The author describes how high school students can use Google Tour Builder to track the impact of local Civil War veterans by conducting research with primary and secondary sources. In the article, there is a description of an example from Larned, Kansas where more than one hundred Civil War veterans settled a community on the plains. Digitized…

This design case illustrates a three-semester-long curricular and instructional design project focusing on the design and implementation of a technology-enhanced case-based learning experience for pre-service teachers within a teaching methods course. This case highlights the iterative process that a teacher educator and an instructional designer…

Discusses the use of computerized databases in instructional settings. Provides examples of how such instructional databases could be accessed directly by students. Lists some commercially available databases, distinguishing between their type, computer compatability, price, grade level, and their general searching abilities. (TW)

Describes the work of four Wyoming high school students who created a CD-ROM collection of Oregon Trail documents for use by fourth graders. The students reviewed 60 boxes of diaries, government documents, prints, and artifacts, becoming historians themselves as they created the electronic database. Includes photographs and illustrations. (MJP)

The goal of this paper is to examine some erroneous ideas about teaching thinking skills and the use of computer tools, especially databases. The paper reviews: (1) the importance of databases to the teaching of social studies; (2) the teacher's role in aiding students to develop and use databases; (3) the reintroduction of effective teaching…

Describes how two social studies teachers designed a website in order to grant the other teachers in their school district access to the field trip database for the Washington-Baltimore area; furthermore, the idea for an elementary social studies website expanded into other projects that were also timesaving resources, such as the Electronic…

Computers may help students delve farther into social studies research topics. The role of the computer in database management is explored in this article. (DF)

Computer simulations can be used in social studies to analyze problems by using a representation or model of a situation and then exercising the model to see how it behaves under different circumstances. Utilizing available computer programs, students can also build and use social studies data bases. (RM)

Describes a geography lesson that computer and social studies teachers present together to teach elementary and secondary school students about computers and help them place the technology in a social context. (MBR)

Describes and lists currently available software useful in social studies classes. Such software (including spreadsheets, databases, survey questionnaires) helps students apply quantitative methods and information-handling skills that are currently used in solving complex real-world problems. (JN)

Discussion of the use of telecommunications in the social studies curriculum focuses on three main areas: (1) searching and reading information in databases, including the appropriate use of commercial database services; (2) electronic mail and bulletin boards; and (3) the role of the telecomputing teacher. (five references) (LRW)

First-hand accounts of what teachers have done with students and computers in their classrooms, how students have responded, and what and how teachers have learned from these experiences are discussed in the 19 articles in this book. The articles are presented under these headings: (1) teaching writing with word processors; (2) learning to inquire…

Describes a project developed for fifth graders that was designed to teach them about databases through collecting information for a community census. Activities supported by the census project are listed, including both noncomputer activities and computer activities; and an effective sequence of instruction with databases is discussed. (LRW)

Students pursuing Australian studies should be given every possible opportunity to work with materials produced in Australia. There is a substantial and growing list of good curriculum software written within Australia and from an Australian perspective which can add interest and excitement to Australian geography classrooms. Computers can be used…

Describes Quality of Life, an electronic spreadsheet activity involving student ranking of livability of U.S. cities, which was developed to introduce discussion on the subjective nature of statistics to junior high school students. This activity demonstrates the use of microcomputers, spreadsheets, and database management in social studies…