Social Studies Technology Project Ohio Department of Education

Social Studies Technology Project Ohio Department of Education Social Studies Model Dave Marshak

World Wide Web Resources DESIGNED FOR • Oakwood High School • AP American History • Grades 10 -12

Goals and Objectives • Students must familiarize themselves with the vast resources of the World Wide Web • Activities are designed to improve critical thinking and other high order cognitive skills • Relates each subject or topic to one of the six strands of the ODE Social Studies Model • Allows students to research and discover important historical information themselves

Introduction • Students will navigate through a series of web sites, each one relating to one of the six strands • With each site, students will complete an activity. These activities may range from research to personal opinion and analysis

AMERICAN HERITAGE • Library of Congress “American Memory” http: //lcweb 2. loc. gov/amhome. html ACTIVITY: Click on the “Today in History” link and find out what significant event took place on this date in history. What makes this event significant and how has it changed American History? • Martin Luther King Project http: //www. stanford. edu/group/King/ ACTIVITY: Select Dr. King’s “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech, the last time he ever gave a public address. What are your reactions to the speech? Do you feel Dr. King would be pleased with the current state of civil rights in this country? Why not?

AMERICAN HERITAGE • The American Social History Project http: //www. ashp. cuny. edu/ ACTIVITY: On the front of this page the questions ‘who are we? ’ and ‘who built America? ’ are asked. In your own words try to answer these questions. Explore this web site and see if your answers change at all. Are there any significant points you left out of your own answer? Do you think this is even a fair question? Finally, try to explain what “social history” really is, and how it effects our everyday lives.

AMERICAN HERITAGE • Ohio History http: //www. ohiohistory. org/resource/oahsm/index. html ACTIVITY: Ohio has a very important place in U. S. History. Use this web site to find out just how many U. S. Presidents have come from the State of Ohio. Also, what important events in U. S. History have occurred in Ohio or relate directly to this state? • Labor History http: //www. dol. gov/dol/asp/public/programs/history/main. htm ACTIVITY: Since the industrial revolution labor has been a key topic in U. S. History. How has labor changed over the last hundred years? What would Thomas Jefferson have to say about labor in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s?

PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES • African Studies http: //www. sas. upenn. edu/African_Studies/AS. html ACTIVITY: Much of African culture survived the slave trade and has become part of the very fabric of American society. Examine African art and tradition. What aspects of this do you see even today in this country? How do you think slavery has effected this subculture? • Canadian Studies http: //www. cs. cmu. edu/Unofficial/Canadiana/README. html ACTIVITY: Canada and the United States share the world’s largest unguarded land border. Visit this web page and collect five interesting facts relating to the people of Canada.

PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES • Antiviolence Education http: //curry. edschool. virginia. edu/curry/projects/Hal. Burbach ACTIVITY: Explore this web page and then list five reasons why it is important. Do you feel violence is an increasing or decreasing problem in this country? How does violence in our schools effect our nation as a whole? • Japanese Popular Culture http: //www. csuohio. edu/history/japan/index. html ACTIVITY: Here is an interesting place to visit! Japan has invaded the United States with games and automobiles, but the United States has invaded Japan in other ways. Find a few interesting facts, and there are plenty, about Japanese popular culture and see if you can find a root for them in our own.

PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES • American Studies http: //www. georgetown. edu/crossroads. html ACTIVITY: This web site is devoted to the study of American culture. What makes the population of the United States so different than many other nations? Do you think these differences are positive or negative? Be prepared to explain your answer thoroughly.

WORLD INTERACTIONS • Yahoo Maps http: //www. yahoo. com ACTIVITY: Yahoo is one of the largest internet search engines on the world wide web, but did you know you can get directions, even print out maps with it? Explore the site until you find the map maker and then print a map from Dayton Ohio to Boulder Colorado. How easy was that? • Atlas of States http: //fermi. jhuapl. edu/states. html ACTIVITY: Select four different kinds of Ohio maps and explain how each would be useful

WORLD INTERACTIONS • Berlin http: //userpage. chemie. fu -berlin. de/adressen/berlin. html ACTIVITY: Spend a few minutes learning about the city of Berlin. Try to find some interesting facts or sights that would make this a city worth visiting. Explain why Berlin is an important city in World History, or even why it could be an important city in U. S. History.

WORLD INTERACTIONS • Remote Sensory http: //rsd. gsfc. nasa. gov/rsd/ ACTIVITY: What is remote sensory and why is it an important tool? How can this kind of technology be used by the United States as it relates to the world around it? • National Spatial Database http: //www. cast. uark. edu/local/catalog/national/ ACTIVITY: What in the world is this page about? Click on the “about the project” link and find out what and why.

DECISION MAKING AND RESOURCES • Board of Governors http: //www. federalreserve. gov/ ACTIVITY: Read the latest press release of the Federal Reserve and explain why it’s important. If you don’t feel it is important than explain why. • Econ Ed Web http: //ecedweb. unomaha. edu/ ACTIVITY: This is a web page that is designed to improve economics education in this country. Select two links on the front page and list three different ways each link is useful.

DECISION MAKING AND RESOURCES • Landmark Project http: //www. landmark-project. com/eco-market/ ACTIVITY: Select a partner and take part in the landmark project! This economics exercise will test your knowledge by having you sell an imaginary product over the internet. • Cleveland Fed Reserve http: //www. clev. frb. org/ ACTIVITY: This site offers a competition for High School students.

DECISION MAKING AND RESOURCES • Theodore Tugboat http: //www. cochran. com/cochran/default 4. html ACTIVITY: This site is about the popular BBC character Theodore Tugboat. What could this possibly have to do with Social Studies? Good question! Explore the various links on the web page and list three ways that this site is helpful.

DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES • Ohio Government http: //www. ohio. gov/ ACTIVITY: Under the link “government branches” there are five separate departments. Click on each one of those links and find out what each branch does. Explain the information you find in your own words. • Supreme Court Decisions http: //supct. law. cornell. edu/supct/index. html ACTIVITY: Which U. S. supreme court decision do you think was the most important or crucial ever? Why?

DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES • Democracy in Emerging Countries http: //www. ifes. org/ ACTIVITY: What is the international foundation for Election Systems? How does it help developing nations and democracy “get along? ” Given what happened in the 2000 U. S. Presidential election, the most advanced democracy in the world, explain why an organization like this is important.

DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES • The White House http: //www. whitehouse. gov/WH/Welcome. html ACTIVITY: Take the online tour of the whitehouse and then give a short, but very descriptive, review. • The Federal Bureau of Investigation http: //www. fbi. gov/ ACTIVITY: Read the Freedom of Information Act on the FBI homepage. Explain your position on regulating the internet. Do you feel that the government should be able to control this resource as well?

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES • Civic Networking Initiative http: //www. cpb. org/civnet/ • Civic Practices Network http: //www. cpn. org/ ACTIVITY: Who is in the Civic Practices Network? How does one go about joining? What advantage does it offer? ACTIVITY: Type the word “Ohio” into the CPN search engine and see what happens. What kinds of useful links are available? How do you think an organization like this benefits a democratic nation?

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES • Citizen http: //www. citizen. org/ ACTIVITY: Here is a site that encourages active participation in democracy. How does this site suggest every day citizens be involved in government. Give specific examples of how this page makes it easier for citizens to become more active. Do you think the government of the U. S. views these kinds of organizations as beneficial or detrimental to our democracy? Why?

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES • Family Involvement in Education http: //www. ed. gov/Family/agbts/ ACTIVITY: Click on the resources link on this web site, and then on the community update. Find out what this organization is all about. Find five facts or characteristics about this organization that relate to our ideas of citizenship or civic responsibility • Web Active http: //www. webactive. com/ ACTIVITY: Web pages like this are excellent at keeping us informed on all of the latest world news. Find a news story on this page and then explain why an American citizen needs to know about it

CONCLUSION • By exploring online resources and examining them through analysis and synthesis students can utilize higher-order thinking skills • Students themselves become the source of delivery for information, as teachers become “guides” as opposed to “instructors”

CONCLUSION • All six strands of the Ohio Model for Social Studies Education can easily be integrated into a simple technology based assignment “The future of education is moving in a new direction, and finally the rhetoric is beginning to match the reality. Although we still have to push from time to time, students must walk through the doors we open for them on their own” - source unknown