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Open-Ended Social Studies - Thomas Kenning
Grades
6 to 12
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Open-Ended Social Studies is an Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook designed to foster critical and historical thinking skills through interactive content. Find resources related...more
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Open-Ended Social Studies is an Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook designed to foster critical and historical thinking skills through interactive content. Find resources related to the United States and World History in many ways: browse lessons by concept, country, films, travel writing, or search the library of lessons by keyword. The lessons are designed to be used by students and include many hyperlinks, images, and videos that support the included content. In addition to the teaching materials, this site contains a beneficial blog with content that supports the site's philosophy, which is to teach students through a broader world lens.
In the Classroom
This site is an excellent addition to any middle or high school social studies curriculum. Bookmark this site to include with your other lesson resources. Use individual lessons to supplement your lessons through a new viewpoint since many of the tasks encourage students to think of history through the eyes of a traveler. Each lesson begins with a series of focus questions to keep in mind throughout the article. Engage students in learning and provide support for focusing on important information using Read Ahead, reviewed here. This handy tool lets you transform any text into a guided reading activity that highlights critical components of the text. As students collaborate on learning activities, enhance learning by using Notejoy, reviewed here, as a collaborative note-taking tool. Ask students to add the preview questions listed before the lesson and any other focus points, then share ideas and responses in Notejoy throughout the reading and discussions of the content. As a final learning extension, ask students to use Open-Ended Social Studies as a model for telling history through the eyes of a storyteller or from the perspective of one location. Use Vizzio, reviewed here, to create interactive timelines using animated maps. Include text descriptions, images, and videos as part of your interactive timelines.
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Google Newspaper Archives - Google
Grades
6 to 12
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Browse and read hundreds of newspaper archives from around the world at Google Newspaper Archives. Information under each publication title includes the number of issues included and...more
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Browse and read hundreds of newspaper archives from around the world at Google Newspaper Archives. Information under each publication title includes the number of issues included and dates of publication. After choosing a publication, view thumbnails of available issues and click on the title of any article to read. Share articles using the link provided.
In the Classroom
Share with students to show them different perspectives on historical events. This site would also provide contrasting texts for close reading as required by Common Core. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast information. After researching events in history, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Build student awareness of the limited view provided by some publications, especially during times of international tension. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education Week or as part of a unit on the basics and nuances of journalistic writing. World language teachers can use newspapers to teach about both language and culture. Have world cultures or social studies students learn about local culture through advertisements and articles and share their findings using a screencast (or screenshots) of the newspaper and talking about their discoveries.
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Zidbits - Zidbits media
Grades
3 to 12
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This tool is cool little tidbits of knowledge. The subtitle is "Boldly Exploring Life's Little Mysteries." Zidbits include facts such as "What is the hardest language to learn?" "Do...more
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This tool is cool little tidbits of knowledge. The subtitle is "Boldly Exploring Life's Little Mysteries." Zidbits include facts such as "What is the hardest language to learn?" "Do trees die from old age?" or "What is the most lethal poison?" Find facts for history, science, health, entertainment, and news on this site as well as fun facts. This site doesn't provide just a quick tidbit, but also gives background information and additional details.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This resource is useful to hook your students at the beginning of your lessons or simply to get them reading non-fiction text. Use these as hooks to get your students thinking about content that will be introduced in the lesson. Students can find a Zidbit they are interested in. Poll students about possible answers and then report the actual answer and content needed in order to understand and explain it. Learn a new Zidbit yourself every week. If you teach public speaking skills, have students use these stories as inspiration or "hooks" for informational speeches, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sqworl - Caleb Brown
Grades
K to 12
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Sqworl is a site for combining multiple links into one single link. Registration is required; however, it is very easy. You create a username and password, add your email and ...more
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Sqworl is a site for combining multiple links into one single link. Registration is required; however, it is very easy. You create a username and password, add your email and it is done. After registering, a personal homepage is created, this is where the magic can begin! The homepage is where groups will be created to combine URLs. Then adding some groups of links begins the process of creating groups. At this point a title is given to the group being created (examples might be Math sites, American History, etc.). The final step is to add a short description. After choosing start, simply copy and paste the url you want to use and add a short description and click finish. Once a group is created, it can be shared through the url shown on the page. Sqworl also has a bookmarklet that can be added to the browser toolbar making it easier to add items to your groups without having to open the homepage. There is also a mobile app for iPhone.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
In the classroom use this site to combine url's of online class projects into one group. Create a group of resources for students or parents for different subjects and share the url through your classroom website or newsletter. Create a group with videos relating to classroom content. Create a classroom account and let students add resources they have found to groups to share with others. Show students how to follow other groups on Sqworl and share resources by creating their own groups. Share this site with others in your building or district as an easy way to save and share online resources.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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Earthquake Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12
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This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help teachers and students understand how earthquakes happen and learn about famous earthquakes in history. Also...more
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This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help teachers and students understand how earthquakes happen and learn about famous earthquakes in history. Also included are sites and tools well suited for projects about earthquakes.
In the Classroom
Share this collection as a Favorite on your TeachersFirst public page so students can use the resources as part of a project during your unit on plate tectonics or natural disasters. Use the collection as a starting point, noting the resources that are more challenging for your more able students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Royalty Free Music & Songs - Dan-O
Grades
K to 12
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Danosongs.com provides royalty free music for many different purposes as long as you give credit where it is due: Music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com. Dan creates music, posts to this ...more
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Danosongs.com provides royalty free music for many different purposes as long as you give credit where it is due: Music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com. Dan creates music, posts to this blog, and offers it free of charge under a Creative Commons license as long as credit is given. This is a really great trade-off for free music for your presentations, movies, video games, websites, blogs, or even excercise tracks. Possibilities for uses are so broad, you just have to use your imagination to add to this list! There is the option of "buying" the songs for $10 to use without giving credit.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This website is great to use when making creative product such as movies, podcasts, websites, commercials, or even slide presentations. Often students are at a loss for sounds or music they can legally use. This is a great resource for music and a way to teach about ethical use, citation, and copyright. Subject specific ideas include: having students in physical education classes create playlists for different types of exercise and have them edit them after exercising, relating the beats per minute to how effective their exercise session was. In music class, have students find the beat, add a new instrument track to an existing song, or maybe even create their own song to share with the site creator. In biology or health class, play songs with varying beats per minute and have students take pulses and compare to the music to see the impact that it has on their heart rate and mood.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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America in Class - The National Humanities Center
Grades
5 to 12
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Discover American History lessons correlated to Common Core reading and social studies literacy standards, especially those that require close reading and evidence. The goal of these...more
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Discover American History lessons correlated to Common Core reading and social studies literacy standards, especially those that require close reading and evidence. The goal of these lessons is to use primary resources, background information, and the analytical strategies suggested to meet the Common Core standards. In addition to these outstanding American History lessons, also find free online seminars and secondary sources. The secondary sources, under TeacherServe, include essays on topics in American literature and history.
In the Classroom
Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to help your class learn the background information and read the material through once. Work through the lesson together; then consider assigning groups of four students to go through the readings again, discovering the answers to the essential questions. Have students post the group's answers on a back channel chat program such as YoTeach!, reviewed here, so all groups can see all answers. Where answers differ, have students go back into the reading and cite evidence to support their answer on Today's Meet for all to see.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Engaging Students With Primary Sources - Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Grades
6 to 12
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The Smithsonian Institution offers a printable guide to using primary sources in any classroom. View examples of how to do it and suggestion! Explore each of the main sections including...more
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The Smithsonian Institution offers a printable guide to using primary sources in any classroom. View examples of how to do it and suggestion! Explore each of the main sections including documents, photographs, oral histories, and objects for ideas and tips. Each activity is aligned to National Center for History in the Schools standards. The guide is in PDF format for easy printing and use.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the year as a guide for using primary sources. Use some of the lesson strategies with other primary source collections
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Historical Thinking Interactive Poster (Secondary) - National History Education Clearinghouse
Grades
6 to 12
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Learn to think like a historian. See how we know about the past by using this interactive poster. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of ...more
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Learn to think like a historian. See how we know about the past by using this interactive poster. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of the quadrants and click. More information, activities, and links will appear. Each of the quadrants also has additional teaching resources. On the far left column you will find links to "What Is Historical Thinking?" a video, "What are Primary Sources?" and "What are Secondary Sources?" Unfortunately the video link is not working at this time so here is the one that works Historical Thinking Video.
In the Classroom
Use your projector or interactive whiteboard and teach your students how to think like a historian. There are some interesting links here for you and your students to investigate. For instance, there are links for exploring the modern civil rights movement, primary sources to look at diary entries from other time periods, examining lithographs, using and reading multiple perspectives, and several more. You may want to go through each quadrant with the entire class, or you might want to assign groups to become "specialists" in a quadrant and have them present it to your class. Challenge the groups to create presentations using Prezi, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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HistoryWorld - HistoryWorld
Grades
6 to 12
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HistoryWorld is an ambitious attempt to pack a whole lot of history in a relatively small space. The site includes "histories," a series of condensed versions of historical topics across...more
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HistoryWorld is an ambitious attempt to pack a whole lot of history in a relatively small space. The site includes "histories," a series of condensed versions of historical topics across a very wide range of subjects. These histories might be helpful as a summary or preview of a wider unit lesson plan, but experts on these topics will probably find them too cursory. A second feature is the collection of timelines related to historical topics. While they are not terribly exciting visually, each entry on the timeline contains a series of clickable links taking the user to a Google search of the entry, a Google images search, and/or the section of HistoryWorld's condensed narrative. You can also generate a fairly random history "quiz" of 10 questions to test their knowledge.
Take caution when using the Google images search feature: the images that can be generated may not all be appropriate for classroom use.
Take caution when using the Google images search feature: the images that can be generated may not all be appropriate for classroom use.
In the Classroom
HistoryWorld is likely to be most useful as one of a set of resources to be included on your classroom favorites, for example, rather than for in-class use. Like Wikipedia and other broad encyclopedic references, it simply isn't deep enough to really provide more than a summary. This site would be a great place to get the basics of a topic or to use as a starting point for research.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Four Directions Teaching - 4D Interactive Inc.
Grades
5 to 12
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A Canadian site focused on five "first nations" central to Canada's history, Four Directions Teaching, uses technology to create a visually beautiful site about the Blackfoot, Cree,...more
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A Canadian site focused on five "first nations" central to Canada's history, Four Directions Teaching, uses technology to create a visually beautiful site about the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe, Mohawk, and Mi'kmaq tribes. There are also extensive teacher resources, sorted by challenge level, to download, a photo collection, audio narration, and printables. These resources are appropriate not only for use by Canadians, but also for understanding the development of Native American culture throughout North America. (The Native Americans preceded any national boundaries!).
In the Classroom
The series of animated mini lessons are perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) and help anchor the learning activities available for download. They could also be used as stand-alone resources to complement lessons you have designed. You might choose to look at creation myths across the various tribes or how each culture constructed shelters or conducted ceremonies. These themes make the lessons useful even for those not studying specifically Canadian history. Have students make a multimedia presentation on a chosen topic using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): PBWorks (wiki), Site123 (blog), Renderforest (newscast video), and Genially (poster/bulletin board).
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World Population History - Population Connection
Grades
6 to 12
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Watch the growth of human population from 1 CE through 2050 with this interactive map and timeline. A five-minute video provides an overview of population growth, use the drop-down...more
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Watch the growth of human population from 1 CE through 2050 with this interactive map and timeline. A five-minute video provides an overview of population growth, use the drop-down box to view the video in several different languages. Personalize your viewing experience to adjust features on the map with themes, overlays, and map dots. Click on the timeline below the map to view additional information about events throughout time. Choose the menu to find all the resources on this site, including several lesson plans.
In the Classroom
Try using this website in science class during environmental science units on human population growth. Start the class by sharing this site on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) for students to see. Provide time for students to look at the material and to generate questions about it. Brainstorm not only questions but what students learned from it. Allow groups time to research the economic and social issues that have caused such a change in population and how people live. Challenge students to make a multimedia presentation using Sway, reviewed here, about what they learned from the different time periods or themes. With Sway, you can have music, photos, videos, and even make it interactive.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Data - The World Bank - The World Bank Group
Grades
5 to 12
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Just the facts and lots of them! The World Bank offers an extensive array of data about the countries of the world. Sort either by country (from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe) ...more
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Just the facts and lots of them! The World Bank offers an extensive array of data about the countries of the world. Sort either by country (from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe) or by topic (agriculture to urban development). Look at zoomable, color-coded maps, and analyze rankings by topic. The interface is simple and direct, so if you are just looking for a statistic, you will find it quickly and easily. If you are looking at masses of authentic data to analyze or compare, you'll find that too. Click to download data in several formats.
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for student research, whether it be for individual country data or for comparative data by topic. Use the maps on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) to provide a visual representation of the data. This is a great source for authentic data for students to practice their analytic skills, or just to find out what the GDP of Antigua and Barbuda is. This is a resource that will see frequent use. Share it during math units on data, as well, so students have authentic numbers to "play with." Have them write their own data problems and questions for classmates to solve. Challenge your most able student to determine why two countries are so different.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Docs Teach - The National Archives
Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites
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Explore collections of primary documents from US History enhanced with tools for teaching. This site adds the ability to manipulate primary documents to build informative and challenging...more
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Explore collections of primary documents from US History enhanced with tools for teaching. This site adds the ability to manipulate primary documents to build informative and challenging lessons. While a few of the documents and lessons are available for the casual visitor to the site, you need to register (and it's free!) in order to make full use of the amazing resources here. Once you have registered, you can access all the documents and use the activity builder to create lessons which use primary documents to teach sequencing, mapping, weighing evidence, interpreting data, and seeing the big picture. Please note that you do not HAVE to create anything, you can simply use what is already here. (And they do already have a lot to offer.) You will need to create a project if you want to package an activity that you can use now and again later.
In the Classroom
If you teach history or social studies, you know what a great emphasis is being placed on the use of primary documents in helping students develop an awareness of the perspectives of those who lived during a particular era. Use this site to develop sophisticated lessons using primary documents on US History with the activity builder. Use the ready-made activities (the majority of which are available once you've registered), on an interactive whiteboard or projector for the whole class or assign groups of students to work independently at a computer workstation or at home. These activities encourage higher order thinking among students rather than simply the memorization of facts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Newspaper Map - newspapermap.com
Grades
5 to 12
3 Favorites
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Use this colorful map to locate and read newspapers from around the world. Click on map pins to locate newspapers or search using filters such as languages. Use the key ...more
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Use this colorful map to locate and read newspapers from around the world. Click on map pins to locate newspapers or search using filters such as languages. Use the key to locate newspapers in each language. Yellow pins indicate English language newspapers, Spanish pink, etc. Don't worry if newspapers are not in a language you need. Choose the links provided to translate into one of many options. When ready, click on a pin to go to the newspaper's home website.
In the Classroom
Newspaper Map is a great resource for locating news and culture from around the world. Share with your students to show them different perspectives on world events. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast coverage between two newspapers. After reading and comparing many different articles, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Acast, Animatron, Renderforest, and Presentious. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education week or as part of a unit on the basics of journalistic writing. World language teachers can use newspapers to teach about both language and culture. Have world cultures or social studies students learn about local culture through advertisements and articles and share their findings using a screencast (or screenshots) of the newspaper and talking about their discoveries. A free tool like Screencast-o-matic, reviewed here, or Screencastify (Chrome app), reviewed here, works well for screencasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NationStates - Max Barry
Grades
6 to 12
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There are plenty of simulation interactives for major life events such as pandemics, but what happens in everyday life? NationStates brings to life daily decisions. This multiplayer...more
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There are plenty of simulation interactives for major life events such as pandemics, but what happens in everyday life? NationStates brings to life daily decisions. This multiplayer online interactive features you as the head of your nation to create and shape how you see fit. To get started, create your nation by giving it a name. Customize various aspects, such as the flag, history, and national animal. Then get into the heart of your nation: political, social, and economic issues. These choices determine the initial status of your nation. As you play, these problems will change with your choices. Every day an issue is presented and the choices you make affect the outcome of your nation. Your choices become the national law in your nation. Warning: There is one problem a day, but you can change that to two in your account settings. As you play, various aspects of your nation change and the type of government shifts (maybe even including anarchy). Choose to stay an independent nation or join others to create a region. Participate in the World Assembly (the pretend U.N.). View debates in the forum that actually touch on current events in the game and in real life. One thing to note: If you are not attentive to the issues that come up each day, the game ends quickly. The good news is that it takes very little time to view the issue, act, and see the result. Note: This interactive is loosely based on the novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Students can use this interactive individually, making connections to their choice, results, and connections to actual world events, present and past. Additionally, students can join a region and see how their decisions affect other nations. A great lesson is to allow students to run their nation according to their political views and see the results as they unfold through play. Be sure to treat this seriously as the issues presented here are actual issues that governments must deal with daily. Even making a decision within your political viewpoint can lead to results that are not anticipated. Require students to discuss their viewpoint, why they believe they are right, the resulting consequence, and how it has changed what they believe. Following the play, give time for students to research an initiative or action a country made and the resulting consequences that have resulted. Present, discuss, or debate these with the class. Allow every student in class to have a voice by using a student response system such as Infuse Learning, reviewed here, or GoSoapBox, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Smithsonian X 3D - Smithsonian Institution
Grades
6 to 12
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Tour some of the Smithsonian Museum's most treasured objects through 3D models and scientific missions. Through the use of 3D digitization techniques, the museum is rapidly adding content...more
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Tour some of the Smithsonian Museum's most treasured objects through 3D models and scientific missions. Through the use of 3D digitization techniques, the museum is rapidly adding content and collections to this site telling never-known stories about the museum's treasures. Use the site's search features to find models; some also include tours with additional information. Choose videos to learn how curators on the 3D team captured and shared information. Select the educators' portion of the site to download an ebook interdisciplinary learning experience combining technology and history in the study of Abraham Lincoln. For help in using this site, click About to find EducatorTools, How to Use the 3D Viewer, and Videos. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos on this site may not be viewable.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these many resources to take a virtual visit with your class to the Smithsonian Museum. View artifacts and tours together on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector then allow students to explore on their own. After viewing a tour, ask students to research a topic further. Instead of a written report have students create an online quiz for fellow students using a quiz tool like Knowt, reviewed here. Use a video response tool like Gravity, reviewed here for student collaboration and sharing of research. Extend learning by asking students to create their own virtual field trip using Google Earth, reviewed here. Have students add articles, images, and videos to locations featured on their virtual trip.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Historvius - Historvius
Grades
6 to 12
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Historvius is a user-created database about historic sites; the majority of the sites currently entered into the database are in Europe. Click "Explore" to see what locations are already...more
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Historvius is a user-created database about historic sites; the majority of the sites currently entered into the database are in Europe. Click "Explore" to see what locations are already included in the database. Click "Upload" to add your own information. When you upload information about a site, follow a standard format which means that there is predictable information about each place. The places range from obscure to common.
In the Classroom
Because the information uploaded to Historvius is user generated, teachers should preview the site before using it with students. Because the site is constantly growing, it may be most useful as an opportunity for students to research their own local sites and create a collective submission as a group or whole class under teacher supervision. Since Historvius editors must approve and edit any submissions, the upload won't be instant, but students should find it exciting to be part of building the database themselves. The editor-approval process makes the site "safer" and far less likely to include inappropriate content.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Big Think - Big Think
Grades
7 to 12
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News and information from top thinkers and doers around the world, screened so that it is condensed to that which is significant, relevant, and applicable, that is Big Think. This ...more
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News and information from top thinkers and doers around the world, screened so that it is condensed to that which is significant, relevant, and applicable, that is Big Think. This website is a phenomenal source for information and news. The philosophy of Big Think is that as we "move to the knowledge era" that you will be able to better function if you know more and understand what you know. This website was awarded one of TIME magazine's best websites of 2011 for news and information. Please screen any articles that you wish to share BEFORE sharing with your students. Some content is NOT appropriate for the classroom. This is not a site you want to send students off to explore on their own.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Choose a story that relates to your topic that you are teaching such as science or even music with a story such as "How Music is Good for Your Brain." Share the story with your students. Discuss the writings, and then use it as a platform on how students should approach the things that they are learning in class. This way they develop critical thinking skills and extract the most important information and leave the accessory facts to the side. Assign specific articles to cooperative learning groups to read and explore together. Then have students create a multimedia project to share with the class using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The World Cup of Everything Else - Wall Street Journal
Grades
6 to 12
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Discover "how the tournament would play out if 32 countries were competing in things other than soccer." This site compares world countries statistics on scores of topics, instantly...more
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Discover "how the tournament would play out if 32 countries were competing in things other than soccer." This site compares world countries statistics on scores of topics, instantly drawing a "bracket" of the top 32 countries for that statistic around the world. Find out which country "wins" in categories as diverse as milk consumption, population density, or ticket sales for the movie Frozen! Click the topic at left to display the "bracket" instantly. Try predicting who will win as you check out all kinds of topics.
In the Classroom
This site would fit well in a world cultures/social studies class or even as part of an information literacy lesson. Math teachers can use it to show the usefulness of statistics. World language teachers may want to include it as part of cultural study. Share this site briefly on an interactive whiteboard or projector to spark discussion about what statistics can tell you about a country. Then turn groups loose to predict the outcomes of the "competition" in various categories. Have them keep a record: What do they predict? Why? Were they right? What might be the possible reasons for the "winner" (or loser) in the category they chose? What other statistical competitions would they like to see to gain the best profile of a country? As a class, try to name the top ten most revealing statistics they would like to see that are not already listed here. Then have them look for sources where they might find that information! Extend the findings by having student groups create infographics about their chosen "world cup" topic. Use a tool such as Venngage reviewed here. In a government class, use this site to open discussion about the role of statistics in governing and meeting the needs of your citizens. For more demographics resources, try these or Knoema, a worldwide data source.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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