Techno Explorers Social Studies Resource

Exploring history and geography via the Internet



Created by,
Pam Lowe

Curriculum Info  Meet the Author


Copyright © 2000 Discovery.com, Inc. Originally published by Discovery.com, Inc. Clip art images Copyright © 1998 Mark A. Hicks. Originally published by Mark A. Hicks. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


Introduction

Guided by the U.S. National Geography Standards and the Internet as their vehicle, students become techno explorers while they study the past, present and future; as well as, geography and social studies skills.

Physical Systems
    •Recording the Changing Seasons in Ancient Times
In this lesson, students will learn about Stonehenge and read some ancient myths and stories explaining the seasons. They will pretend to be historians and use Web sites to find information about how ancient cultures kept track of and celebrated the seasons. Students will compile their findings into posters or illustrated reports.
Basic Resource Sites
    •National Geographic Education
Contains a One-Stop supersearch that finds useful National Geographic resources and sorts them by resource type—pictures, articles, maps, and more.
    •National Geographic Kids
    •unitedstreaming
unitedstreaming is a digital video-on-demand service brought to you by Discovery Education.
    •Today's Front Pages
The front pages from over 300 world-wide newspapers, posted each day.
    •Library of Congress
    •MultiCultural Calendar
    •U.S. Government Printing Office
    •The White House
    •Statistical Abstract of the United States
    •Hyper-History Online
HyperHistory is an expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world history with an interactive combination of synchronoptic lifelines, timelines, and maps.
    •Digital History
    •Picture History
Digital library of high quality images and footage illustrating more than 200 years of American history.
    •Teaching with Historic Places
Teaching with Historic Places uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects.
    •Biography
    •Eyewitness to History
Environment & Society
    •Fall Out from Chornobyl
Students should recognize that changes to the environment in one place can often affect other, distant places. To introduce and reinforce this concept, students will read and analyze several articles describing consequences of the 1986 explosion and fire at a nuclear power plant in Chornobyl, Ukraine, a country which at that time was part of the Soviet Union. Students will then create a map showing which countries were affected by this disaster and how they were affected.
    •Past to Present: How Ancient Cultures Shaped the World
Students will look at some of the ways our modern world was shaped and is still influenced by ancient cultures.
Human Systems
    •Top Ten Cities
This lesson introduces or reviews the locations of the most populous cities in your state, province, or country. It also introduces population distributions.
    •The Food Timeline
Food history is full of fascinating lore and contradictory facts. Historians will tell you it is not possible to express this topic in exact timeline format. They are quite right. Everything we eat is the product of culinary evolution. On the other hand? It is possible to place both foods and recipes on a timeline based on print evidence and historic context.
Places & Regions
    •Your Special Town
This lesson asks students to consider the unique and special features of their hometown and to create a presentation or performance that could be used to welcome visitors to the town. In the process, students will gain an awareness of the human and environmental factors that make places unique.
Primary Sources
    •American Memory
    •EDSITEment
    •Ad*Access
The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955.
    •The American Civil War Homepage
The American Civil War Homepage gathers together in one place hypertext links to the most useful identified electronic files about the American Civil War (1861-1865)
    •Documenting the American South
Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes nine thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
    •Teaching with Documents
This contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections. The Analysis Worksheets would be wonderful to use with other documents as well.
Social Studies Games
    •Geography Games
    •GeoSense
    •GeoNet
    •Map Man
    •GeoBee
Techno Tools
    •Biography Maker
The Uses of Geography
    •One If By Land, And Two If By Sea!
What do students know about Lexington and Concord, the Old North Church, or the historical poem Paul Revere's Ride? The poem tells of the effort to warn 18th-century Boston-area colonists of the approach of British forces. This lesson introduces various places and an event associated with the American Revolutionary War.
The World in Spatial Terms
    •Over the River and Through the Woods: Traveling by Memory
This lesson introduces students to the concept of mental maps and their development. Students will transfer geographic images to a sketch map, providing visual reinforcement and a means of discussion and assessment.
    •Getting Lost
Students practice their knowledge of the cardinal directions by having them describe the directions in their classroom. Students will practice figuring out the relative directions of other places (such as another classroom or the office) in relation to their classroom. They will conclude by taping signs with place names around the room to show the directions they would travel to get to those places.
    •Map Machine
Find nearly any place on Earth, and view it by population, climate, and much more. Plus, browse antique maps, find country facts, or plan your next outdoor adventure with our trail maps.
    •The World Isn't Flat
Activities introduce the concepts of navigation, mapping and exploring as they are woven into music, geography, mathematics, creative writing and science.
Web Cams & Virtual Field Trips
    •eFieldTrips
    •National Geographic: WildCam Africa
    •Tramline Virtual Field Trips
    •Google Earth
    •Global Hydrology and Climate Center
Weather Satellite Imagery


Last updated: February 16 2006, 2:56 pm
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