Social Studies Possible Web Applications
04/17/2001
Web Resource
- Interview major players
in a current event or those affected, i.e., interview elders about Social
Security, Israelis and Palestinians about the peace process, etc.
- Access news accounts
from major media
- Inquire into government
processes through public documents such as the Senate or House records,
U.S. Census report, etc.
- Investigate and report
on controversial issues using primary documents
- Analyze economic
indicator and statistics
- Reference historical
documents via the Library of Congress, etc.
Web Collaboration
- Study for AP exam, with
students from all over
- Study World War II with
classroom from each country involved
Web Survey
- Survey political issues
locally or globally
- Investigate biases in
polling
- Compare cultures, i.e.,
work ethics, values, resource allocations, etc
- Identify problems that
need to be addressed
Cooperative Challenge
- Join others in investing
and designing a solution to a problem that students care about, i.e.,
pollution of a shared waterway or the lack of funding for the arts in your
school district.
- Join forces to take
political action on a current issue i.e., an online letter-writing
campaign to key government officials.
- Join others to
investigate alternative solutions to a problem or question from history,
for example how could the Cuban Missile Crisis have been avoided?
Social Action
- Design a fund-raiser for
a social cause and gather support from around the world.
- Create a public service
campaign complete with educational resources on your Web site.
- Plan a simultaneous
celebration or social act, i.e., a moment of silence on the anniversary of
the dropping of the A-bomb or tree planting on Arbor Day
Community Connection
- Interview and profile
war veterans on your Web site for Veterans Day.
- Create an online survey
about a controversial issue in your district. Publish the results in your
local newspaper.
Simulations
- Virtually visit another
country or culture through keypals and Web site searches.
- Mimic an historical
event online with representatives from the respective countries or states
of all the major players, i.e., Nuremburg trials, Camp David accords, etc.
- Create a model United
Nations with representative classrooms from as many countries as possible.
- Assign roles across
cultures in a real or imagined conflict
- Hold an online debate
with players who have a stake in the issue, i.e., debate health care
reform with an insurance company representative, etc.
- Chart the progress of a
fictitious journey taken around the country or the globe.
Web Publishing
- Create a
"suggestion box," a site where students can express their ideas
and address an issue of concern.
- Research and design a
site dedicated to an historical event.
- Around elections, create
a virtual voting booth, where students around the world can cast their
ballots.
- Publish a newsletter or
magazine devoted to social issues and featuring students' writing.
Back
to Email in the Classroom