Social Studies/History
Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for helping students develop in the social sciences.
Teaching History as a Skills-Based Discipline
Students may associate history class with memorizing dates, but they should be learning the skills of evidence collection and analysis.3.4kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.An Effective Strategy for Teaching With Videos
Rather than showing long videos, teachers should design lessons that use clips as resources to spur class discussion.Your content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.Increasing Participation With Individual Whiteboards
When an entire class uses mini whiteboards to make thinking visible, teachers can be confident everyone is focused on the task at hand.45.8kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.Evaluating Primary Sources Through a See, Think, Wonder
By taking the time to observe, make inferences, and ask great questions about historical artifacts and images, students learn to avoid jumping to conclusions.60-Second Strategy: Quick Sorts
In this formative assessment game, table groups compete against each other to categorize key terms and concepts from the previous night’s assignment.Getting Their Hands Dirty
Experiential learning—like making incense sticks in factory conditions—teaches kids about real social issues.245.2kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.AI Tool Demo: Canva’s Text-to-Image Generator
Assistant editor Daniel Leonard shows how teachers are using Canva’s AI image generator to create fun writing prompts and engaging history-oriented images.Inquiry-Based Tasks in Social Studies
Assignments that are bigger than a lesson and smaller than a unit are a good way to experiment with inquiry-based learning.207.9kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.5 Movement-Based Social Studies Activities
Introducing movement into lessons can help students maintain focus and attention and boost engagement in learning.8.4kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.AI Tool Demo: Creative Uses for ChatGPT in History and ELA
Assistant editor Daniel Leonard shares a few interesting applications of ChatGPT that teachers have adopted to drive critical thinking and deeper analysis.Talking Politics: Valuing Different Perspectives
Students learn how to share and listen to opposing beliefs with empathy.206.4kYour content has been saved!
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6 Free Online Resources for Primary Source Documents
The Common Core Learning Standards describe the importance of teaching students how to comprehend informational text. Primary source documents are artifacts created by individuals during a particular period in history. This could be a letter, speech, photograph or journal entry. If you're looking to integrate social studies into your literacy block, try out one of these resources for primary source documents.300.8kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.Scaffolding Discussion Skills With a Socratic Circle
Students deepen their understanding and build a sense of community by engaging with their peers’ reasoned arguments.141.1kYour content has been saved!
Go to My Saved Content.Using Staging Activities in Social Studies to Build Engagement
Effective staging lessons help make a new unit seem relevant to students and also set the stage for critical thinking.10.1kYour content has been saved!
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