"If the only tool you have is a hammer.....
everything around you looks like a nail."

This issue is an update of past Social Studies editions. The Social Studies provide applications for Mathematics, context for the Language Arts and perspective for the Sciences. Why not use them to your advantage?

I especially wanted to point out The Presidents' Project, through which classes of all ages may research a chief executive and post a world class web site based on their findings. All pages are hosted on the Surfaquarium server to preserve them for future reference. Why not make your class a part of WWW history by participating in this most worthy project?

Here are some innovative ways to bring the Social Studies alive in your curriculum. For additional recommendations be sure to visit my Social Studies pages at http://surfaquarium.com/teachSS.htm I also commend to you our friend Jerry Blumengarten's Social Studies links found at http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/education/

I hope you will find several useful links to enrich your innovative teaching!

Academy of Achievement - http://www.achievement.org/

A look at the important people of the modern era, as well as the six steps for success in making a difference today.

African-American Mosaic - http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html

The Library of Congress offers this presentation of its African American collection covering more than 500 years.

Age of Protest and Change - http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/1960s/

Simulation taking you from the 1950s through the 1970s in the US through the perspective of one of four characters.

All About the Oregon Trail - http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Allabout.html

Lots of information on the famous trail and how it opened up the way to the West - excellently done!

American Civil War Home Page - http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/

Exhaustive resources on events and people who shaped our nation in its darkest hour - a great classroom resource.

American Experience: Surviving the Dust Bowl - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/

This is an online extension of PBS series on the 1930s midwest ecological disaster - includes a timeline, maps, people and events.

American Memory - http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html

The entranceway to the Library of Congress online digital collection - priceless Searchable database full of resources.

American West - http://www.americanwest.com/

Includes the Westward Expansion, Trails, Documents, Cowboys, Native Americans, Pioneers, Trappers, Scouts, Gunslingers, Outlaws, Gun battles, Ghost Towns and Gold & Silver Mining.

Animated Statistics - http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/animation.html

Data includes formation of the contiguous U.S., the Odyssey of Alexander the Great, and U.S. Aging 1950-2050 - slow loading.

Archiving Early America - http://earlyamerica.com/

Historic early American documents, trivia, life in Colonial times, Colonial crossword puzzle - lots of fun if you can overlook the banner ads.

Avalon Project - http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm

From the Yale Law School, online access to documents "in law, history and government" from the Athenian Constitution right up to the present.

Battle of Hastings - http://battle1066.com/

Online document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types and engineering technologies.

Ben's Guide to Government - http://bensguide.gpo.gov/

Ben's Guide serves as the educational component of GPO Access, the Government Printing Office's service that provides official online versions of legislative and regulatory information.

Built in America - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hhhtml/hhhome.html

Online document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types and engineering technologies.

Castles of Britain - http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle6.htm

Anything and everything to do with the formidable fortresses of Great Britain that have played such a significant role in her history.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation - http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html

Covering the US Congress from 1774 through 1873, includes House and Senate Journals, Annals and a search of all Law titles.

Civics Online - http://www.civics-online.org/

A collaborative, online project providing a rich array of primary sources, professional development tools, and interactive activities to help in the teaching of civics.

Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall? - http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/

Another superb Annenberg online project, examining ancient Mayan culture and the reasons for its demise.

Colonial Williamsburg - http://www.history.org/

The premier site on daily life in Colonial America - the only way to see more is to visit there in person.

Compendium of Common Knowledge - http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html

This site presents everyday life in Elizabethan England; perfect for learning about the late Renaissance.

Costume Page - http://users.aol.com/nebula5/tcpinfo2.html

Wonderful exhaustive list of WWW sites dedicated to historical garb, listed by time period - priceless!

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt - http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/index.htm

During the Great Depression, thousands of young people wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for help. This is a collection of that correspondence.

Democracy Project - http://www.pbs.org/democracy/

PBS site designed to involve students in upcoming elections through issues and candidate positions; teacher materials included.

Dumb Laws - http://www.dumblaws.com/

If you can get past the title, this is a nice approach to government regulation and its effects on everyday life - fun too.

Economics and Geography Lessons for 32 Children's Books - http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/Econ_Geog.html

These lessons are designed for grades 1-5 from the Montgomery County, Maryland Schools; ready to use in your classroom.

Economics Education - http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/home.htm

Presented by the University of Omaha, materials and support for teaching economics from Kindergarten through graduate school - wonderful stuff.

Electoral College Calculator - http://www.julienne.com/weblog.html

Practice an understanding of the electoral college by going over the results state by state on this interactive site.

EuroDocs - http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/

Western European (mainly primary) historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.

Eyewitness to History - http://www.ibiscom.com/index.html

Eyewitness recounts history through the words of those who lived it, using personal narratives and other firsthand sources to illuminate the past.

Fifty States Home Pages - http://www.globalcomputing.com/states.html

Global Computing offers these links to the official home page of each of the fifty United States - fast loading and simple.

Fifty States Tourism Sites - http://phil.mav.net/tourism.html

A listing of the online sites for the offices of tourism for all 50 states; very handy for states research and projects.

Five Points Site - http://r2.gsa.gov/fivept/fphome.htm

Archaeologists rediscover a famous New York neighborhood of the 1800s; fascinating look at the processes of archaeology (for High School).

Flags of the Native Peoples of the United States - http://hometown.aol.com/Donh523/navapage/index.htm

An old favorite; this is an excellent resource for studying the indigenous Native American nations of North America.

Flags of the World - http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/

FOTW presents more than 1600 pages and view more than 2700 images about flags; handy and complete.

4Directions - http://4directions.org/

Focuses on integrating Native American culture and technology into education in a way that enables students to maintain and learn their heritage while taking full advantage of their future.

Future - http://future.state.gov/

U.S. State Department site combining current events and world geography - great for all ages from primary through secondary.

Geographia - http://www.geographia.com/

Virtual destinations around the globe to help your students further experience the physical geography of the world around them.

Geonet - http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/index.html

Designed for grades 4 and up, questions are organized according to the National Geographic Standards to help children think geographically.

Geospy - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geospy/

Slick online game from National Geographic that requires students to master continents, countries, states and provinces in order to win.

Great Buildings Collection - http://www.greatbuildings.com/gbc.html

Covers buildings across history throughout the world; "documents hundreds of buildings and leading architects with 3D models, photographic images and architectural drawings."

Government Links - http://government.thelinks.com/

Just what the name implies: links to online sites for state, federal and world government offices - very complete.

Historical United States Data Browser - http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/

Immigration data from 1790 through the 1970s made easy to view and analyze; from the University of Virginia.

History Buff - http://www.historybuff.com/

Press coverage of historical events, includes a presidential library plus a searchable library and many interactive features - great design.

HistoryNet - http://www.thehistorynet.com/

Thorough coverage of American and World history making use of a variety of media and updated daily.

Hyper History - http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

Over a thousand files are interconnected throughout the website to create an online interactive world history chart of people, history, events and maps.

Latitude - http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Efeegi/

From Rice University, this site offers an exploration of how sailors have used latitude since the 1400s to navigate the globe.

Lewis and Clark - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/west/

National Geographic presentation of the great trek westward to explore and map out the recently purchased Louisiana territory at the request of President Jefferson.

License Plates of the World - http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/

A new hook in examining world cultures - tired of the flag/anthem/figurehead approach? Check this site out!

Making the Constitution - http://www.bonus.com/bonus/card/Continental.html?referrer=ED4

Safe within the controlled environment of BONUS.COM, using Library of Congress documents students relive the signing at the Constitutional Convention - superb.

Mayflower History - http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/

This is "Mayflower Central" - all the links you need to study the coming of the Pilgrims to what is now Massachusetts.

Medieval Sourcebook - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html

Broken down into selected texts, full text sources and saint's lives, this site is a wonderful reference tool for study of the Middle Ages.

Mr. Donn's Ancient History - http://members.aol.com/donnandlee/index.html

National Geographic offers this awesome online tool for finding maps of locations around the world, in all kinds of formats: physical, political, cultural, climate, streets, historical.....even terrestrial ecoregions and the planet Mars!

NARA Digital Classroom - http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html

Contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and cross-curricular connections.

Normandy 1944 - http://search.eb.com/normandy/

Presented by Encyclopedia Britannica, this multimedia remembrance of Operation Overlord and the triumph that followed is superbly done.

Old Timer's Page - http://waltonfeed.com/old/index.html

This is a wonderful presentation of how everyday tasks were completed prior to the twentieth century.

Oral History Online - http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/ohonline/

Budding site with current links to The Suffragists Oral History Project, the Disabled Persons Independence Movement and the BioTech Project.

PBS History - http://www.pbs.org/history/

American and world history, history on TV, biographies, and "in the classroom" - all as a companion to quality PBS programming.

Presidents' Project - http://surfaquarium.com/prezproj.htm

Surfaquarium project inviting classes to research a President and showcase their findings in a world class web page.

Renaissance Tome of Adventure and Knowledge - http://www.sirclisto.com/

"Sir Clisto Seversword" takes you on a journey through the Middle Ages using sight and sound to simulate a right medieval experience - very different!

Salem Witchcraft Hysteria - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/salem/

National Geographic online interactive presentation immersing the participant in the experience of 1692 Salem, Massachusetts.

Shock-ing Geography - http://people.depauw.edu/djp/shock_maps/

Shockwave-based maps for beginner, intermediate and advanced students; follow-up quizzes help reinforce what they have practiced in identifying political and physical items worldwide.

This Day in History - http://www.historychannel.com/thisday/

From the History Channel; allows you to search any date for significant events throughout history - the best site of its kind I've seen.

Thomas Jefferson Online - http://www.pbs.org/jefferson/

Archives, photos, and classroom applications, based on the Ken Burns film; an excellent classroom resource.

Titanic Mock Trial - http://www.andersonkill.com/titanic/facts.htm

The facts, the plaintiff, the defendant, the legal process, witnesses, exhibits, jury charge, verdict sheet; all about the infamous sinking of the unsinkable.

U.S. Census Bureau Stats by Zip Code - http://zip.langenberg.com/

Just type in the code and it will bring up all kinds of geographic and demographic data on a community or region.

U.S.G.S National Mapping Information - http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form

Just type in the code and it will bring up all kinds of geographic and demographic data on a community or region.

Virtual Worlds - http://bized.ac.uk/virtual/home.htm

From Biz/Ed, an opportunity for applying business studies using all the major business functions, including production, accounts and marketing.

Voting and Registration Data - http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html

A U.S. Census Bureau site, you can access all demographic and socioeconomic data concerning national elections from 1964 to the present.

The Whole World Was Watching - http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968/

This site offers an oral history of the summer of unrest - 1968 - from Brown University; high school level.

You Be the Historian - http://americanhistory.si.edu/hohr/springer/

Simulation whereby the participants must practice historiography to explain events - top notch experience in historiography.

Your Nation - http://www.your-nation.com/

Wonderful opportunity to compare statistics about the United States with countries from around the world - excellent opportunities for higher level thinking!

 

Find More Great Resources at

 

Next Month's Topic: "The Sciences 2003"

 

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You can email URL's of high quality sites which may be of interest to our readers as well as new topic ideas and input and feedback!

 

 

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