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Connecticut Council for Social Studies

 
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Links/Resources

Civics and Government
  • The Red, White and Blue Project
  • U.S. State Department
    http://www.state.gov
    Electronic Subscriptions and RSS Feeds
    http://www.state.gov/www/listservs_cms.html
  • “Fantasy Congress.”
    http://www.fantasycongress.org/fc/
  • You can automatically receive via email full texts of selected U.S.
    Department of State documents and publications that provide key official
    information on U.S. foreign policy; you also can receive notifications of
    travel warnings and Foreign Travel Per Diem updates.

    RSS Feeds
    RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an easy way to get the news you want
    whenever it is updated even if you are not on www.state.gov. The Departmentof State provides continually updated headline feeds from all the topsections and delivers them directly to your desktop news reader.

  • New resource for K-12 educators from the Anti-Defamation League
    Curriculum Connections (http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections) is a collection of original lesson plans and resources that help K-12 educators integrate multicultural, anti-bias, and social justice themes into their curricula. Each issue is organized around a particular topic or theme and is distributed via e-mail three to four timer per school year.

  • Hidden Heroes was developed by Just Think (www.justthink.org), a media education nonprofit based in San Francisco. After successfully piloting the program with more than 200 students in four communities across the country, Just Think developed a curriculum kit that provides both step-by-step instructions and options for adjusting the curriculum to suit varying time and equipment resources. The curriculum kit includes a 26-page production guide and 13-minute companion video that chronologically follows students "behind-the-scenes" as they participate in the program, along with a website (www.hiddenheroes.com ) for teachers and youth leaders that provides additional resources and a place for participants to view and share their work.
  • "CT-N State Civics Toolbox," offered online by The Connecticut Network. A new resource that combines video of legislative debate with lesson plans and classroom activities for teachers to aid in civics instruction for high school and middle school classes.
  • OldBaileyOnline.org - A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
  • Annenberg Political Fact Check
    Fact Check, project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. It monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. The goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
  • Columbia Journalism Review
    Real-time media critiques from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism with liberal leanings. CJR was the first national journalism review, Its 22,000 readers are disproportionately opinion makers. Since its founding in 1961, CJR has tackled meaty issues from war reporting to the role class plays in media coverage.
  • Connecticut Bar Foundation
  • Justice Learning.org - Call for Lesson Plans
    Selected lesson plans will be published on the site, in a searchable database, for use by teachers across the country. If your lesson plan is selected, Justice Learning will send you a classroom set (10 hardback copies) of Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives. If multiple lesson plans are selected, we will send you up to 30 books.
    Lesson plans may be entered at JusticeLearning.org. Simply click on "How teachers use Justice Learning in the classroom" found in the lower right hand corner. Then choose "Enter Your Own Lesson Plan." Teachers will be notified via email within 30 days of lesson plan submission, if their lesson plan will be published on the site.
    Civic Education in the Real World. JusticeLearning.org offers students and teachers a multimedia introduction to headline issues and events related to law and justice -complete with free, easy to use curricula and classroom resources. Starting with issues that directly affect student's lives, the includes audio from NPR's Justice Talking radio show and articles from The New York Times as well as a wealth of primary source materials from the Congress, the Courts and the Presidency.
  • C-Span
  • The White House
  • United States Department of Justice
  • A Teacher’s Guide to Folklife Resources - American Folklife Center
  • Federal Resources For Educational Excellence
  • Teaching With Historic Places- National Register of Historic Places; National Park Service
  • National Archives and Records Administration
  • The World Fact Book 2001– Central Intelligence Agency
  • United States Department of Education
  • Center For Civic Education
  • Civics Online - a collaborative, online project providing a rich array of  primary sources, professional development tools, and interactive activities to help in the teaching of civics
  • The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
  • UnderstandingPrejudice.org - Access more than 2,000 prejudice-related links, searchable databases of social justice organizations and prejudice researchers, teaching resources, and interactive exercises.
  • National Constitution Center - The NCC was established by Congress through the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988, as an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. NCC was established to increase awareness and understanding of the US Constitution, the Constitution's history, and the Constitution's relevance to our daily lives so that all of us -- "We the People" -- will better understand and exercise our rights and our responsibilities. Access civics lessons online.
  • Partners Against Hate - The FBI has recently released its compiled hate crime statistics for 2001. Partners Against Hate is a joint effort of the Anti-Defamation League, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence to design and implement a program of outreach, public education, and training. Featuring both online and offline resources and support, Partners Against Hate coordinates its individual organizational experiences and broad-based networks to promote awareness of promising techniques to prevent, deter, and reduce juvenile hate-related behavior.
  • FindLaw - Index of law resources useful for searching the Web statutes and law reviews as well as Supreme Court decisions from 1937 to the present.
  • U.S. News 100 Documents - US News and World Report's issue this week is about the 100 documents that defined/shaped America. This is coinciding with the reopening of the Charters of Freedom display at the National Archives. The magazine has a series of articles about various things related to the documents that are very interesting. Also you can vote on your top 10 most important documents on the website. I have a copy of the magazine if you want to take a look, and here is the website that goes with it.
  • Human Rights Day - December 10
     On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
    http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

    In honor of Human Rights Day, teachers are encouraged to talk about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and teach it to their students. There are many outstanding resources online including:
    http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/humanrights/welcome.asp
    www.hrea.org/erc/Library (this whole website is great)
    http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/
    http://www.hreoc.gov.au/info_for_teachers/
    http://web.amnesty.org/pages/hre-resources-eng

    Please take the time to educate your students about human rights.
    There are also Human Rights Ambassadors able to come and teach human rights in your classroom just email: unescochair@uconn.edu.
    for more information contact:
    Moh Sharma
    UNESCO Student Ambassador for Human Rights
    http://www.unescochair.uconn.edu/index.htm
  • The School Virtual Congress
    Students across America set the agenda, debate and vote online any time. Operating continuously it produces a concise collective expression of student opinion on the issues of the day. The student voice in each school, state and for the whole country can be seen at a glance.

    To register your school and to see the US School Virtual Congress visit www.schoolcongress.com.
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Election
  • Pollingreport.com - An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion.
  • Freedom's Answer - Sponsors a massive initiative called TAKE TEN to
    achieve the largest non-presidential year voter turnout in U.S. History.
    Visit the website for information on how you and your school can participate
    in collecting pledges to vote, registering new voters and communicating the
    message that participating in democracy is vitally important. Go to School Resources to register your school.
  • Youth Leadership Initiative - Participate in The Youth Leadership Initiative's largest on-line mock election in the nation using electronic cyber-ballots. Teachers may register their school to participate in the program. Further information, including a mock election guide, will be sent and/or e-mailed to teachers prior to the mock election. View the 2002 results here.
  • PBS NewsHour Election Teacher Guides - includes excellent lesson plans, student directions, student worksheets and related materials to use with your students. Topics included are: Why This Election Matters, Polling in your Community, Analyzing Political Commercials and Bringing out the Vote.
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
  • Electoral College Procedural Guide
  • Electoral College Calculator
  • Youth Leadership.net
  • C-SPAN Classroom and the 2008 Election
    C-SPAN Classroom provides social studies and civics teachers with curriculum resources that are non-partisan and provided without cost to educators and their students. The resources are developed by C-SPAN, a private, non-profit company created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN provides coverage of a variety of public affairs and political events most notably the Congress, President and Supreme Court. A 2006 study by the Pew Research Center identified CNN, 60 Minutes and C-SPAN as the top three “most trusted sources” of news in the United States.

    By registering for a free C-SPAN Classroom membership teachers will gain access to a searchable database of current and archived video clips, teacher resources as well as student activities and student contests. Additionally teachers become eligible to receive special teaching tools like free DVD video clip collections and classroom posters that are sent out periodically. Teachers can register at http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Registration.aspx.

    As the 2008 election cycle unfolds, K-12 teachers will also find rigorous, relevant and authentic resources to support standards based civics and government instruction at www.c-spanclassroom.org. C-SPAN Classroom provides teachers with lessons and supplemental materials as well as unrestricted taping and viewing rights for C-SPAN-produced programming.
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Global Studies

  • Google Earth Go to http://earth.google.com Click "Get Google Earth free version," and follow the directions. It just takes a couple of minutes to do.The following link has lesson plans you can use with Google Earth. http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001672.shtml
  • Netstate.com
  • Maps That Teach
  • Global Studies and Contemporary Issues Lesson plans that accompany the "What's Going on" Video/DVD series
    http://www.un.org/works/goingon/goinghome
  • The Promise Video - Genocide in Darfur
    produced by Danbury High School students
    www.dhsthepromise.com
    View powerful 8 minute video and related news items with resources.
  • DARFUR WEBSITES
  • DARFUR:TEACH STUDY ACT
  • National Geographic Magazine
  • Unheard Voices-Identifying business records, letters, diaries, and illustrated materials that “attest to historic female entrepreneurship, and offer a window on the lives of working women”
  • Art of the Draw-The State Historical Society of Wisconsin - online exhibit of 50 advertising posters from its McCormick International Harvester Collection
  • Massachusetts Studies Project: Industrial History
  • Scanned Maps of Connecticut, 1676-1900 - The University of Connecticut Libraries historical map collection consists of 287 digitized maps of Connecticut, Long Island Sound, New England, the Northeast Atlantic region, and the United States from the period 1676-1919.  
  • The First Measured Century - Extensive statistical record.  Survey the extraordinary changes that took place in American life between 1900 and 2000.  
  • Connecticut Geographic Alliance
  • PBS Global Café - Interesting resource for teaching geography and world
    history. This site includes a variety of teacher lesson plans including resources from Worldwise schools such as The Cultures Matters Workbook and Building Bridges: A Peace Corps guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding.
  • World & I - Website of The World & I magazine. Read cover stories, order back issues, and browse Teacher Guides. Visit the Worldwide Folktales page to peer into the roots and psyche of exotic cultures through 100+ worldwide folktales.
  • Asia for Educators Online features classroom materials and teaching guides on Asia for use by faculty and students in world history, culture, geography, art, and literature at the undergraduate and pre-college levels. Search for content by subject area, document type, or time period. AFE Online also features several multimedia and image-based units on various Asia-related topics, as well as maps, timelines, primary source readings, and a searchable database of recommended teaching materials from other publishers. AFE Online is an initiative of the East Asian Curriculum Project and the Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum at Columbia University.
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Economics

Resources

  • National Council on Economic Education - A nonprofit partnership of leaders in education, business, and labor. Essential resource for anyone interested in economic education
  • AmosWEB - A site that’s effective, engaging, and well…fun. Highlights include Ask Mr. Economy, Gloss*arama, a database of 700 economic concepts
  • Consumer Action Web Site - The Federal Consumer Information Center: advice and consumer tips
  • EcEdWeb - Resources for Teachers K-12
  • EconSources - Informative, easy to navigate, and non-commercial.  Its home page directs you to 13 main categories: economic indicators, global economic data, federal agencies, and much more
  • Foundation for Teaching Economics - Features online lesson plans, simulations, and a section on using the Internet to teach economics
  • Junior Achievement - A summary of all the JA programs for students in grades K-12
  • JumpStart Coalition - for Personal Financial Literacy: The how-to's of personal finance; how to manage a household budget; how to plan for retirement
  • EconEdLink - Created by the National Council
    on Economic Education, this site provides teachers with a
    variety of online and classroom learning activities based on
    economic topics in the news
  • Understanding Taxes - published by the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Department. Now you and your students can access online all the great educational content found in the Understanding Taxes program! The online version includes detailed lesson plans, interactive activities, simulations, and more!

  • History

  • Banking

  • Economic Data 

  • Coins and Currency

  • Extracurriculars

  • Economics Challenge - The National Council on Economic Education and the Goldman Sachs Foundation have teamed up in an effort to boost the number of students taking advanced placement economics courses and improve overall performance on the AP economics test

  • Fed Challenge - A national economic education competition for teams of high school students who study real U.S. economic conditions and then present their analyses and recommendations for interest rate policy

  • LifeSmarts - A consumer education competition for teens in grades 9 to 12, is sponsored by the National Consumers League.

  • United States Treasury Department
 
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Terrorism
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Media
Annenberg Classroom
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Connecticut History

  • CT History Online - The CT Historical Society, UConn, and the Mystic Seaport have collaborated
    to launch a brand new website with over 12,000 historic images; school resources and lesson plans; research assistance; state-of-the-art Geo-locator; powerful search engine; and stories that take you on a journey through time.

  • Heritage Gateway - A new website created by the Connecticut Humanities Council provides extensive information about Connecticut's past. This site includes a searchable encyclopedia of Connecticut history, archives of original Colonial documents, an extensive bibliography, a directory of 200 historic sites in the state and a heritage events calendar.

  • Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1776 - The Colonial Connecticut Records is a wealth of information dealing with history, political science, law, agriculture, sociology, Indian policy, military history, foreign relations, etc.
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U.S. History

  • Teaching American History Projects
    History is Central http://www.historyiscentral.org/

    A collaborative project based at Central Connecticut State University, History Is Central aims to improve student learning in U.S. history by connecting participating middle and high school teachers to the best in history scholarship, to local historical resources, and to an ongoing network of colleagues.

  • The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
    Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History promotes the study and love of American history. Increasingly national and international in scope, the Institute's initiatives target audiences ranging from students to scholars to the general public. The Institute creates history-centered schools and academic research centers; organizes seminars and enrichment programs for educators; produces print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions; and sponsors lectures by eminent historians. The Institute funds awards including the Lincoln and Frederick Douglass Book Prizes and offers fellowships for scholars to work in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and other archives.
  • Popular Songs in American History
  • History Matters - Designed for high school and college teachers of U.S.
    History courses. This site serves as a gateway to Web resources and offers useful materials for teaching U.S. history.
  • American Heritage Magazine
  • The History Net
  • Civil War Preservation Trust - America's largest non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of our nation's endangered Civil War battlefield lands. The Trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives. The History Center and Classroom link includes lesson plans, primary sources, games and activities .
  • Child Labor in Agriculture - More than half of the world’s estimated 250 million working children work in agriculture and rarely, if ever, get the chance to go to school.  The tragedy of their lives and what people can do to fight the worst forms of child labor are vividly portrayed on a new web site. Developed with funds from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
  • Federal Resources for Educational Excellence - FREE makes it easy for teachers, parents, students, & others to find teaching & learning resources from more than 40 federal organizations.
  • Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • American Memory Site: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library - American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
  • The Critical Bibliography on North American Indians, for K-12 from The Smithsonian Institution
  • The Native Village - A website was created for youth, educators, families, and friends who wish to celebrate the rich, diverse cultures of The Americas' First Peoples. Each week we offer readers two current events publications. Native Village libraries house links to quality learning opportunities and websites. Our archives allow you to browse past issues, and we continually update information in other areas to help you stay current with Americas' First Nations and People.
  • Utah Remembers 911 - Utah remembers the victims of September 11, 2001
  • National Visionary Leadership Project - The goal of the project's site is to preserve and disseminate the stories of living African-American leaders to children across the globe. The web site complements an ambitious historical project that includes live conferences, lesson plans, and mentoring programs. Visitors to the site will have immediate access to live video biographies about visionaries such as Gordon Parks and Dorothy Height. They'll also be able to apply online for the Visionary Heritage Fellowship Program, which encourages youthful community members to follow in the footsteps of leaders who have come before them.
  • The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University - The King Papers Project is a major research effort to assemble and disseminate historical information concerning Martin Luther King, Jr. and the social movements in which he participated.
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World History
  • Holocaust Trunk Resource Project - For seven years, the Education Department of Holocaust Museum Houston has managed over 100 steamship size curriculum trunks filled with books, audio and video items, posters and other resources for the classroom teacher focusing on the Holocaust, whether for a couple of days or a couple of weeks or longer. The trunks are loaned for periods of three to five weeks. Critically important, there is no charge for the loan, and the Museum pays the cost of shipping the trunk to the school anywhere in North America and picking it up for return to the Museum. Download more information.
  • Smithsonian Kids: Collecting - invites kids to start a collection of rocks, shells, postcards, posters, or something else that interests them.  Three Smithsonian collections are sampled.  "Rocks & Minerals" includes the Hope Diamond; "Stamps" includes Western Cattle in Storm (1898); "Historic Coins" includes the Jefferson Indian Peace Medal.
  • http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~nrc - Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Lending Library From the National Resource Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies newsletter:
    The lending library is free of charge to K-12 and college teachers in
    the U.S., certain community organizations, and Harvard faculty and
    students. They can mail materials to you; you pay only return shipping by
    US Postal Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. (Please keep your
    green receipt for the tracking number! They'll let you know when materials
    return to us.) They need to request a 2-week turnaround. They'll also ask
    you to emailt hem a description of your class or event, the number of
    participants, their general response to the materials, usefulness, and
    any follow-up plans.
    Reviews of videos with tips for classroom use:
    http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~nrc/lendinglibrary/videos.html
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Women's History

  • Distinguished Women of Past and Present - A growing list of profiles of notable women.

  • Women in American History - A site maintained by Encyclopedia Britannica.

  • First Ladies - Portraits and biographies of them all, from Martha Dandridge Washington to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

  • FirstLadies.org - The National First ladies’ Library is a national archive devoted to educating people about the contributions of First Ladies and other important women in history.

  • 4000 Years of Women in Science - Thumbnail biographies and other information.

  • Godey's Lady's Book Online - Several complete issues of one of the 19th century’s most popular American women’s magazines.

  • National Women's Hall of Fame - Mini-bios of the women who’ve been named to the Hall of Fame.

  • National Women's History Project - The latest information about events for Women’s History Month, plus links to many other online resources for teachers and students.

  • Worldwide Guide to Women Leaders - This site, maintained by a journalist, features listings of women in political positions of power throughout the world and throughout history and is updated frequently.

  • 96 Years of Women in the Olympics - Profiles of Olympians plus other general information about women in sports.

  • Association for Women in Mathematics - Association for Women in Mathematics is a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging women in the mathematical sciences.  Web site has information on education, workshops, travel grants, competitions for high school students and career resources.

  • Association for Women in Science - Association for Women in Science presents information on scholarships, grants, mentoring careers, programs for secondary school students and networking opportunities.

  • Design Your Future: Math, Science, and Technology for Girls - The goal of the Web site is to provide practical, inspiring, hands-on opportunities for young women wishing to learn about math, science and technology-based careers.

  • GirlGeeks - GirlGeeks is for aspiring young women interested in careers, training and mentoring in computing, information technology and the Internet

  • GirlTech - GirlTech is a technology company devoted to raising awareness and confidence of young women in the world of technology by introducing it with a sense of fun and adventure.

  • Institute for Women in Technology - The Institute for Women in Technology’s mission is to ensure that women are actively involved in all aspects of technology.  Meetings, workshops, conference, outreach and ongoing projects are listed on this Web site.

  • Women of Achievement and Herstory - A site compiled by Irene Stuber and presented by the Women's Internet Information Network, Women of Acheivement and Herstory features extensive bibliographies of pioneering women, as well as a wealth of information on the topic of women and herstory.

  • Society of Women Engineers - The Society of Women Engineers is an excellent resource for young women curious about careers in engineering but who have little knowledge about the field.  The site offers guidance on engineering majors, job functions of engineers, different fields of engineering, career availabilities, plus student activities, scholarships and an email mentoring program.

  • Women of NASA - The Women of NASA Web site is a resource designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in math, science and technology.

  • Women in Science - The Women in Science Web site features information on women in science, past and present, an international registry for women in science careers, interviews with scientists; virtual tours of science labs; mentoring opportunities; and a database for young scientists to register their future career plans.

  • American Women's History - American Women's History provides citations to print and Internet reference sources, as well as to selected large primary source collections. The guide also provides information about the tools researchers can use to find additional books, articles, dissertations, and primary sources.

  • History of Women - The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America has been at the forefront of collecting, cataloging and making available for research those papers, books, and other materials essential for understanding women's lives and contributions. The library holds letters and diaries, photographs, books and periodicals, ephemera, oral histories, and audiovisual materials that document the history of women, families, and organizations, primarily in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is also home to an extensive culinary collection and the Radcliffe Archives.

  • History of Women's Suffrage - History of Women’s Suffrage compiled by the Susan B. Anthony’s Center for Women’s Leadership.

  • Women's Rights National Historical State Park - Site of the National Park Service, Women’s Rights National Historical State Park located in Seneca Falls, New York.

  • Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During WWII - The Library of Congress has combed its archives to make this site. The articles and photos on this aspect of women’s history are worth the substantial download time.
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Libraries