Category Archives: Social Sciences

You’ll find domain-specific material designed to meet Common Core Standards in social studies, along with adapted and differentiated materials that deal with a broad array of conceptual knowledge in the social sciences. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Book of Answers: Plato’s Republic

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

“In what book of Plato’s Republic (c. fourth century B.C.) does the Cave Allegory appear? Book VII.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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A Document-Based Questioning (DBQ) Lesson on the Fire in Rome, AD 64 from The Annals of Tacitus

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, last but not least on this essentially perfect summer afternoon in southwestern Vermont,, here is a DBQ lesson on Tacitus’s account of the deadly fire that swept through Rome in 1864. Nero was emperor, and it is from this event that the expression “fiddling while Rome burns” originates. Nero was believed to have sung (“of the destruction of Troy”), not fiddled, as the city burned down around him.

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the ancient Roman metaphor for decadence, “Bread and Circuses,” opens this lesson. For some reason, I included in this lesson’s folder this second Cultural Literacy worksheet, this one on the concept of a capital offense.

And here is the worksheet with the reading and comprehension questions that is the primary work of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Document-Based Questioning (DBQ) Lesson on the Apology of Socrates

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

As above and below, this DBQ lesson on Apology of Socrates is the fifth of a ten-lesson global studies unit on document-based questions.

This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on allusion, and here is a second one on status quo in the event the lesson goes into a second day–or you just want the worksheet around to elucidate this Latinism so common in the English language.

You’ll need this reading and comprehension questions on Socrates’ Apology to conduct the essential work of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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3 Graces

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Aglaea * Euphrosyne * Thalia

In ascending order of age we have Aglaea (Splendour), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good health or happiness). The three sisters have been obsessively painted and sculpted for thousands of years as the embodiments of beauty, charm, and creativity. As the benign face of the ancient triple goddess, even Hesiod and Homer can seem vague about their origins, and so there are conflicting stories of them being the daughters of either Aphrodite, Apollo, Zeus, or Dionysus. Like the furies, their chapel stood in the caves around the Acropolis, where ancient mysteries were performed.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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A Document-Based Questioning (DBQ) Lesson on Pericles’ Funeral Oration

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, and as above and below, this lesson plan on Pericles’ funeral oration as drawn from Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, is number four of a ten-lesson unit of document-based questioning materials.

This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the epic as a poetic form and as a means of recording history; it the lesson goes into a second day–and that I included another on the Peloponnesian War suggests that I planned that it would–you can use that second Cultural Literacy worksheet. Like the first one on epics, the document on the Peloponnesian War is a half-page worksheet.

Finally, here is the reading and comprehension questions that is the primary work of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Historical Term: Appeasement

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

[As I have mentioned previously on this blog, several years ago some colleagues of mine found students struggled with the concept of appeasement as well as its manifestation as a historical process in the years before World War II. The passage below does a nice job of summarizing this complex series of events, and here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Munich Pact to complement it.]

“Appeasement Foreign policy based on the conciliation of the grievances of rival states, usually involving some sort of concession as an attempt to avoid conflict or war. The term is most often applied to the pre-World War II policy of Britain and France of attempting to satisfy the demands of Hitler with regard to Germany’s grievances over the Versailles settlement. The policy, based on agreements with Germany and Italy, is particularly associated with Neville Chamberlain’s premiership (1937-40). As a result of appeasement Germany was able to occupy the Rhineland, the Sudetenland areas of Czechoslovakia, and to achieve the Anschluss with Austria. The policy is held to have ended when Hitler broke the 1938 Munich agreement and occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.

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A Document-Based Questioning (DBQ) Lesson on the Analects of Confucius

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

As above and below, here is a DBQ lesson on the Analects of Confucius. The lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Aesop’s Fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” And here is the reading and comprehension questions that are the work of this lesson.

Also, if you are interested in going further with “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” here is a lesson plan on it.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Gothic Art

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Gothic Art: Last phase of medieval art, beginning ca. 1140 in Paris and spreading in the 13th century throughout Western Europe; succeeded by the Renaissance in the 14th century in Italy and in the 16th century in the rest of Europe. Early gothic, to 1200; high gothic, to ca. 1250; late gothic, after 1250. The greatest contribution of gothic art was the cathedral, with its elaborate architecture, complicated architectural decoration, and large-scale stained-glass panels.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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A Document-Based Questioning (DBQ) Lesson on the 23rd Psalm

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

As above and below, here is a DBQ lesson on Psalm 23, taken from the King James Bible.

This lesson opens with this context clues worksheet on the noun psalm to assist students in developing their own understanding of this poetic–and musical–form. If you take the lesson into a second day (or if your students do!), here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a motif. Finally, here is the reading and comprehension worksheet that is the primary work of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Descent to the Underworld

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Descent to the Underworld: The motif of numerous stories in the mythology and folklore of all peoples. The descent is usually made to rescue someone either abducted or rightfully dead, to find the answer to a question of discover a secret from the ruler of the underworld, or to seize some treasure. To partake of the food of the dead (or of fairyland in later folklore) prevents the visitor from ever returning. Among the most famous descent stories are the Greek myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, Demeter and Persephone, and Heracles bringing of Cerberus up from Hades and his rescue of Alcestis. Also well known are the Babylonian story of Ishtar’s descent to rescue Tammuz and the Norse myth of Hermod’s journey to Hel to bring back Balder. There are similar tales in Hindu, Chinese, and Japanese writings, and among the Ainu, Melanesians, North American Indians, and Eskimos. Descents to Hell are common also in early Christian literature.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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