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October 2001 - Social
studies is a broad topic, encompassing several subjects, including history,
government, economics, civics, sociology, geography and anthropology.
It can also be one of the most visual learning experiences for students
with the help of today's tools and software. Instructors no longer have
to rely on outdated textbooks and wall maps to educate students about
an area that is rich with sounds and images, when it can be brought
to life via computers. With today's new software titles, students can
travel from state to state, explore cultures and societies around the
world, and relive the times of our forefathers without leaving the classroom.
This month's Focus On highlights some of the current social studies
solutions that cater to different educational levels and skills.
Social studies is a broad
topic, encompassing several subjects, including history, government,
economics, civics, sociology, geography and anthropology. It can also
be one of the most visual learning experiences for students with the
help of today's tools and software. Instructors no longer have to rely
on outdated textbooks and wall maps to educate students about an area
that is rich with sounds and images, when it can be brought to life
via computers. With today's new software titles, students can travel
from state to state, explore cultures and societies around the world,
and relive the times of our forefathers without leaving the classroom.
This month's Focus On highlights some of the current social studies
solutions that cater to different educational levels and skills.
Teaching social studies utilizing
interactive games, animations, videos and cutting-edge technology can
be both fun and educational for students. Tool Factory Inc. runs the
gamut when it comes to social studies solutions. In an innovative mapping
program, Map Detectives,
students play a detective trying to track down the thief of Lady Hartley's
manor. Using geography and mapping skills, students have to solve a
series of crimes in two interactive mystery games. Intended for second-
through eighth-graders, the program sharpens a student's ability to
use map symbols, grid references, distance and scale as they search
for the stolen objects and collect clues. The CD-ROM uses humorous photos,
lively animations, maps and sounds to engage students as they navigate
through intelligent, ever-changing plots. In addition, Map Detectives
offers a facility to monitor students' progress and print activities
for the classroom.
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Getting younger students
to learn about world geography can be a challenge. But with interactive
software that features man's best friend as a tour guide, it becomes
enjoyable. Storm Educational Software offers Smudge Discovers the World
for children ages 5-9. Following Smudge the Spaniel, the interactive
package equips children with basic geographical skills toexpand their
interest and understanding of people and places. The easy-to-use program
is presented in four parts, with support material for work away from
the computer. In part one, Smudge discovers the world by looking at
political, physical and human features. Students are asked to name countries,
cities, rivers, mountains, etc. The program includes a postcard facility
that encourages students to leave the computer to find additional information
about a place or feature, which incorporates photos of many of the locations.
Part two uses an aerial map to teach compass, coordinates and mapping
skills. Students can also use the CD-ROM to design a map of their local
area, including its roads, rivers and other key features. And part three
covers rivers, cloud formations and the effects of weather on a community.
Teachers looking for ways
to spice up history lessons can now utilize multimedia re-sources with
images, audio and video clips to help students learn. Multimedia Collections
from Teacher Created Materials provides an easy-to-use collection of
historical clip art and photos, as well as audio and video clips. Teachers
and students can use these CD-ROMs to create fun and interesting classroom
presentations. Each of the titles contain search engines so users can
browse by topic or media type. In addition, a 48-page user's guide includes
step-by-step instructions on how to use, search, copy and save multimedia.
Comprehensive listings of sounds and thumbnails of images are also included
with each collection. The Multimedia Collections' titles include: Ancient
Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Age of Exploration,
Colonial America, American Revolution, United States Constitution, Civil
War, Westward Expansion, Industrial Revolution, Ellis Island Immigration,
World War I, Roaring '20s & Depressing '30s, World War II, and The Fifty
States.
From Rand McNally comes New
Millennium World Atlas Deluxe Education Edition, a detailed 3-D world
map that can be viewed as a globe or wall map. The CD-ROM includes thematic
maps that highlight social, economic and environmental themes. The program
offers a Compare Facts module with more than 100 statistical data sets
for students to chart. It also features an extensive library of history,
science, culture and wildlife articles, along with thousands of re-searched
Web links. Students are given the ability to create personal notebooks
for gathering and saving articles, maps and other data. In addition,
a printable Edu-cation Guide CD walks you through 14 key features to
demonstrate how each of them can be applied to in-class and independent
study on subjects such as history, geography, political science and
earth science.
The National Geographic Society
offers two social studies tools that help students explore Earth and
beyond. First is National Geographic Maps, a CD-ROM archive that includes
every foldout map ever published by National Geographic magazine. The
program features engaging multimedia map tours, interactive timelines
that trace the evolution of mapping, key events in National Geographic
cartography, and the stories about the people and places behind these
maps. Other features allow you to explore the surface of the moon, peer
into distant galaxies and travel to the depths of the ocean. The CD-ROM
allows you to search any map or theme with ease, as well as view, pan
and zoom-in on maps for a global or close-up view. Another element lets
you enjoy multimedia tours on the mapping of space, history, the underwater
world and much more. In addition, it has features that enable users
to copy, paste, and print color or black-and-white maps for school reports
or home.
Also from National Geographic
is Our Earth from the Wonders of Learning CD-ROM library. Geared for
prekindergarten to second-graders, the program is a voyage around the
planet, investigating such things as what elements support life, what
air can do and why it rains. Students are able to examine the Earth's
oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts, as well as examine the forms
of life in each. In addition, students learn critical map concepts,
including location, symbols and cardinal directions.
Inspiration Software Inc.'s
Inspira-tion 6 program is used in many social studies classes to help
students draw connections between events and learn about cause-and-effect
relationships. Inspiration Software's visual learning tool does this
by providing students with integrated diagramming and outlining environments
that work together to help them comprehend concepts and information.
Many students use the program to compile and organize research information
to create social studies reports or presentations. As Inspiration 6
ships with several social studies-specific templates, teachers can quickly
and easily integrate the program into their lesson plan. For example,
if studying causes of the French Revolution, a social studies class
may use Inspiration's history Web template to create a visual map that
shows how the events leading up to the revolution relate to one another.
This provides a structure that helps students learn to organize and
prioritize information. After students have graphically illustrated
their ideas and the relationships between them in this view, they can
easily switch to Inspiration's outline view. Here students will find
their information organized and prioritized into a hierarchical outline.
In the outline view, students can develop their ideas about the causes
of the French Revolution into a written report using notes text, or
export them into a word processing or presentation program.
Finally, Heartsoft Inc. offers
a social studies solution for the gifted or challenged student with
Great American States Race, which pre-sents students with a diverse
number of questions on state history and facts in a race format. The
geography program breaks down the U.S. into regions, including New England,
the Pacific, the Midwest and the South. Students will benefit from learning
states, capitals and other facts, such as a state's flower, bird and
tree. It also helps students improve their geography skill level for
national standardized tests.
-Matthew Miller
mmiller@thejournal.com
Link
to T.H.E Journal website.
Contact Information
Map
Detectives; Disappearing
World; Smudge Discovers the World
Tool Factory Inc. East Dorset,
VT (800) 220-8386 www.toolfactory.com
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