Online Learning Activities

Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Online Learning Activity

Students get an intimate view of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by reading a witness interview, browsing a timeline, and more.

Scholastic's "We Witnessed the Attack on Pearl Harbor" introduces students to the historic event of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Through this learning adventure, students will come to know the events that led to the bombing, read the account of Pearl Harbor eyewitnesses, and relive the day Pearl Harbor was bombed through an interactive hour-by-hour account.

• Students can Relive December 7 (Grades 5–8) through an interactive hour-by-hour account of the moments before, during, and after Japan's surprise attack. Along the way, visit the "Pearl Harbor Activity Stations," filled with discussion starters and in-class and online projects.
• In Meet Pearl Harbor Eyewitnesses (Grades 5–8), students can get a personal account of what happened by reading  an interview with Hubert "Dale" Gano, a retired U.S. Navy Commander who was based at Pearl Harbor, and his wife Margaret Ellen "Johnie" Gano.
• Time Line: Pearl Harbor (Grades 5–8) shows students the key events that led to the date President Franklin Roosevelt said would "live in infamy."
• Our Pearl Harbor Glossary (Grades 5–8) shares relevant terminology.

Learning Objectives

In the course of participation in this online project, students will:

• Be able to explain the sequence of events leading to, during, and following Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
• Recognize the human dimension of events at Pearl Harbor through the personal accounts of people who were there
• Use a time line to understand historical events in relationship to one another
• Analyze the influence of geographic location and geographic features on political events
• Become familiar with vocabulary associated with war and military combat

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