Technology Tools for 
Social Studies Teaching

Christopher Van Dyke
Technology & Teacher Mentor
TUSD Teaching American History (TAH) Grant

http://ushistory.tusd.us

The Tucson Unified School District is in the first year of a three-year federal “Teaching American History Grant.”  Maria Abalos is the grant coordinator while I serve as a “Technology and Teacher Mentor,” working with teachers to integrate technology into instruction.

We work with a core group of 21 lead teachers – one from each middle school site.  We meet quarterly with the lead teachers, conduct trainings on the new state Social Studies standard, and support other Social Studies activities in the district.  Our partners include the University of Arizona History Department and the Arizona Historical Society.

Below are some of the resources and websites that we have shared with our teachers.  Across the three years, teachers will be posting lessons they create as well as filming and editing videos of activities to place on the website.

Arizona Social Studies Standard
http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/sstudies/articulated

Articulated by grade level, along with a crosswalk of the old<->new!

SMART Airliner ($299) & $25 Rear-Projection Screen
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/AirLiner
http://ushistory.tusd.us/technology.htm
http://www.snapclamp.com/schools.htm (free snap clamps)

Add a projector (<$750) and build a rear-projection screen(< 1 hour).

Google Earth Historical Maps
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/old-world-meets-new-on-google-earth.html

Download the free Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) and look for the Featured Content-Rumsey Historical Maps!

Marco Polo
http://marcopolo-education.com

“Search Thinkfinity” or visit the partner links.

UnitedStreaming Video
http://www.asset.asu.edu or directly to http://unitedstreaming.com

Free for all Arizona teachers – enter through the ASSET portal or go directly to UnitedStreaming to download video clips aligned to standards.

California SCORE History/Social Studies
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us

Search 5000 teacher-reviewed History/Social Studies sites.

Webquests
Google Search and/or http://webquest.org

Create a webquest or use an existing one – lesson and weblinks in one!

Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Great primary source and multimedia materials.

Digital History
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

American History – online textbook, timeline, ethnic voices, and more.

Best of History Websites
http://www.besthistorysites.net

Listing of best history websites, organized and rated.

Outline Maps
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/testmaps/maps.htm
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps
http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxindex.htm?rd=1  

Wikipedia
http://wikipedia.org 

Past Presentations

Living Entirely or Almost Microsoft/Apple Free
http://msfree.tusd.us

Creating Audio Books and Podcasts of Student Work With a CD Burner and Free Software
http://cdbooks.tusd.us

“Faves in Fives” Quality Websites
http://faves.tusd.us