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return to subject listingGreat Lakes Echo - MSU Department of Telecommunications, Info Studies, and Media
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this resource in a science or environmental science classroom to identify and learn about various problems affecting the Great Lakes. Many of the concerns are representative of watersheds and freshwater bodies in other locations, as well. These articles are also valuable to examine current events in a social studies or civics classroom, identifying the impact of current environmental challenges on society and of society on the environment. Use these articles to provide experience with reading informational texts. Annotate an article using one of many annotation tools such as Scrible or Crocodoc, as part of "close reading." Compare the environmental issues of the Great Lakes with those of other water areas. Add this link to a bank of resources for students to use in research of issues affecting waterways.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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OECD Better Life Index - OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
A great classroom discussion starter, and perfect for displaying on an interactive whiteboard, the Better Life Index allows students to consider and debate what makes for a "better life." And once (or if) they can reach a consensus on those factors, where could that life be found in the world? Of course, once you discover that people are healthiest, for example, in Australia, what does that mean? Why are they healthy there? What community, government, and institutional factors make Australia healthy? Do they make choices other countries don't? This is a wonderful tool for guiding discussion about the public policy decisions made by citizens and governments, and how those decisions affect the quality of life. It would also provide powerful information for persuasive writing or debates. If you talk about utopias and dystopias, this is another way for students to decide what the criteria are for each. If you study world cultures, this site can provide a whole different lens to promote crosscultural understanding. Assign students to compare and contrast factors that matter most to them across multiple countries. Gifted students who are designing an "ideal civilization" can find meaningful data here to use as part of their plans.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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GDP: Measuring the human side of the Canadian Economic Crisis - National Film Board of Canada
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
This site can put a human face on the numbers for students studying current events, economics, or social studies. The site may also be useful as an example of how to tell stories related to history. Consider asking students to analyze HOW the stories are told, either using film or still photography. How can we use these media to illustrate a historical event? For students considering a History Day exhibit or documentary, these stories may provide inspiration and direction. As Common Core calls on students to engage in digital writing, showing these examples to help students plan student-made media will be more meaningful than simply talking about it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Places We Live - Jonas Bendikson
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to include The Places We Live with any unit on poverty around the world or in a general world cultures class. Share this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class for further exploration. Have students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare life in your area to the life of teens shown here. Share the images, with no sound, as writing prompts for students to imagine themselves in the slums. What would their lives be like? What would be the same or different? What could they do to help their family to get out of those living conditions? Is there anything anyone can do to help?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Giza 3D - Dassault Systemes
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
View this site in the classroom using a projector or interactive whiteboard. View the reconstruction of these artifacts from information collected during its discovery. Use the 3D tour to view the Necropolis, join a guided tour of the monuments, and look at the collected objects reconstructed from the site. Bring the history of Egypt to life. This is a powerful tool to show the role of Archaeology in reconstructing history. Compare this site to the work of archaeologists at Jamestown or other historic locations to talk about different techniques of science used to reveal history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hiroshima Peace Museum - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Take your class on a digital field trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to get a first-hand look at the effects of an atomic bomb. Display on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide students time to explore on their own. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a survivor of the bomb. Have students create interactive timelines using Preceden, reviewed here, for events leading up to the bombing and following. Be sure to include a look at the museum during your World War II unit. This site would also provide good research material for a class debate about nuclear weapons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Map Stack - Stamen
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use to focus on and compare resources found in various communities or geographic locations. Identify where natural resources are concentrated in the world. Compare street design in various communities, concentration of population, and more. Create artistic representations of various areas as a project. Include this tool for your tech savvy students to try as you study different types of maps. Challenge them to create a map that has traditional elements such as terrain, and also uses color and image tools to emphasize or communicate information about a location, such as toxic waste locations or musical "scenes." Art teachers can suggest this tool for students to create geo-based artworks or create images to use in Earth Day posters.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OECD Data Lab - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Start with the OECD Better Life Index that brings together many factors to numerically rank countries by happiness or well-being. Assign this graph as a "Make Your Own," with students rating the topics (or more importantly, asking their parents or grandparents). Compare their results and look at gender differences. Students can brainstorm reasons for gender differences or ranking of topics in importance. Compare the United States to other countries. Allow class time to look at other data found on this site and brainstorm how these are connected. Connect the data to curriculum being discussed in class: economic policies, wars, global problems with food and agriculture, social norms, and more. Connect the information to headlines from around the world, both past and present. Encourage students to write an essay, opinion piece, or elevator pitch on one aspect or social issue that is important to change. What a great example of argument and evidence as required by Common Core! This assignment can also be delivered as a podcast, video, or part of a news segment the class creates. Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here) to create podcasts. Try creating a video and share it using TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Florida Memory - The State Archives of Florida
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
In the classroom, integrate primary documents in addition to your text to get a broader picture of history, even if you are not teaching specifically about Florida. Take a closer look at history, through the multiple aspects of video, audio, laws, and land grants. Look at perspectives of Civil War from a southern state. Make biographies of Florida residents come alive with the culture of their time. Compare and contrast Florida and another state. Use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. Examine the history of space through NASA. You and your students can discover how Civil Rights progressed in Florida. Look at the history of the Seminole tribe as you study native Americans. Enhance learning by challenging students to create an infographic using Snappa, reviewed here about a certain period in Florida's history or to compare Florida and other states. Before beginning the infographic, have students brainstorm or collect ideas on a collaborative bulletin board like Witeboard, reviewed here. Use this resource to meet Common Core standards about primary sources or writing. Challenge students to produce digital writing and interact with others online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Florida - Florida Humanities Council
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Integrate fiction and nonfiction sources into your studies of explorers, Native Americans, or Spanish influences. Compare and contrast the differences between primary and secondary sources. Integrate units of English Language Arts Common core standards and Social Studies standards.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Zeemaps - Zee Source
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. Teach map skills by letting students explore and annotate their own community. This site is great on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Create multiple markers for various points within your community. Annotate the markers with specific information that students research. Remember to create an admin password (and save it somewhere safe!) for others to collaborate on the map. Research various places around the world, and create markers of must-see places, historical finds, and other locations of interest. Create a map of news hot spots around the world. In Biology, find places where environmental or biodiversity concerns are occurring. Collaborate on a map to include annotated information of student research about these problems. Create a map to introduce various cultures around the world. Enter video, audio, information, and links that students can use to "uncover" the content to be learned.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The National Archives Activities and Games - The British National Archives
Grades
1 to 12Download lessons, Resource Packs, and Podcasts. Be sure to check out the extensive section for students including games, study skill tips and advice, and information on using primary sources. Learn about important people, government officials, and heroes of the past and present such as Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale. Explore and research famous events/times such as American Civil Rights Movement or Life During War Times. The site was created in the UK, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from American English. A very few resources require Flash, but there is so much more here, that the site is worth your time.
In the Classroom
Keep this site in mind as an easy place to find games and lessons related to British history (and even some world history topics). Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Present the same time period, such as World War II, from a British and American point of view using this site and similar primary source images from U.S. collections like this one or this one. Have students create timelines using Timeline JS, reviewed here. Timeline JS offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a British resident during any time periods involved with these activities. Take advantage of the ready to go lesson plans, interactives, podcasts, and videos. Literature teachers will also want to explore and share the information about British authors.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Authentic History Center - Michael Barnes
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
The Authentic History Center is excellent for making history real. Share this information on your projector or interactive whiteboard (or speakers) during lessons on any time period of US History. Play Bing Crosby singing "God Bless America" to help students feel the pre-WWII era or nationalism. Make the Angry era of McCarthyism real by letting student explore the collection. Include this entire collection on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class. Use the sources for students to experience a multi-sensory tour of any era in U.S. history and create their own project about it incorporating the artifacts (with proper credit) and their own explanations. You could modify student learning by having students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Livegap Chart, reviewed here. Or, have students create online posters about an era individually or together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here. Enhance learning by having students create timelines using Timeline JS, reviewed here. Timeline JS offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive. If you participate in National History Day, this site is an outstanding start point. If you are the advisor for your high school play, bookmark this site as a great source for authentic era images and sounds. Need background music for a play (or video) set during WWII? Here it is!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Polar Bears International - Polar Bears International
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
National Polar Bear Day is February 27th, but every day should be polar bear day to learn how our lives affect a majestic creature far away from our communities. Use one of the many lesson plans to learn about the polar bear and their movements (look at the lesson plans that use the Tracker Map). Plan a polar bear day in all subjects! Science class can learn about the polar bear, Math/Geography can use the tracker to determine patterns and distances of movement, English classes can write stories and poems, and Art classes can create polar inspired artwork! What a perfect "snowy" activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Barat Primary Source Nexus - Barat Education Foundation
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Take a look at the free professional development for using primary sources for teachers. Search for Connecting to the Common Core, where there are writing prompts for K-5 plus a link to the triangle activity. Download and use the PDF for the Thinking Triangle. Have older students research an interest and report to the class using a tool like Slides, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Listen to nature sounds, fall in love with the Earth - earth.fm
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this resource when discussing various animal units or a unit on behavior. When discussing a country or culture in history, consider playing various soundscapes to identify with the culture. Be sure to provide this link for students when reporting on a culture in front of the class. Students can play the soundscapes while presenting information on the culture (turn up your speakers!). Compare different types of animals around the world. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare two different types of animals. Students can brainstorm similarities and differences and follow this activity with research into the various species. In lower grades, play soundscapes during classroom read-alouds about the animals or places in the recording. Make the Soundscapes site a listening/writing center in your elementary science classroom and ask your young scientists to describe what they hear as they learn about making observations as scientists.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Image Atlas - Taryn Simon and Aaron Swartz
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use this tool to compare images that portray words you have searched and hypothesize about cultural differences. GO beyond the images to compare the articles that contain the images. This tool would be especially relevant in social studies, health, and other subjects where a difference in meaning across the world can be discussed. This tool may be useful if doing reports on countries. If you are allowing older students to search on their own, be sure to set firm guidelines/rules ahead of time! As with ANY image search, it all depends on the terms you enter!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Machu Picchu Virtual Tour - CUSCO
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Include this Machu Picchu Virtual Tour with your study of South America, Incas, or early explorers. Take a virtual field trip to this historic site from the comfort of your classroom. Replace paper journals by asking students to write blog entries about the questions and impressions as they view the tour. Use a blogging tool such as Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. This blog creator requires no registration. Enhance learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about one of the earlier settlers of Machu Picchu.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100Reporters - 100 Reporters
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In discussions of current events, find great news articles that get to the heart of the story. Compare them with other news outlets to discuss how money and the viewpoints of business owners can cloud the actual reporting. Be sure to discuss how to find parent websites by investigating the shortened address (url) of sites as well as the advertisements found on pages. Compare and contrast news stories found on a variety of news pages. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare two news stories. In world language or world cultures classes, discover what the "hot topics" are by looking at news stories from the region being studied. In writing classes, use these articles compared with those on the same topic from other sources for students to collect supporting evidence to use in essay writing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presidential Classroom - Miller Center, University of Virgina
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
If your students do Presidential biographies or projects, this is a perfect site to share. Have students explore the exhibits while doing research on presidents and historical events. Enhance student learning by having students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here. Have students use Fakebook,reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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