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Alarmed by the possibility of social studies being overlooked in this context of new national disciplinary standards, National Council for the social studies (NCSS) and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools convened a meeting of 15 national organizations representing civics, economics, geography, and history, to begin a conversation about a set of Common State Standards for Social Studies.

The Inquiry Design Model (IDM)TM is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers' knowledge and expertise, avoids over-prescription, and focuses on the central elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013).

Problems Worth Solving Discovery Education accelerates school districts' digital transition through comprehensive standards-based content, professional development, formative assessment, and community engagement proven to positively impact student achievement. A digital textbook series, built from scratch for today's learners and current standards, engages students with dynamic, multimodal content and an inquiry approach.

Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 466 billion archived web pages.

Theme Units, Worksheets, Printables Math, Reading, Writing, Languages

Explore how other nonprofit and public benefit organizations are using Google's mapping tools to visualize their cause.

Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.

Short Description: economics-games.com allows students to run simulations and make decisions as a market participant. A student may elect to play a solo game or a multi-player game, selecting from a variety of economic topics such as fixed costs, monopoly, competition, and prisoner's dilemma (to name only a few). Depending on the game, students are initially presented with certain data/information and must submit decisions based on what is provided. Once the student (or each player) makes a decision, the student is directed to a results page which can then be discussed with the teacher and/or as a class. Example of Uses: As an aspiring high school Social Studies teacher with a background in Economics, this seems like a great tool to use to supplement the introduction of economic/business terms and concepts. In the classroom, students can learn definitions and principles (i.e., the "Who", "What", "Where", "When"); in the simulations/games, students experience and demonstrate the practical application of such terms to understand the "How" and "Why". In this context, critical thinking skills are used to assess the information provided and arrive at a well-reasoned decision. Such skills are further developed as the students and teacher engage in a discussion about the rationale and impact of the choices of the student(s), without, of course, the pressure of real world economic consequences. With an often dry topic as Economics, this tech tool also seems like an effective way to keep a class interested and engaged with material. Perhaps bonus points could be offered to students who yield good results in their simulation and can support their decision-making with strong arguments. The obvious limitation is that this particular tech tool is designed for one subject. However, similar simulations and educational role-playing games exist for other content areas. In any case, the simulation or game should present information to the s

(Please note the link to a Free Demo download on the right hand side of the linked page) Orwell is an episodic indie game that puts players in the role of an analyst working for a fictional surveillance state in the wake of a bomb explosion in a public square. Players are tasked with scouring news sites, social networking sites, message boards, blogs, text chats, and the like for clues as to the identity of the bomber and possible motivations for the bombing. Potentially relevant information is highlighted, but it is up to the player to decide whether each piece of information is worthy of inclusion in a report to be passed up the chain of command. The items selected create the narrative that law enforcement will act upon, but the player has no say as to what actions are taken beyond selecting what to include in the accumulated data. The story unfolds through the narrative that player-selected data constructs and the actions that result. Mistakes can result in the detention or prosecution of innocents. This forces the player to exercise research and critical thinking skills, particularly evaluating data as relevant or irrelevant, reading between the lines, and maintaining awareness of how each piece of information contributes to an overall narrative. Embedded in all of this is a clever critique of the surveillance apparatus and how it relates to our conceptions of freedom, safety, and privacy-a critique, I would argue, worthy of the game's name. I selected Orwell for this critical thinking post because it is essentially a gamified exercise in research, or, put another way, research with training-wheels. All of the pieces of data that the user can include are presented in context, and players must evaluate how a clue relates to both its context and to the investigation as a whole in order to make useful selections. That kind of consideration is essentially what we are doing as we research material for inclusion in an academic paper, and so I believe the game doe

A platform for real-time formative assessments + a FREE next-generation student response system.

Short Description: Formative is a free, online tool which allows teachers to create a variety of assessments, collect data, and provide feedback to students in real time. In setting up an assessment, teachers may create their own material or upload documents, images, and YouTube videos (to name a few) to which they may add questions. Such questions can include multiple choice selections, True/False, short responses, and "Show Your Work", the latter two requiring manual grading/correction. After all responses are submitted, the teacher may then receive a summary of class scores and export that data to a spreadsheet. Furthermore, the feature of tagging certain skill sets to an assessment enables a teacher to track each student's progress with a particular subject. Examples of Uses: Formative can be used for nearly any subject or topic. Throughout a unit, a teacher could create multiple assessments to evaluate their class's understanding of the material. In a Social Studies unit on the Founding Fathers for instance, a teacher could upload photos of the different Founding Fathers and ask for an identification and brief description. For another question, they could upload a map of the United States and ask students to manually draw in where certain historical events took place. Also, the teacher could upload portions of the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution and have students respond to questions posed regarding those documents.

Inquiry is a process of active learning that is driven by questioning and critical thinking. The understandings that students develop through inquiry are deeper and longer lasting than any pre-packaged knowledge delivered by teachers to students. Inquiry-based learning follows a process that progresses through phases, but is recursive and reflective throughout.