Essential Social Studies:  

A sampler of links/lessons

Unit I: Current problems/Government/ Economics       Current Problems Links:

Internet Public Library News and Current Event Links/Resources

Current Events in Economics

CNN:  News for Students, resources for teachers

Teaching Current Events via Newspapers, Magazines and Television

Government Links:

Teengov.com  Flash interactive site where teens can learn about government and participate online

The Economics of Voting Why do so many voters stay away from the polls on election day? This is a puzzle to many people interested in the well-being of our democratic system. Economists try to explain this outcome...

Must Candidates Fight? Understanding Political Campaign Strategies. A lesson plan for high school social studies classes that incorporates information contained on the World Wide Web. Developed by Dan Dana and Susan Zieha-Dana, students will use the Web and be helped to see through the disinformation and campaign propaganda to recognize what a candidate really stands for. 

National Parks: Only You Can Prevent the Coming Crisis

What do you think of when you think of the National Parks System? Do you think of the majesty of the Grand Canyon and the redwoods of Northern California?  Or do you picture the patriotic splendor of the monuments in Washington, D.C.?  Behind these beautiful images, unfortunately, the National Park System faces some ugly issues.  The enormous number of visitors and the constant threat of development present the national parks with a variety of problems.

'Be All You Can Be'...For Minimum Wage?  The economics of government military service

Income: It Isn't Where You Start, It's What You Got, and Where You End  Republicans and Democrats differ on how the benefits of our economic prosperity should be distributed. Particularly, they differ on what should be done with current and future budget surpluses.  What do the income distribution data show? Can we infer from the data that the wealthy are benefiting relative to the less wealthy? Who has benefited from the recent economic expansion? Who has not benefited? Why? These are among the questions regarding the effects of the current economic expansion that are examined in this lesson.

Constitutional Rights Foundation On-Line Lessons

    Foundations of Our Constitution

Separation of Powers Between the Three Branches of Government

The Role of Government

Social Statistics Briefing Room  The purpose of this service is to provide easy access to current Federal social statistics. It provides links to information produced by a number of Federal agencies. All of the information included in the Social Statistics Briefing Room is maintained and updated by the statistical units of those agencies. All the estimates for the indicators presented in the Federal Statistics Briefing Rooms are the most currently available values.
A-Z World Constitutions
http://www.charter88.org.uk/links/index.html
An alphabetical list of links to national and international constitutions of the world. The text of the constitutions is in English unless otherwise noted.
 
The Real Thirteen Days: The Real Thirteen Days is a part of the National Security Archive Web site and uses primary documents to show the events of the Cuban missile crisis. High school level students can view photos, listen to recordings, and read the full text of declassified documents.

Economics Links:

EconEDLink :  General database of online lesson plans for economics.  some specific lessons for Essential Social Studies:

Data Links:  Find out here the current status of the key economic indicators for the United States.  Explore links that cover a wide spectrum of economic concerns, from the National Debt to Exchange rates and so much more.

The American Standard of Living - For Better or For Worse Is the distribution of income in the United States becoming more unequal? Does the average American today have a higher or lower standard of living than the average American of a generation ago? Will the next generation have a higher or lower standard of living than today's generation?

Economic Indicators  How do economists make their forecasts about the U.S. economy?  What are the economic indicators that help forecast economic activity and business cycles?  In this lesson you will be able to retrieve up-to-date, key economic statistics which will provide valuable hints about the state of the future economy. http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM131

I'll Trade You a Bag of Chips, Two Cookies, and $60,000 for Your Tuna Fish Sandwich In an interesting lesson on supply and demand, figure out why bluefin tuna goes for tens of thousands of dollars, while a can of its cousin is available at the supermarket for $1.99

A Case Study: Gross Domestic Product  Understanding the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The Economics of Recycling We all want a clean environment; just how clean is often a matter for debate

Unit II: Geography/Charts Graphs/World Cultures         Geography:

Five Themes of Geography and Current Events

Social Studies Skills

Eco-terrorism in Vail, CO

Plotting a Hurricane Using Latitude and Longitude

The Internet Public Library Geography Links/Resources

Geography Games Online More than 20 online geography games for middle and high school students.

More Online Geography Games A site that uses interactive maps, games, and quizzes to teach about world geography

What is the capital city of...? contains lists of capital cities for all countries of the world and the 50 U.S. states with more than 1200 quizzes for students in middle and high schools to test their knowledge.

Charts and Graphs:

Learning about Charts and Graphs

Unit III: Critical Thinking/ Reading/Writing /Historical Perspectives

How to Write a Thesis Statement

Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

Taking an Essay Exam

LEO: Literacy Education Online:

Logical Fallacies

The Middle Ages: Webbing, Outlining and Summarizing

Library of Congress Learning Page for Primary/Secondary Sources

You Be the Historian. An online activity where students examine primary sources to determine what life was like 200 years ago for Thomas and Elizabeth Springer's family in New Castle, Delaware. 

What Portraits Reveal This lesson is designed to help students recognize that portraits, whether paintings or photographs, can tell us more about people of the past than just what they looked like.

   Evaluating Eyewitness Reports This lesson offers students experience in making historical meaning from eyewitness accounts that present a range of different perspectives

Drawing Inferences

The Frontier Exchange Game

Reading comprehension/summarizing: General outline of skills and techniques

American Classroom Customs:  Reading comprehension activity from overseas to teach English

World Population Growth:  Reading comprehension/graphs activity

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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