Social Studies Technology Project

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Social Studies Technology Project

• Fall 2000
• ED 417
• Dr. Ronald Helms

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Authors

• Andrea Weser
• Tracie Welsh
• Marcie Miller

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Introduction

• The following are websites and activities we have
  found to be beneficial in teaching social studies
  in a sixth grade classroom. Included are a total
  of 30 websites and a useful activity from each
  site.

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Introduction

• Rationale This project is created as a resource
  for teachers interested in teaching social
  studies through technology.
• Goal To provide a list of internet resources
  that can be used to teach social studies in a
  sixth grade classroom.

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Introduction

• Objective statement Students will perform
  activities that will provide knowledge about
  American Heritage, People in Societies, World
  Interactions, Decision Making Resources,
  Democratic Processes, and Citizenship Rights
  Responsibilities.

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World Interactions
www.gsn.org/ Activity Students will create a
newspaper where they write their
own articles and post them on the
web for the world to see.
www.usgs.gov.education/
Activity Students will read a story about a
little girl who takes a balloon
ride that gives her different
views of the world. Students will relate this
to reading maps.
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www.kidsvista.com/socialstudies/
geography.html
Activity Students will use maps and compasses
to find their way around the
school.
www.lonelyplanet.com.au/1p.html
Activity Students will read articles about
happenings in other countries then
report them to the class.
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www.kidsat..jpl.nasa.gov/
Activity Students will become penpals with
students from another country.
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Decision Making Resources
www.nesa.uiuc.edu/edu/RSE/RSE/
yellow/gnb.html
Activity Students will work with an
interactive stock market.
www.landmark-project.com/ecomarket/
Activity Students will try an sell an
imaginative new product over the
internet.
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www.cochran.com/theodore
Activity Students will read interactive
stories about a boy named
Theodore and help him to make the
right decisions.
www.frbchi.org/
Activity Students will examine the role of
money in history and use it to buy goods.
www.eced.web.unomaha.edu/teach.htm
Activity Students will read a story dealing
with unlimited wants, goods and
services.
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American Heritage
www.geneologytoday.com Activity Build a family
tree. www.1.umn.edu Activity Bring a simple
dish from their culture.
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www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu Activity
Students will use The Valley of the Shadow
newspaper abstract to explore causes of death in
the late 1850s and early 1860s. www.lcwebz.loc
.gov Activity Click on today in history and see
what happened in different years on this date.
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www.materialreligon.org/objects.html Activity
Students will pick one religious object from the
list, click on it and read about it. Then they
will create a picture of it and describe it to
the class.
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People in Societies
www.artsednet.getty.edu Activity Students will
investigate some important public building, parks
and monuments where they live. Then they will
pick someone important to them and design a
monument for that person.
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www.csuohio.edu/history/japan Activity Go to
the link about Oragami and then design their own
Oragami. www.icom.org/vlmp Activity Pick a
country and take a virtual museum tour. Then
give short report to the class as if they had
been there and tell about what they saw.
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www.Ireland.com Activity Read over the page and
write about a couple of things going on in
Ireland that day. www.china.com Activity Post
a question about Chinese society.
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Democratic Processes www.solanco.k12.pa.us/techno
logy/6-12_lesson_plans.htm A Story of Democracy
News Coverage of the Recent Mexican Elections and
Why the World Wants to KnowIn this lesson,
students focus on the recent Mexican elections to
evaluate how different journalistic accounts can
present different aspects of the same event. 
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http//www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/9
91220monday.html It's Up for Debate Exploring
the Platforms of the Presidential HopefulsIn
this lesson, students investigate the different
platforms of each of the Presidential hopefuls
for the 2000 election. Small groups will each
carefully research the platforms of an assigned
candidate and then create a political pamphlet
supporting their candidate, using persuasive
language and images to "influence" their audience
of potential voters.
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http//www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/0
00412wednesday.html Taking the Lead Creating a
Visual Comparison of Electoral ProcessesIn this
lesson, students investigate the election process
in several South American countries and create
posters to display their knowledge. http//www.con
gresslink.org/lesson1.html In this lesson, you
will direct students to log into the computer and
go directly to CongressLink Home Page, to the
Table of Contents. Here they will click on Lesson
Topics, and for this assignment they will choose
Student Research Activities.
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http//www.yahooligans.com/tg/constitution.htmlst
age1 Students will identify the positions of
specific states regarding crucial conflicts
during the Constitutional Convention, analyze the
degree to which compromise was important to the
ratification of the Constitution, orally express
the viewpoints of the respective states, complete
simple keyword and category searches on
Yahooligans, and identify sites where information
was found.
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Citizenship Rights Responsibilities
http//www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/laic/lessons/e1_t
3-lp.html Students research examples of slavery
in the world today, and learn about some ways
they can help current slaves gain their freedom.
After students develop a plan for helping to
fight slavery, they take an action and then
publish their accomplishments on this Web
site. http//www.civiced.org/wtp_ms28_sb.html In
this lesson you will learn about one of the most
important rights of citizenship. This is the
right to participate in governing our nation. The
lesson will discuss the different ways you may
participate. It will also suggest those things
you should think about in deciding whether or not
you should participate.
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http//ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/
cecsst027.html Using materials from the local
library and historical society, the students do
research and write reports about how the founding
fathers established your city. http//ericir.syr.
edu/Virtual/Lessons/Social_St/Civics/
IV0003.html All students will individually list
the rights guaranteed by the First Ten Amendments
to the Constitution. These will be checked and
discussed to insure all students understand these
rights.
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• http//dent.edmonds.wednet.edu/IMD/lessons.htmlCi
  vics20Education
• It's Up For Debate - In this lesson, students
  investigate the different platforms of each of
  the Presidential hopefuls for the 2000 election.
  Small groups will each carefully research the
  platforms of an assigned candidate and then
  create a political pamphlet supporting their
  candidate, using persuasive language and images
  to "influence" their audience of potential
  voters.

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Conclusion The previous resources listed in this
unit should help teachers develop lessons
regarding the different aspects of social
studies. All of the addresses listed provide
links to various websites concerning social
studies lessons that are appropriate in a sixth
grade classroom.