These interactive state maps are perfect for students working on state projects or reports. Each map features clickable points where kids can learn about cities, landmarks, landforms, rivers, mountains and much more. In addition, individual state pages feature numerous activities, state histories, printables, and videos.
This section of the National Council for the Social Studies website appears to be a little bit dated, but the materials that are presented seem to be a useful resource. It must be difficult for social studies teachers to tackle the tough subjects of current global conflict, terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, and September 11, 2001. I am sure many school districts are still using textbooks that were printed prior to 2001 or 2002, and just don't cover this relevant information. Some of the items listed on this page are basic and practical (maps, etc.) and others are a bit more engaging and dynamic, aiming to help students develop an emotional connection to the subject matter.
Global issues classes in high schools will probably cover this subject matter; mine did in-depth. Some of the resources could be useful as hand outs, especially the maps. As an example, maybe over the course of a week or so of instruction, a teacher using this site as a resource could put together a lesson that stretches over the 5 class meetings, chronologically examining the roots of the second War in Iraq, stemming from the Persian-Gulf war, through Clinton's involvement, to 9/11, terrorism, Al-Qaeda being used as a pretext for war, concluding with an examination of the anti-war movement and the short course of the "traditional" war against the Iraqi military. The following week could move in to the insurgency or another related topic. Basically, I see this website as a place where a teacher looking to present the outlined events can find some extra resources that won't be in most textbooks.
Choose a "Geography Action!" theme at right and be directed to a variety of primary and secondary sources (maps, lesson plans, video and audio resources, and pictures) relating to that theme.
The site contains information on conservation, topography, human migration, and other relevant topics for geography teachers. A variety of supplemental maps also illustrate these concepts.
Cultural and region specific information is broad, so while this site is valuable for geography teachers, it may not provide detailed enough information for history teachers.
The levels on this game are a little tricky-- I would try the game first to determine which level is best for your students. Even though I know where all the states are, it requires you to be very precise.
I don't like that this is all the way at the bottom. If you use this in the classroom as an interactive learning game, make sure you scroll down the page so you can see the state facts. The game is a little bare without the extra information.
This site is, overall, a little boring but it does what it's supposed to do. Sometimes getting students interested in geography is tricky but this game could increase student interest. Students will select a level, then drag and drop the states to their correct location on the map. There could be a little more information about each state (just to increase the amount of learning) but this is generally a good, basic, online learning game.
This site utilizes historic photos of different sites of interest from the Library of Congress and is associated with the National Registry of Historic Places.
This site could be very easily used in a U.S. history class to either plan a field trip to different historical sites, give students perspective on what events happened where and give them something highly visual to augment the lesson.
The site is useful in that it contains an interactive map of the sites, pictures of events that occured at the sites and an indepth list of sites by state. However, one issue is that at least for me the different pictures and site graphics took awhile to load making it less than user friendly.
This site is run by European (French) historians and so it is important to note the different framework with which these maps were created. Users should understand potential deviations from traditional American understandings of history.
Washington Post Magazine: D.C. 1791 to Today - Working with the Washington Post and washingtonpost.com, a team of students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill developed a series of images to digitally illustrate the myriad changes to the architecture and landscape of Washington, D.C. since the city's inception in 1791. Working from maps, plans, drawings, and photographs, the UNC students have represented the physical history of Washington in a set of time slices, showing side-by-side views of familiar landscapes, then and now, and modeling significant changes to important buildings and monuments.">
This is a lesson I used in order to teach students how perception often determines how maps are made. This activity is especially good for students that struggle with reading/writing since there isn't much involved with the activity.