social+studies

News in Color

Newsmap: A Visual of Today's News


[|Newsmap] is a site that provides a visual representation of the news as aggregated from Google News. What I like about [|Newsmap] is the how color is used to differentiate between types of new stories. For example, the blue headlines are all sports related while the gradients of those colors also show you how recent the story is. The user can toggle on or off the types of headlines and can choose news from other counties as well.

Discovery Atlas: Interactive Map with Videos


[|Discovery's new interactive atlas] is a great resource for teaching about geography, countries, and cultures. Select a country by clicking on it or selecting it from the drop down box. The atlas has the feel of Google Earth as you fly to the location and zoom in. Once the country is located, the user can choose to learn about that country's culture, government, history, and natural world. Clicking on these categories will open various streaming videos that explain or show facts about the country.

My Culture Quest
[|My Culture Quest]is an interactive adventure around the world. Students need to collect artifacts from several different countries and create an exhibition at the museum to complete the game. Students score the highest points by collecting items with a similar theme (conflict, religion, or celebrations) from various countries. Teachers can preview all of the images (artifacts) used in the game and print game cards to supplement the online activity. View the game full-screen: []