Social+Sciences

General Sites
[|Biography Maker] [|Biography Videos] [|Photo Galleries] From biography.com

Historical Scene Investigation
[|Historical Scene Investigation] is 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.

Online Universities
has provided a list of 100 educational virtual tours. With topics such as:
 * Cities (including Pompeii and Ancient Rome)
 * Famous landmarks and buildings (including Stonehenge, Taj Mahal and the Vatican)
 * Museums (including the Louvre and the Smithsonian)
 * Outer space
 * How things are made (Toyota cars and Hershey chocolate)
 * Humans and animals
 * Google Earth virtual tours (Cathedrals, castles, palaces, libraries and universities) – note that you need to have Google Earth installed on your computer

[|What Happened in my Birth Year]
This is an example of a site that does exactly what its URL suggests. Type the year you were born and you’ll be told a lot about what happened in the world that year. Most of the information will be related to American pop-culture, though some world and sports history is thrown in as well.

[|How Products are Made]

 * How Products Are Made** explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams) Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc.

For example, you can find here descriptions of Air Bag, Air Conditioner, Artificial Snow, Automobile, Battery, Blue Jeans, Chewing Gum, Coin, Compact Disc, Credit Card, DVD Player, Fireworks, Hologram, Jet Engine, Laser Pointer, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Nuclear Submarine, Paint, Popcorn, Refrigerator, Telephone, Television, Temporary Tattoo, Vaccine, Vacuum Cleaner or Watch.

This searchable site is suited for a general audience and the descriptive language of this reference material is easy to understand and to follow. So go ahead we invite you to learn about How Products Are Made!

[|Life and Times: Nelson Mandela]
[|Snag Films] is currently hosting [|//Life and Times: Nelson Mandela//] produced by Content Film. The film, originally released in 2004, traces the life of Mandela from childhood through his imprisonment and work following his release from prison.

Civil Rights
Today's [|document from the National Archives] is a sketch of where Rosa Parks was seated on the day she refused to give-up her seat. Along with the sketch, the National Archives has posted a [|lesson plan] using the sketch. The National Archives also posted lesson plans about Jackie Robinson and the Civil Rights Movement. [|Learning to Give] has a [|lesson plan] about Rosa Parks that is appropriate for elementary school use. [|Teaching Tolerance] has [|lesson plans] about Rosa Parks that are appropriate for middle school and high school students. History.com has an [|interactive timeline of the Civil Rights Movement]. In that timeline is a good section about Rosa Parks and the bus boycott.

[|WorldClock]
WorldClock is an online clock that along with the time shows real time statistical data of the world. The info includes things like world population, birth, death, divorce, abortion, HIV, cancer incidence… etc. You can view real time stats for one year, month, week and day. The stats presented on the site are averages of the data gathered from sources like World Health Organization, CIA Factbook ,US Census and others.

[|Breathing Earth]
Comments from Derek Wenmoth: Breathing Earth provides real-time simulation displays the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth and death rates.The data used for the simulation has been gleaned from a variety of sources, including [|CIA World Factbook] and [|United Nations Statistics Division]. The creator of the simulation emphasises that this is purely a simulation, and that data that measures things on such a massive scale can never be 100% accurate - however, I think it is an effective way of visually modelling some of the issues and concerns that exist around global warming, CO2 emissions etc as a ‘way into’ thinking and talking about such concerns with students. Using the simulation as a base, I can see opportunity for lots of discussion and further deabte. Even if you consider the claims of CO2 emissions and global warming are over-rated, the simulation provides a prompt for exploration about the validity of such claims, further investigation of the data and its reliability etc. In my mind this is one of the things that technology does well - processing large amounts of data and representing it visually in ways that allow for us to engage with complex issues and ideas more easily. Roll on the day when such representations are generated from real-time data collection and aren’t dependent on modelling based on already out-of-date data that has been gathered elsewhere

[|Rainforest Webquest]
This WebQuest is not really a WebQuest, but more of a quiz. Well, maybe it is a WebQuest. After all, you do have to go to Web sites on the Internet to find the answers to the questions. All the while, you are learning about what makes rainforests so special. The questions are divided into different areas.

[|Rainforests]
This [|useful website] provides free resources for [|teachers] who are interested in the topic of rainforests. Materials for students aged 3 to 16 are available. There are: and other resources freely available for anyone to use. There are pages provided for teachers, students and parents.
 * [|lessons ideas]
 * games
 * videos
 * activities
 * competitions

[|Planet in Action]
This is an incredible site that uses Google Earth as a basis for interactive journeys around the earth. Students can take a virtual helicopter ride above the Grand Canyon, explore Mount St. Helen, sail a virtual ship in Port of Rotterdam, take a helicopter tour of Manhattan, or Disneyland Paris. As students explore, they can grab a snapshot and create their own virtual post card.

[|GeoEdu]
Download for Windows and Mac

[|Earth Pulse, Maps, Global Trends, Human Impact]
[|Earth Pulse] is National Geographic's visual guide to global trends. In [|Earth Pulse] you will find a series of maps and articles designed to help you explore emerging global trends. The contents of [|Earth Pulse] is divided into three sections, the [|Human Condition], [|Our Relationship With Nature], and [|Our Connected World]. Each of these sections is subdivided into three or more sections. Some of the topics you can explore on [|Earth Pulse] include the impact of human behavior on ecosystems, population shifts, and global connections made possible by technology.

[|Atlas Jigsaw Puzzles]
National Geographic's [|Atlas Jigsaw Puzzles] challenge players to assemble the continents as quickly as they can. There are [|puzzles] based on every continent. The [|puzzles] are based on political and physical maps. In all there are twenty-three puzzles.

Earth Calendar
and celebrations around the world.
 * ** The Earth Calendar is a daybook of holidays

For the purpose of this web site a "holiday" is any day that recognizes a cultural event, and not necessarily a day when businesses are closed. ** ||  ||

[|Trading Around the World]
International trade touches us all. We drink soda from cans made of aluminum mined in Australia, wear shoes made in Europe, eat fruit from South America, build machinery from steel milled in Asia, wear clothes made from African cotton, and live in homes built from North American wood. We take it for granted, yet before we can enjoy these products and materials, traders must negotiate prices and deliver the goods through a network of relationships that literally spans the globe. Play this game to experience the challenges and excitement of international trade. See if you can get the best price for the goods you sell and the biggest bargains for the goods you buy. Watch how the global economy is doing: the prices you'll be able to get and the deals you can make depend on how healthy the global economy is.
 * A GAME** from International Monetary Fund

[|FactBook]
FACTBOOK HELPS YOU FIND COUNTRIES You can search by text, or choose attributes on the left to sift through nations. Play with it, and you'll quickly get the idea. Click on a flag, see some details. Click a few grey "select" boxes near the flags, and you can compare countries. Add some to a list. Bookmark a search or a country's page. Use it for research, for trivia, for studying - whatever. It's totally free. FactBook is website which provides you with a unique way to retrieve facts about countries of the world. Unlike any other website it does not give you list of results or pages full of text, instead it provides you with a set of filters using which you can easily find what you need. For example, let’s say you want to find out in which African countries people mainly speak in English? All you have to do is first choose the Africa and then click on the English language. The results will b showing all English speaking countries in Africa. You may then filter/sort results even further using other filters like population, religion, GDP, government type, natural resources, continent, neighbors… etc.

[|The Best Sites For Discussing The Morality Of Torture]
Sites from Larry Ferlazzo

[|Show World - A New way to Look at the World]
Great data resource for world statistics

[|Rankings, Records, Countries of the World]
A useful site for all sorts of information about countries of the world.

[|Active History Google Map files]
Google Earth is a fantastic tool which allows you to explore the globe from your home computer. You can whizz around the planet; zoom in and out of countries, towns and even streets; examine the terrain, add your own overlay maps and construct virtual "flyover" tours of selected locations. Google Earth has obvious applications in the Geography classroom, but it also has incredible potential for Historians.

[|Museum Box]
This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. Click [|**START**] above to begin creating your own Museum Box. You can add text, images, video and sound to the side of the cubes. To save your box you will need to register.
 * Teachers:**
 * Lesson guidance and instructions for use are available in the [|Teachers Area]
 * You can [|**Register your school**] here.

[|GeoSense]
Test your knowledge of world geography alone or against another online player.

[|World Digital Library]
discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Items may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information.

[|VistaZoo]
VistaZoo is a customizable portal from where you can create stunning, professional Virtual Tours combining panoramas, pictures, video, audio, floorplans and objects in 3D. Your tours will be uploaded and placed on a map instantly. Once the tour has been created, you can easily embed it into any website in seconds. It works just like YouTube. Create and share instantly.

[|One Clip at a Time]
Changing the world - one class at a time

[|TIME Photo Essays] [|2008 Year in Review] Select different areas of the world to review what happened - photos and videos

[|Slavery and the Making of America]

[|Social Studies Lesson Plans]

[|SCORE History Social Science]

[|The Best social studies websites 2007] [|The Best Social Studies Websites — 2008]

[|The Week in Rap]



A week's worth of news, rapped. New every Friday.
[|Current Events videos] Another - A week's worth of current events set to rap. New episode every Friday. Social Studies rocks the house

[|This I Believe] //This I Believe// is an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values that guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here and featured on public radio in the United States and Canada, as well as in regular broadcasts on NPR. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow. Hundreds of teachers around the country—in almost every state—have embraced This I Believe as a powerful educational tool. Many have told us that our project was the most enriching writing assignment they have given in many years of teaching. To help teachers guide students through exploring their beliefs and then composing personal essays about them. Guides for all school levels.

[|Youth Voice Toolbox] The Freechild Project defines Youth Voice as the active, distinct, and concentrated ways young people represent themselves throughout society. The Freechild Project has been promoting Youth Voice in nonprofit organizations, schools, foundations and government agencies since it was founded in 2001. Working with a variety of partners across the country, Freechild has learned about Youth Voice from the 1000s of young people and adult allies in our workshops and critical conversations. Use the Table of Contents on the right to find some of the tools, examples and resources we have developed and collected over the years.

[|Our World 2.0]
O ur World 2.0 is brought to you by the United Nations University and asks the question: What can we do when faced with complex, inter-connected and pressing problems like climate change, oil depletion and food security? In responding to these challenges, innovation will be the key. This webzine and series of video briefs will report on and analyze these innovations in order to inspire people to learn. And while understanding is a precursor to motivation, innovation and technology alone will not solve these problems. These are just examples of how to bring about change. A global priority shift is perhaps first necessary, so we must consider the question: Why change? And you are best placed to answer this. Our World 2.0 speaks to you, the general public and shares stories on how and why we can re-make this world into a newer, better version. For Our World 2.0, the central tenet is that we can use our collective knowledge, technology and design to facilitate creativity, innovation, and, most notably, collaboration amongst people. Our World 2.0 is a conversation. It is your opportunity to have a say and to share your ideas. Our World 2.0 motivates people to take action and illustrates how this action can bring immediate benefits in terms of their money, health and overall lifestyle.

[|City Creator]
**Instructions** Choose a city from the selection on the right, and click the corresponding 'build' button to begin. Drag and drop pieces from the palettes on the left onto the space on the right. Clicking on a piece brings it to the front. Arrange them to make your city. (It might help to start by adding the roads) You can delete your whole town by clicking the 'Delete all' button. Click 'Save & send' to send your unique city to your friends.
 * [[image:http://www.citycreator.com/images/truck.gif width="66" height="48"]] || [[image:http://www.citycreator.com/images/space.gif width="4" height="48"]] || If you don't like a piece you can delete it by putting it in the dumper truck in the right corner. ||

[|Vista Zoo]
Free virtual tour VistaZoo is a customizable portal from where you can create stunning, professional Virtual Tours combining panoramas, pictures, video, audio, floorplans and objects in 3D. Your tours will be uploaded and placed on a map instantly. Once the tour has been created, you can easily embed it into any website in seconds. It works just like YouTube. Create and share instantly.

You can also have your own version of the VistaZoo portal and customize it to your liking. Forget about coding and hassles with servers and databases. VistaZoo takes care of it all for you. Feel free to use for either personal or commercial use.

Your portal and the content uploaded on it can be viewed from any computer and several mobile devices, making it a very powerful marketing tool.

=[|Evolution of the Household]= 1950 to Today

Games with a Social Focus
[|Rwanda]

[|Safe Drinking Water is Essential] Over one billion people lack access to safe drinking water worldwide. What can be done? Learn about this problem and explore possible solutions. View a map showing safe drinking water areas of the world. [|Eliminate Child Labour]

Step ‘into the shoes’ of a social worker with the goal of eliminating child labour in your community.

[|Timestream Journey]

Students ‘walk in the shoes’ of a Cambodian facing the challenges of surviving through civil war, the Khmer Rouge regime and the years of upheaval that followed. [|Take a Walk]

Found in the Funzone of the Rwanda Family Connection, students ‘become’ the head of a child family in Rwanda . Decisions made affect the survival rate of your family. [|3rd World Farmer] Endure the hardships of 3rd world farming

=[|26 Learning Games to Change the World]=

[|Muck and Brass] History game from BBC

Video Sources
[|Movie Archive] A moving image archive with 17,478 downloadable video files. Collections include: the Prelinger Archives - 48,000 short films (vintage TV adds, educational, industrial, and amateur), Feature Films, Computer Chronicles, Net CafŽ TV series, Election 2004, Independent News, SIGGRAPH Computer Animation, MSRI Math Lectures, Vintage Cartoons, World at War, and Universal Newsreels.

[|Newsfilm Online] Produced by ITN, the world's largest independent news organization, this website offers a number of ITN news stories available to download for free, arranged by theme and date. Categories include: Art, Black and Asian issues, Computing and Technology, Courts, Trials and Crime reporting, Crowds, Disasters, Health, Language, Natural Disasters and Weather, Science and Technology, Street fashion, and US Civil Rights.

[|First World War Vintage Media] Contains archive video and audio recordings of politicians, royalty, commander, battles, songs and speeches from the World War I era.

Videos available at BrainPop [|Continents of the World] (03:59) Just how many continents are there, anyway? [|Compass] (01:44) How does a compass know which way is North? What is "North" for that matter? Find out here! [|Map Skills] (03:18) We can show you how to read a map - but we can't help with the folding!
 * Maps, Mapping at Atlas Skills **

[|Global Positioning System] (03:17) GPS receivers are great at helping you get un-lost, but just how the heck do they work? Tim & Moby explain in this animated movie! [|The Industrial Revolution] (03:50) Learn about the technological advances made in the Industrial Revolution! [|Assembly Line] (02:02) Ever heard of the Industrial Revolution? If you have, then you MUST know about the assembly line! Watch this film to learn more! [|Forms of Energy] (02:10) Tim and Moby talk energy and find out where it comes from in this BrainPOP movie. [|Energy Sources] (04:41) We all use energy to light our homes, run our cars, and cook our food. But where does all that energy come from? Learn about sources of energy in this animated movie! [|Fossil Fuels] (04:01) What makes cars go? Fossil fuels! What lights up gas grills and stoves? Fossil fuels! What's made from dead plants and animals? Why, they're fossil fuels, and there featured right here! [|Dams] (03:01) People have used dams to control their environments for thousands of years. Let Tim and Moby show you how they work!
 * Industrial Geography (just what we need to make it a bit more interesting!) **
 * River Basin Managment **

[|Recycling] (02:34) Learn how recycling can help our environment! [|Water Pollution] (03:36) What's muddying the water and what can you do about it? Only Tim will tell [|Air Pollution] (02:46) Pollution is bad for people and for the environment. Tim and Moby will show you how it is created.
 * Environmental Geography **

[|AIR POLLUTION ADVANCED] (03:00) See how smog and acid rain are formed in this animated BrainPOP movie. [|Water Cycle] (02:23) Learn about Earth's constantly moving water in this animated movie! [|Skyscrapers] (02:54) Learn about the tallest structures in the world, and how they stay up!
 * Settlement Geography **

**Agricultural Geography**

[|Agricultural Revolution] (02:42) Learn about how the Agricultural Revolution changed the way humans live, forever!

[|Chocolate] (04:13) How does chocolate get from the tree to the candysweet shelf? Follow Tim and Moby on a mouthwatering field trip.

[|Temperature] (03:13) Feeling a little hot under the collar? Or are you cool as a cucumber? Learn about Temperature in this animated movie!
 * Climate Regions **

[|Deserts] (03:26) Learn about the driest places on Earth--Deserts! [|Floods] (03:41) Water is essential to Life, but can you have too much of a good thing? [|Hurricanes] (02:12) Hurricanes threaten coastlines around the world every year. Let Tim and Moby walk you though the fury of one of Nature's most powerful storms! [|Tornadoes] (02:13) Nothing screams "Nature's Fury" like a tornado! Check 'em out here!
 * Natural Hazards (excluding Earth Forces) **

[|Types of Rock] (02:39) Rocks don't just stay the way they are. They may change slowly, but they do change, from one type of rock to another! Check it out here!
 * Physical Geography **

[|Weathering] (02:10) Ever wondered how soil is made? Or how sharp mountain peaks can become soft hills? Check out our movie about weathering and learn! [|Erosion] (02:13) Learn about how erosion shapes the land over time. [|Glaciers] (02:35) See how Glaciers form and erode the land in this BrainPOP movie. [|Rivers] (02:02) Tim and Moby explain how rivers form and what makes up a river system.

[|Rock Cycle] (02:58) OK, so the life of a rock doesn't sound interesting, but you'd be surprised! Tim and Moby explore the rock cycle in this animated movie! [|Tides] (02:22) Find out how the moon controls tides on Earth and how tides can provide us with energy in this BrainPOP movie!


 * Development and Health **

[|Fighting Hunger] (03:36) Learn how WAICENT's tools and the FAO's resources can help to end food insecurity! [|United Nations] (03:48) Just what do they do, anyway?

[|Weather] (02:48) Get the skinny on weather with Tim & Moby in this animated movie!
 * Weather and Atmosphere**

[|Wind] (03:02) Where does the wind come from? Tim and Moby answer this question here! (hint: there is no giant fan involved.) [|Temperature] (03:13) Feeling a little hot under the collar? Or are you cool as a cucumber? Learn about Temperature in this animated movie!

Greenhouse Effect (02:06) Learn how the greenhouse effect works!

[|Humidity] (02:36) It's not the heat; it's the humidity! But what is humidity?

[|Ocean Currents] (02:33) Learn how and why ocean currents move in this BrainPOP animated movie!

[|Ozone] (03:07) You hear about it all the time, but what is it? What is it made of? Where can you find it? And why the heck is there a hole in it? Tim and Moby answer these questions in this movie! [|Clouds] (01:46) Tim and Moby show you different cloud types and explain how clouds form!

[|Rainbows] (02:30) Learn about that wonder of optics, the rainbow! (Unicorns not included) [|Thunderstorms] (03:35) What's that rumbling in the distance? It's a thunderstorm! Watch this movie, in which Tim and Moby investigate these awe-inspiring storms! [|Snowflakes] (03:10) Falling snow is a beautiful sight, but the hidden structure of snow is even more breathtaking! Find out how snowflakes form in this animated movie! [|Water] (02:09) Two thirds of the Earth is covered with it! It makes up most of your body weight! It's fun to swim in! It's water, and Tim and Moby dive into the subject in this animated movie!

[|Water Cycle] (02:23) Learn about Earth's constantly moving water in this animated movie!
 * Population Geography **

[|Population Growth] (02:29) Our population is exploding! See how it affects our environment in this animated BrainPOP movie.

[|Seasons] (02:33) Spring into this movie and learn about the seasons! Summer cold, and Summer hot! Um. Uh, Winter! Winter, Winter, Winter. [|Tropical Rain Forests] (03:11) You hear a lot about the rain forest, but what is it? Where is it? And why is it so important? Learn about these majestic forests in this movie! [|South Pole] (04:46) What makes the South Pole so cold? Tim and Moby get to the bottom of it

[|Earth's Structure] (02:41) We all know what it’s like on the surface of the Earth, but what happens beneath the surface, so to speak? Learn about your planet's internal structure in this animated movie! [|Platetechtonics] (02:00) The continents of Earth weren't always like you see them today. They've moved, and they're still moving! Learn about the slowly changing face of our planet in this animated movie! [|Volcanoes] (03:15) Violent eruptions! Huge plumes of gas! Rivers of molten lava! This movie investigates all this stuff and more!
 * Earth Forces**

[|Earthquakes] (02:25) I think I felt the earth move! Tim and Moby explain earthquakes! [|Ocean Floor] (02:44) Underwater mountains and earthquakes! Tim and Moby explore what’s happening on the ocean floor.

[|Pyramid Builder]
[|Pyramid Builder] is an interactive portion of the [|BBC's Ancient History Egyptians] feature. [|Pyramid Builder] asks students to select a location for their pyramid and design a pyramid. After selecting the location and design, students need to plan the construction of the pyramid. The planning phase requires orientating the pyramid, selecting construction materials, and building a labor force.