Middle School Social Studies
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| American Presidents |
Students research one of the American Presidents. Their objective is to formulate a conclusion as to the effectiveness of the President and be able agree or disagree with several of the national ranking surveys that have been conducted over the past 50 years. The students are to present their information and findings in a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation begins with a brief biography of their president. This is to be followed by an analysis of the President’s effectiveness in domestic affairs and foreign affairs. Included in the analysis is his public image and power of persuasion. Concluding the presentation will be a capsulation of his legacy and the student’s agreement or disagreement with these rankings. Evidence of primary source documentation must be given to validate the student’s conclusion. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3, 4 and 5. |
| Ancient Egypt from Inspiration to PowerPoint |
Students will use Inspiration to brainstorm and organize the information they have learned about Ancient Egypt to create a web document, and then use the Inspiration document to plan and create a presentation in PowerPoint. Students may use the Internet to find pictures for the PP slide show. Each student will present final products to the class. (This lesson presupposes that students have been studying Ancient Egypt and have a good base of knowledge on the topic.) Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| Checks and Balances Launch Page |
This launch page will allow students to become familiar with the concept of balance of power through checks and balances. Students will be required to create a chart depicting the responsibilities of the three branches of government so that each student visualizes checks and balances. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3 and 5. |
| Civil War Venn Diagram Launch Page |
This interactive lesson will introduce students to a web site that will enable them to create a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts the Union and the Confederacy. Students will label ten characteristics that define each side, and ten traits that both sides share. Upon completion, students will print a copy of the diagram that they created. This launch pages meets technology standards 1 and 3. |
| Colonial Regions: New England, Middle, and Southern |
Students will explore one of the three colonial regions that existed prior to the American War of Independence and identify how each colony in the region was similar and different. The series Making the Thirteen Colonies examines the events and the motivations surrounding the establishment of each of the England’s thirteen American colonies. The three colonial regions are the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| Distance and Time in Geography |
This real time data lesson will introduce students to a website that will enable them to research the distance in miles between their hometown and a city located in the country they are studying. Students will also be able to check the daily weather and compare it to the climate that they live in. Prior to this lesson, students will already have chosen a specific country and begun research with the goal of presenting their findings to the class in a well-organized, informative and entertaining oral presentation. Due to the nature of this lesson, students can access the website and research data for their individual countries prior to the presentation and incorporate it into their speech, or may choose to access the website during their presentation and display it on the classroom monitor as a visual aid. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1, 3 and 6. |
| Gorgeous Greek Columns |
The Greeks made many contributions to the arts, sciences, and architecture of western civilization. In this lesson students will demonstrate their understanding of the three types of Greek columns and their architectural design. The students will apply this knowledge by searching for many Washington D.C. monuments and determining the Greek influence on the designs of their columns. The students will then create a picture, sketch or model of a building that uses each of the Greek columns. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| Journey on the Underground Railroad |
Students assume the identity of former slaves and plot their course from Ripely, Ohio to Canada in an effort to evade slave catchers who have been empowered by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 to capture and return them to southern plantations. The students are placed into groups and plot their daily course based on estimated walking speeds and current weather conditions obtained online. Consulting the daily weather forecasts, students make adjustments. Students keep a daily log and record daily travel conditions on a migration chart. The journal and travel time is kept over a 15-day period. Students reflect weekly on issues via email with other students who are studying the Underground Railroad. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 4 and 5. |
| Life on the Edge |
Students will explore theories about why the ancient Pueblo people lived in Woods Canyon 700 years. Students will investigate, collect data, and make decisions about which theory they think best answers the archaeological research question. The research question presented in this lesson addresses a topic that is of great interest to archaeologists working in the Southwest today: the settlement of the ancient Pueblo people. The question is: Why do you think the ancient Pueblo people chose to live at Woods Canyon Pueblo? Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 5. |
| Medieval Manors WebQuest |
This WebQuest will be used during the integrated Middle Ages unit taught by the social studies teacher and the language arts teacher. Students will be placed into groups of 4 and given roles to play (serf, peasant, clergy, noble). They will research questions provided to find the information to help them in constructing their medieval manor and then use role playing to present it to the class. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 5 and 6. |
| My Future |
Students will do a self-exploration on many aspects of their future (colleges, careers, etc.). Once they have completed the unit of study, they will prepare a presentation of their choosing to share with the class. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. |
| Posting Posters on the Great Depression |
Students will create an on-line poster (http://poster.hprtec.org/) dealing with specific topics from the era of the Great Depression. Topics will range from the 1929 stock market crash to ditties that were used as cash to purchase food staples. Each student will design the text of the poster to include title, definition and example as it related to the Depression years. Students may include pictures, personal diaries, and writings or statistics that they have researched and feel would enhance the appearance and objective of the poster. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. |
| PowerPoint: Foundations of Our Country |
Students will explore the foundational ideas of the Founding Fathers and create a PowerPoint presentation based on these key concepts. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| Technology in Ancient Egypt |
In this lesson, students will investigate some of the technology used in ancient Egypt. Then they will hypothesize how life might have been different in ancient Egypt if modern technology had been available. This will allow students to reflect on the purposes and used of modern technology. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 2. |
| The Day I was Born |
Students will access a website with a host of links that will enable them to discover historical events, births of famous people and trivia that occurred on the same birth date as theirs, but not necessarily the same year. Students will gain an insight to such things as what the moon looked like the evening of their birth, the cost of a postage stamp, songs that were popular, foods that were the fad and political figures in vogue. Collaboration will take place when students add a paragraph about the most important event that occurred on their birthday to the website history book. Meets Arizona State Technology Standard 3. |
| The Revolutionary War and the Idea of Bullying |
Students will describe and identify the concept of bullying. They will then apply it to the British and American colonists during the Revolutionary War through an essay, an illustration and an oral presentation. This lesson plan, in part, has been designed for improving writing skills on a SMART Board, but could easily be adapted to a chalkboard. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 2, 4 and 5. |
| Turn-of-the-Century Child |
Using photographs of children from 1900-1923 as primary sources, students will analyze historical images to strengthen their ability to observe and deduce. In visual terms, this lesson will allow students a glimpse at the lifestyles and circumstances of children prior to, and after, World War I. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 5 and 6. |
| V irtual Tour of the Historical White House |
Accessing a primary source on line students will take a virtual tour of the White House and compare and contrast some of the famous rooms using a chart to record pertinent information. Once the tour has been completed, students will create a tourist's brochure advertising tours of the White House, as well as tours available for just certain rooms. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 2, 3, 4 and 5. |
| Wall of Truth |
Students will present to the class a famous historical quote and defend that it has “absolute truth.” A brief biographical description of the author will be given. The historical context of the quote and significant factors during the time of the quote will be explained. The student will give examples of the quote’s application and relevancy to at least three other time periods and/or scenarios. The student will be required to defend the truth of the quote in a question and answer period by the class. At the end of the presentation, a class vote will be taken to determine passage of the quote as worthy to go on the “Wall of Truth.” The presentation will be made via PowerPoint. Meets Arizona State Technology Standards 3, 4, and 5. |
| Wrting a News Story |
Students will select a topic that relates to civics and write a news story describing a specific event, or a feature article reflecting a person, place, or thing in greater detail. Students will be encouraged to write about a topic that they have an interest in such as adding a 28th amendment, federal funding for schools, AIMS testing in Arizona, reinstatement of the draft, space travel or not taking “the arts” out of public schools. In addition to choosing an appropriate subject, students will research, write, edit and publish the finished product online |
