Environmental Intelligence Unit (Web Activity)

via EIU

Here is an example of British tax dollars hard at work for online resources. The Environmental Intelligence Unit website gives students the opportunity to practice their skills with recycling, reusing, reducing, and a mystery "R." It's a fun and educational activity the BBC developed for UK elementary students; however, the topic is equally relevant for students stateside.

via EIU

Lincoln Legacy Learning Kits

via Educational Resources at Lincoln Presidential Library

Here's an example of an amazing resource that's free for Illinois teachers, the Lincoln Legacy Learning Kits courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Any resident in Illinois with access to a local public library can simply check out a suitcase filled with resources such as artifacts, books, primary sources, and DVDs related to one of four topics (inter-library loan #s provided):

1. Abraham Lincoln Biography Reading Kit(OCLC#244638162),
2. Mary Todd Lincoln(OCLC#244638165),
3. Civil War Soldiers Kit(OCLC#244637504), or
4. Slavery in Illinois(OCLC#244638607).

Once ordered, these suitcases are delivered to your public library (where you also return it within 14 days).

Netflix Queues via GIS

Who's renting Twilight? via NY Times

Here's yet another fascinating use of GIS technology. (I blogged about free GIS applications in a previous post.) This technology is even more powerful when a teacher can reference popular culture for "educational purposes." For example, check out this NY Times article that provides interactive maps detailing Netflix users' DVD queues via GIS technology. Interactive city maps include New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Bay Area (e.g., San Francisco), L.A., Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, and Miami. A great use of these maps is having students compare rental patterns (e.g., Twilight, Milk, Taken, Doubt) to Census demographics presented through gCensus and Google Earth. That is, what variables seem to attribute to the high number of Twilight rentals in certain neighborhoods? Number of teenage children or number of single adults? Ok, kidding aside (I should actually see the movie before I criticize it), this article is a great example of how map analysis (with a pop culture spin) and GIS can be made even more accessible in the classroom.

A "Smart(er) Board" for less than $50 (Projector not included)

via Ted.com

Last fall, I was introduced to this amazing use for a Nintendo Wii remote. Basically, for a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost of a Promethean Board or Smart Board, you can build your own. You just need software (free download), an LCD project, a Computer, a Wii remote, and an LED Pen (build your own with this link). Here's a video on TED.com that demonstrates this and other Wii remote hacks.

New York State Archives - Throughout the Ages

New York State Archive

Last weekend, I attended and presented at the National Council for the Social Studies Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA. I was more than impressed with the variety of sessions I attended and the generous vendors at the exhibition hall. (Those conference freebies are always great.) One of the true highlights of the conference was a session that introduced teachers to the resources available at the New York State Archive. The educational materials available at this site are amazing, and--as the presenter shared during the session--the result of the archives being part of the state's department of education (a rarity in the US). The point is that the site's resources are some of the more accessible ones I have seen for teachers.

Throughout the Ages

A great resource on the New York State Archive site is Throughout the Ages. Here, the user can select sources (arranged by topic for US and New York history) from the document index and create a printable worksheet with contextual information, questions, and state standards, to name a few.

via Throughout the Ages

Many of the sources already have questions (indicated with an asterisks next to the title) and links to state standards provided; however, the user can adapt these in any way by simply clicking on the section (e.g., "Questions" or "Standards").

via Throughout the Ages

Free GIS with Google Earth

Recently, I've been learning how to use GIS software, namely ArcGIS, to figure out more ways to include these tools in my methods courses. I agree with the literature that--in terms of pubic school curricula--this powerful tool takes Geography beyond the typical states and capitals ditty most of us experienced in grade school. ArcGIS is amazing (including its K-12 equivalent, My World GIS), and many people are doing great projects in schools with these projects. The GIS Storms Sewers Unit is a good example (see image below).

via Storms Sewers Unit

Yet, I wanted a free online tool that was more accessible to teachers and students. I was thrilled to come across gCensus today. It is powered by Google Earth (which I finally downloaded today, too) and it is exactly what I wanted.

via gCensus

Simply put, gCensus allows you to use 2000 Census data to construct maps. Google Maps allows you to include/overlay various features such as locations of schools, highways, businesses, and the like. To get started, just click (as indicated) on the "please click here" link on the gCensus homepage. Then select a state, county, and the data you want mapped. Below is a simple map that depicts the concentration of African Americans in Cook County, IL.

Map created in Google Earth with gCensus

The First Thanksgiving

October is nearing its end, and soon jack-0'-lanterns will give way to images of cornucopias, pilgrims, and Wampanoags (or the more common misrepresentation of Indians with feathers and tipis). In the 1990s, publications such as James Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me--and its revealing chapter, "The Truth About the First Thanksgiving"--raised the consciousness of many teachers who wanted to teach an alternative perspective to the usual narrative about the pilgrim's journey to a "Brave New World." But what kind of content is appropriate in an elementary or middle school classroom? Loewen speaks of grave robbing, cannibalism, disease, and the hijacking theory.

Colonist perspective from plimoth.org

Wampanoag perspective from plimoth.org

Is this they way we want students, adorned in black hats or feathers made of construction paper, to portray the beloved pilgrims and Wampanoags in a third-grade Thanksgiving play? This question is the kind of initial resistance many elementary teachers in my methods courses have when responding to Loewen's criticisms and similar curricula (e.g., Rethinking Schools). Fortunately, historical sites such as Plimoth Plantation are pushing the alternative perspectives approach and (even better) are giving students the opportunity to examine the evidence. Since few students outside of the New England area get the opportunity to visit the historic site, Plimoth Plantation has created an excellent online learning module that lets students sift through facts and myths to re-envision the history of the First Thanksgiving. Activities such as the "Path to 1621" let the user examine how the Wampanoag and the settlers viewed similar events quite differently. More importantly, in the section, "The Evidence," students get to examine the only source that mentions (and vaguely, at best) the First Thanksgiving.

Online learning module from plimoth.org

An important question students should ask is, "Why do we recognize the 1620 settlement of Plimoth as the site for the First Thanksgiving?" It is because it was the first non-Native settlement in the present-day United States? (In 1526, enslaved Africans abandoned by their Spanish captors attempted a settlement in what is now South Carolina.) Is it because it is the first settlement established for religious freedom? (Spanish Jews settled what is now New Mexico in the late 1500s). Is it because it was the first English Colony? (English entrepreneurs settled Jamestown in 1607.) Or does it have more to do with what happened in 1863? (See Loewen, 2007, Lies My Teacher Told Me, pp. 71 & 90.)

An important message from plimoth.org: "Past" and "History" are NOT synonyms