audiences, while uplifting issues that don't often make headlines? This series equips students to answer these questions and embark on their own journalistic projects, at home or in their communities. Each lesson contains an instructional video featuring world-class journalists and editors sharing tips on a journalism skill, a printable lesson guide perfect for distance learning or in-class work, and activity prompts to apply students' new knowledge to a creative project of their own. |
| Investigating Issues in Local Communities unit plan | In this unit from Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellow Stephanie King, students learn what underreported stories are and why they matter through analysis of health reporting, and then research and write a story they think is underreported in their local community. |
| Can I Ask You Something? unit plan | In this unit from Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellow Ray Salazar, students engage with key questions that drive exploration of global issues and underreported local stories, resulting in podcasts that capture the plurality of experiences and voices in their community. |
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