Teacher Resources: Social Sciences

Play with the Climate Time Machine. See back into the past and ahead to a possible future.
How much Arctic sea ice has melted just since satellites started observing around 30 years ago?
What parts of the world will be under water as sea level rises, inch by inch, foot by foot?
How much has the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide increased in the air just in the last few years?
How much has temperature risen around the world in just a little over 100 years?

Lesson Resources which aim to "develop a student's ability to interrogate historical data by uncovering the social, political, and economic context in which it was created. Further, the student identifies issues and problems in the past and analyzes the interests, values, perspectives, and points of view of those involved in the situation." The cartoons used were drawn by Dr Seuss during WWII and tackle "racism and discrimination, the dangers of isolationism, fascism, and other political issues, and the vital work of the war effort at home."

"Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere."

Historical Scene Investigation offers a fun way for students to investigate history through primary documents and images. Historical Scene Investigation presents students with historical cases to "crack." Each of these thirteen cases present students with clues to analyze in order to form a conclusion to each investigation. The clues for each investigation come in the forms of primary documents and images as well as secondary sources. HSI provides students with "case files" on which they record the evidence they find in the documents and images. At the conclusion of their investigation students need to answer questions and decide if the case should be closed or if more investigation is necessary.

"The idea is to keep the place intact, exactly as it was when the Nazis retreated before the Soviet Army arrived in January 1945 to liberate the camp, an event that resonates on Holocaust Remembrance Day"

"AC History Units presents 8 units developed by the History Teachers' Association of Australia to support teachers in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: History." The units relevant to Years 5-12 are: Federation, The Ancient Past, Angkor, The Industrial Revolution and Popular Culture.

With archival material from the earliest Edison films to footage of present day debates, discussions, and events, the Library of Congress YouTube channel can serve educators of history, literature, music, and other subjects. The channel opens with a featured video, which, at the time of this writing, includes an excellent 33-minute film highlighting the Rosa Parks Collection at the LOC. Readers interested in specific thematic topics, will find that the Playlists here are plentiful. For instance, the Webcasts from the Library of Congress II category features 463 videos including discussions with Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and a new look at romance fiction in the digital age. Other categories include Topics in Science, Law and the Library, Music and the Brain, Hidden Treasures at the Library of Congress, and many others.

Investigate ways teachers across the world are using Minecraft to teach programing, Maths, Science, Art, Languages and History

"Access to historical maps, artwork, fossils, and documents may be a welcome addition to your teaching of historical guided inquiry, visual thinking skills, or animal adaptation. With a range of sources at hand, students can use creative thinking skills to construct knowledge via observation, organisation and annotation of resource collections."

A gallery of political cartoons going back to 2003 to 2011. Includes Teacher Resources.

Links are provided to primary source documents and posters.

Curriculum based teaching resources for Years 5 to 8 students, using a range of texts and text types, on the topics of refugees and migration, Indigenous peoples, neighbours and the Asia Pacific region, and sustainability.

"The World Digital Library hosts more than 10,000 primary documents and images from collections around the world. Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the mission of the World Digital Library is to promote the study and understanding of cultures. The WDL can be searched by date, era, country, continent, topic, and type of resource."

This slew of intercultural resources from AFS-USA (formerly the American Field Service) offers lesson plans in Cultural Studies, Global Awareness, Human Rights, STEM Education, Social Activism, and Intercultural Learning. Each lesson plan is well-defined and easily implemented, with an overview, objectives, time for the lesson, materials, and a description of the activity. For example, under Cultural Studies, the lesson on Generalizations and Stereotypes takes approximately 45 minutes. Upon completion, students should be able to define the notion of culture, recognize stereotypes, and distinguish aspects of different cultures, among other objectives. Other lesson plans include Exploring Islamic Traditions, Microfinance, and a lesson on the "iceberg" analogy of how hidden dimensions of culture manifest.

Download this Graphic Novel which contains: 64 pages of the beautifully illustrated WWI story, combined with links to 44 pages of easy-to-read historically and scientifically accurate explanations.

"A superb site from Google and the British museum. An interactive timeline of interconnected historical objects from all over the world. Click on them to view details."

"In partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NBC Learn brings the Civil Rights era to life with over one hundred archival clips and original town hall conversations from around the country."

This site has a collection of science games, including a vast role-playing game to teach sustainability, environmentalism and general science, and a citizen science project to match wildlife in images to help real scientists.

Links to Primary Sources.

"Common Craft offers a video in which the differences and relationships between primary and secondary sources are explained in a two minute story. "

An amazing interactive virtual tour of the British Museum from the Google Cultural Institute. Move around the museum and click on items to view more information.
Category: History

"The Eternal Egypt web site includes an unprecedented experience of high-resolution images, three-dimensional reconstructions of Egyptian monuments and antiquities, as well as virtually-reconstructed environments, panoramic images, and panoramic views of present-day Egypt captured by robotic cameras located from the top of Karnak Temple to the streets of Old Cairo. An innovative, interactive map and timeline will guide Eternal Egypt visitors through Egypt's cultural heritage, while a "context navigator" presents the complex relationships between objects, places and personalities of Egypt's past in a unique, web-like display."

An interactive tool which allows students to create timelines using images, text, video and then share.

TeachUNICEF offers educational materials and resources to teachers and youth service professionals interested in global education, interconnectedness, and children's humanitarian issues. Teaching Materials cover grades PK-12, are interdisciplinary, and include lesson plans, stories, online magazines, and multimedia. For instance the UNICEF ACT (Action for Children Today) magazine explores current global issues, such as Ebola, migration, and hunger, and includes articles as well as downloadable lesson plans. The site makes finding resources easy with a Select a Topic drop down menu on the landing page, covering areas such as Armed Conflict, Child Labor, Child Trafficking, Children with Disabilities, Education, Global Citizenship, and many others. For educators looking to broaden students' minds to global issues, this site will be a true boon.

This project from the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University offers students and teachers a closer look at constructions of childhood and youth throughout world history. Completed in 2010, the collected materials are sorted into four categories: Website Reviews, Primary Sources, Case Studies, and Teaching Modules. Each section is then organized by region, ranging from Africa to Latin America to the Pacific Basin. For instance, within Primary Sources, readers will find data tables on Meiji Era School Attendance, primary source text from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and photographs of sculptures, such as the small terra-cotta statue, Ancient Greek Adolescent Girls at Play. Each resource is accompanied by an informative annotation, source information, and guidelines for how to cite it. While some of the external links have not been maintained, there are numerous resources here to inspire learning. Educators, especially, will find the Teaching Modules section helpful as it provides lesson plans, strategies, and document-based questions on a number of topics, including Ancient China, Age of Consent Laws, and Health in Early Modern England.