Technology in the Social Studies Classroom

Part 1 - Geography

- watch the YouTube video on the five themes of geography

- read Teaching the Five Themes of Geography with the Newspaper (without completing the activities)

- design a brief booklet with a defintion and example of each of the five themes for their home city (Muscat, Oman) (movement, region, location, interaction (relationships within places), place)

- investigate by means of pictures and research on the web how the environment influences people's lives with the example of different Native American tribes

- write a short paragraph on how the environment influenced their chosen tribe

- design their own country in collaborative groups naming its location, region, place and the resulting influences on humans' dress, food, and habits

Part 2 - History

Throughout this WebQuest, students will 

- be presented with the problem of immigration and the wall between the U.S. and Mexico, by watching the three YouTube videos 

- research online resources on the effects of the wall and immigration on the U.S. on www.bbc.co.uk and www.cnn.com

- form a personal opinion on immigration and present it in form of an email-journal

-  interview four immigrants on their view and the effects of the wall 

- write a letter to the U.S. government stating the student's personal opinion and solution for the immigration problem

  

Part 3 - Economics (Microeconomics)

Throughout this WebQuest, students will

- be introduced to the problem of the Wii scenario

- interview 10 people who have a Wii, including questions on when they bought it, what they paid for it, why they bought it, if they are still happy with it now

- design a chart on the interview outcome, including time of purchase, price, happiness with purchase 

- consult the sources for supply and demand, aiming at solving the problem of the Nintendo corporation who do not understand that the demand for the Wii 1 is low

- use the interview and research outcome to answer the following questions in a role-play, responding to the Wii scenario 

1. How did limited supply of the Wii 1 at the beginning influence demand?

2. How did demand influence the price of the Wii?

3. Why did the price for the Wii drop? 

4. How did advertising the Wii2 influence the demand for the Wii1?

- design a mindmap on the links between supply and demand using SmartDraw, a graphic organizer program

- use the graphic organizer to explain why people buy things when they are first introduced to the market and how it is more advisable to wait since the price will go down