Year 7 Power Up!
Model United Nations General Assembly and the crisis in Libya
In this project, students will investigate the current crisis in Libya. They will learn about the situation in Libya and how to ask good
questions about it and other topical issues. They will then take part in a Model United Nations General Assembly to debate whether
or not it is right to intervene in the country. Finally they will take some real action to tackle this issue.
Lesson 1:
Students will investigate the current crisis in Libya. They will learn about the situation in Libya and how to ask good
questions about it and other topical issues.
Lesson 2:
Students will learn about the United Nations, and then begin to plan their debate at the United Nations General
Assembly.
Lesson 3:
United Nations General Assembly debate.
Lesson 4 & 5:
Taking real action - in these lessons students will decide what they personally think should be done in Libya,
and then draft a letter to their MP with their views. The letter will then either be emailed, or sent to the MP.
Learning Outcomes:
 Students will learn how to investigate topical issues, in particular by learning how to ask great questions;
 Students will learn about the United Nations and how it works;
 Students will build their debating skills;
 Students will take real action on a real issue and build their belief that it’s worth doing so.
Lesson 1 – Asking great questions about a topical issue
Learning Questions
What is happening in
Libya at the moment?
How do you ask a
great question?
Learning Steps
CONNECT:
As students arrive, play the ‘Libya PowerPoint’ on a loop (go to Slideshow > Set Up Show
> Browsed At A Kiosk > OK).
Explain that you are about to start a new topic about something very important that’s
going on in the world at the moment. Don’t explain what that is, but of course the
slideshow should give the students a clue.
Explain that you are going to investigate this issue. They will then take on the role of the
most powerful leaders in the world to debate what should be done about it. And finally
they will take some real action that could make a real difference.
In this project you will develop your Citizen Power and your Learning Power.
DEMONSTRATE:
Before students start the investigation into this important issue, explain that good learners
don’t just ANSWER questions, they know how to ASK great questions too!
Show and explain to students Slide 1 (UN Lesson 1 PowerPoint). Ask them:
 What do you notice about the number of possible answers there are to a basic
question compared to an advanced question? Then show Slide 2.
Then…
 What makes a question a basic one or an advanced one?
Or…
 Can you ask an advanced question, if you don’t know any answers to the basic
questions?
Summarise – basic questions have only one correct answer. They are factual questions.
Resources
Libya
PowerPoint
UN Lesson 1
PowerPoint
Libya photos
blu tac-ed
onto large
sugar paper
Coloured
pens
Advanced questions have many possible answers. They are thinking questions. You can
only answer and ask good advanced questions if you can first answer the basic ones.
The ability to ask advanced questions is just as important as the ability to answer them!
ACTIVATE:
Now give each table of students (ideally 8 small groups) a Libya photo blu tac-ed onto the
middle of a large sheet of sugar paper. Alternatively stick these up around the room
before the students arrive.
Ask students to have a discussion on their tables about the photo in front of them, and
then to write down on the sugar paper:
 any basic questions they can think of;
 any advanced questions they can think of;
 any answers they have to any other groups question (obviously there won’t be any
questions written for the first round).
Give each group around 3 minutes for each photo, and then circulate them around the
room (or get each group to circulate around each photo!), so that after about 25 minutes
each group has asked / answered questions to each photo. Explain that all the photos are
linked to the very important issue you mentioned at the beginning of the lesson. NB This
make take too long, so don’t feel that every group has to investigate every photo.
When all groups have finished go through each of the photos (using the PowerPoint) and
ask students to share the questions they had about each photos, clarify whether it’s a
basic or advanced question and try to answer it collectively. (Don’t limit the discussion to
the students who have that particular photo in front of them, or everyone else will get
bored!).
Brief summary of each photo:
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi – leader/dictator of Libya for over 40 years.
Libya – huge country in north Africa, mostly desert but very rich in oil.
Protesting girl – anti-Gaddafi / pro-freedom protests began in Libya in February 2011,
following the pro-democracy protests in Egypt and Tunisia.
Two men in coffin – many people were killed when Gaddafi tried to stop the protests.
United Nations Headquarters, New York – the United Nations agreed to begin a bombing
campaign against Gaddafi’s army to stop it killing more protesters.
Bombing – Western armies, including American, France and Britain have been bombing
the areas which are under Gaddafi’s control. Civilians have also been killed by these
bombs, but we don’t know how many.
Rebel solider – fighting continues between Gaddafi’s army and rebel soldiers who wanted
to get rid of Gaddafi.
Refugees – many thousands of innocent people are trapped in Libya and desperately
want to leave.
CONSOLIDATE:
Give each student a post-it, and ask them to write down:
 one thing they have learned about asking a great question
 whether they think it was right for Western countries to start bombing Libya
Lesson 2 – Preparing for the United Nations General Assembly
Learning Questions
What is the United
Nations?
Learning Steps
CONNECT:
As students arrive, have the first PowerPoint slide, ‘What’s the job of a football referee?’
Resources
UN Lesson 2
PowerPoint
Ask students to discuss this in pairs, and then get quick feedback.
How and why do we
use Mind Maps?
Explain that in this lesson and the next they are going to take on the role of the most
powerful leaders in the world to debate what should be done about Libya. These
decisions are made internationally by an organisation called the United Nations. The
United Nations is an organisation a bit like a football referee. It sets rules for all countries
in the world to follow, so that everyone gets on and is treated fairly.
In this lesson students will:
 Learn about the United Nations
 Prepare for their big debate at the United Nations
 Practice their Mind Map skills
ACTIVATE:
Hand out plain paper and coloured pens to the students and explain that they are now
going to create a Mind Map to help them understand what the United Nations is all about.
Before the lesson, print out the Lesson 2 PowerPoint, blow up the slides to A3 and stick
them up around the classroom.
Remind students that Mind Maps should have:
 Colour
 Pictures
 ‘Arms’ and ‘fingers’
They should first copy out the main ‘arms’ of the Mind Map. Then ask each table of
students to choose one of the ‘arms’ to investigate and give them 5 minutes to find the
appropriate information stuck on the walls of the room, and then return to their table ad
share it with the rest of their group. In this way, everyone will collect some of the
information needed, and together they can complete the Mind Map. It’s best to print out a
few extra copies of the PowerPoint for students who work more slowly.
Then show this 6 minute film about the work of the United Nations (it’s available as a
stand alone video film in the shared area).
Plain paper
and coloured
pens.
UN film
UN Role Play
cards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHmXZXsABm0&feature=related
DEMONSTRATE:
Explain that they are now going to prepare for their debate next lesson on what should
happen in Libya.
The debate is going to take place exactly as it does in the United Nations. They will work
in threes to represent one country. Each country must:
 Use a UN role play card to prepare their argument for the debate;
 Prepare additional material to represent their country.
Ask students to spend the rest of the lesson discussing and preparing their arguments for
the debate.
In addition to preparing their arguments, students must also prepare some materials to
represent their country. This must include a flag, which they can place in front of them
(ideally on a small mast), and they must also learn how to say ‘hello’ in the language of
that country. They could also collect other things to represent their country, for example
an item of clothing eg a hat from their country, or anything else they can imagine!
If there is no time in the lesson, this must be done as homework.
Lesson 3: Model United Nations General Assembly
Learning Questions
How do the United
Nations make
decisions?
Learning Steps
Ideally the room would be set out as a large circle/rectangle of tables, but this may
be unrealistic, so perhaps students should go to the front of the class to make their
initial speech.
How do you have a
successful debate?
CONNECT
Start by reviewing progress so far, and then ask students to talk in pairs for a minute and
come up with 3 rules everyone must follow to have a successful debate. Sum up the key
points – try to condense them down to no more than 3.
ACTIVATE
Introduce the context and give students 5 minutes to prepare their debate. They must first
decide which of the three options they will argue in favour of:
1. We believe the bombing of Libya should stop immediately and the rest of the world
should let Libya sort itself out.
2. We believe the bombing of Libya should continue until Gaddafi is killed or agrees
to give up.
3. We believe Gaddafi must give up and therefore we must invade Libya and get rid
of him by force.
They must prepare their own argument, and some counter-arguments.
DEMONSTRATE
Stage 1:
Start the debate with each country making a short opening statement.
Stage 2:
The open the floor to counter arguments.
Stage 3:
Then have a debate break when everyone can get up and lobby other countries, trying to
persuade them to back their argument. In their packs each country will have a certain
Resources
United
Nations
Information
Packs
supply of ‘oil, weapons and money’. They may use these tokens to try to persuade other
countries to back them.
Stage 4:
Final stage of debating. Perhaps ask each country to sum up their final position.
Stage 5:
Each country must now vote.
At the end of the lesson, you could explain what actually happened at the United Nations
when the Security Council decided to impose a no-fly zone on Libya in March 2011.
In this project we haven’t distinguished between the UN Security Council and the General
Assembly, so it’s probably not worth going into that detail, but students might like to know
how the various countries voted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1973
CONSOLIDATE
Ask students to reflect on:
 How important is the United Nations
 What they have learned about debating
 What they think they could now do to make a difference
Lesson 4 & 5: Taking Real Action
Learning Question
What do YOU think
should happen in
Libya?
How can you
persuade your MP to
Learning Steps
NB You will need to book a computer room for Lesson 5.
CONNECT:
You may want to find some recent news reports on Libya on Youtube and play them to
the students to reinforce how important and current this issue is.
Resources
Computer
Room for
Lesson 5
Letter / email
planning sheet
you and take you
seriously?
ACTIVATE:
Explain to students that now that they understand more about the situation in Libya, they
need to actually DO SOMETHING about it. They will now have the chance to contact
their Member of Parliament James Brokenshire, and try to persuade him to support their
opinion about Libya. Although they are young, the MP will take their views seriously if
they show they understand the situation and that there are no easy solutions. Every
solution has advantages and disadvantages.
Now they must decide what they personally believe should be done.
There are four choices:
 Stop bombing Libya
 Keep bombing Libya
 Invade Libya
 Students to come up with their own solution
To help them make an informed choice, hand out the Letter/email planning sheet and
ask students to complete it by thinking of the different advantages and disadvantages of
each solution. They shouldn’t fill in the final ‘decision box’ yet!
Go through these with the students using the Teacher Copy of the sheet, and then ask
them to make a decision about what they think should happen.
DEMONSTRATE:
Now ask students to draft a letter to their local MP, James Brokenshire, to tell him what
they think should be done in Libya. Be clear that next lesson they will type this letter up
and either send it or email it to him.
If some students are finding this difficult, print out some copies of the ‘Teacher’s Copy’
with the pros and cons of each choice and give this to them.
CONSOLIDATE:
A range of students to share which choice they have made and the main reaons why, or
give each students a post-it and ask them to write down their choice with the main
Letter / email
planning sheet
Teacher’s
Copy
Lined paper
reason why.
Lesson 5:
Please mark their draft letters before this lesson, and they can then type it up in Lesson
5. If they want to email James Brokenshire MP, this is his email:
james.brokenshire.mp@parliament.uk
Alternatively, if they want to send him a letter, make sure they print this out at the end of
the lesson, and if you bring it to me I will make sure it is posted.