Social Studies

Going Beyond “Define These Terms In Your Own Words”

“Define these terms in your own words” may contain depth and complexity… but it’s neither deep nor complex!

Matching Flowers and Pollinators

How to add a couple of Analyze-level tasks to this Synthesize activity.

Upgrading “Put The Events In Order”

I often see this question on language arts and social studies worksheets: “Put these events in order.” Yes, it’s low-level, but the real problem is that it’s a one-off. Let’s make a sequence of questions about the order of events.

I asked about Caesar vs Alexander, but somehow skipped Analyze.

A big ol’ table that looks like comparing, but it’s really more about remembering.

Multiple Perspectives on Veterans’ Day

We can’t just list multiple perspectives.

Making Categories of Famous Structures

A task about famous structures that stops at the bottom of Bloom’s.

Updating Old Questions: A Congress At School?

Let’s go beyond listing Congress’ powers and consider fairness if a school had a legislative branch.

Create A Civilization: The Flag

Let’s design a flag for your students’ civilizations. But let’s do it right! We’ll dig into the language of vexillology, analyze real flags, form some opinions, and only then create our own flag.

Create A Civilization: Pick The Location

As we begin the project, students first consider where on earth their civilization will begin.

Create A Civilization: From Hunters and Gatherers to Farmers

Now, let’s see how your students’ civilization transitions from hunters to gatherers.

Create A Civilization: The River

Most humans want to live near fresh water, which means that most civilizations settled near a river! Let’s add a river to your students’ civilizations.

What could we do with this Wax Museum event?

How one might revamp a “Wax Museum” project into something that focuses more on thinking than product.

Create A Civilization: Governments

My students, as part of their Create A Civilization project, had to select a type of government and explain its consequences. So I loved finding this list of all the different types of government.

Create Your Own Civilization Project

Each year, my students created their own civilization to mirror what we were learning about Rome, China, India, and beyond.

Coats of Arms, Seals, and Other Heraldry

Symbolic seals, crests, and coats of arms are a common concept across cultures. From the simplicity of Japanese mon to the regality of English coats of arms all the way to America’s Great Seal, humans around the world create graphical representations of themselves.