Motion In Our World: Social Studies

Smokescreen: The Smoking Issue

Some of the most compelling Web sites on the Internet are those in which the authors try to convince you either that smoking is the great Satan or that it is a right which ranks up with breathing.

This activity will have students look at the issue of smoking, take a stand on it, and share their views with others in their class and out on the 'Net.

Grade 5 Objectives

Grade 6 Objectives

See the Activity

Click here to see student page

Click here to see teacher page


Also recommended: Sites with resources for Social Studies education

Welcome To The White House
One of the more engaging government sites. Links to the President's speeches and schedule. Quite a bit of fluff, but nicely done fluff.
 

The United States Senate

Very classy Web server. Easy to navigate. As you might expect, lots of information but nothing controversial.
 

U.S. House Of Representatives

Strangely, this is not a good site. The pages are dry and uninviting and much of the site is on Gopher servers (quick, go see them before everyone forgets what Gopher ever was).
 

FedWorld Information Network Home Page

Plenty to feed the policy wonk in all of us. Al Gore Heaven.
 
THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet
 

Betsy Ross Homepage

Very complete, interesting site with information on the creation of early American flags.
 

Library of Congress World Wide Web (LC Web) Home Page

 

Senator Spencer Abraham's Home Page

Michigan's Spencer Abraham. You can leave him an email message here, but he notes that if you want to receive a response, you'll need to write to him on paper. Hm.

Office of Senator Carl Levin - Michigan

 

The Constitution of the United States of America

One of those references that you could just go to the library for, but it's nice to have it on your computer screen where you can copy and paste from it to your word processor.

 

Tiger Map Server Browser
This link lets you specify which community (incorporated in the 1990 census) you would like a map of. This is an amazingly interactive site, in terms of being able to customize map displays on a lot of geographical and demographical levels. A great site.

 

U.S. Gazetteer
The Gazetteer is the simple search engine linked to the Tiger Map Server.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences.
 
American Memory from the Library of Congress
American Memory consists of primary source and archival materials relating to American culture and history. Most of these are from the Library's special collections. Things which until a few years ago, private citizens just could not see.
 

Southern Michigan Community Profiles

A local realtor has put community profiles of local communities on the Web. He features MEAP scores prominently in these descriptions.


Questions? Comments? E-mail Jon Margerum-Leys or Bridget Dean