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.

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Term of Art: Social Cognition

Posted on January 5, 2024 | Leave a comment

“social cognition: A term used by social and developmental psychologists to refer to how people come to be concerned with the actions, thought, and feelings of others. This area of study examines how social perceptions develop, how individuals make social judgments, and how others affect an individual’s self-concept. Many children with learning disabilities have significant deficits in social cognition as well as academic difficulties.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

The Weekly Text, 5 January 2024: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the California Gold Rush

Posted on January 5, 2024 | Leave a comment

Happy New Year!

This week’s Text is this reading on the California Gold Rush with its accompanying vocabulary-building, comprehension and analysis worksheet. These materials are adapted from the Intellectual Devotional series; for more on these materials at Mark’s Text Terminal, please see the About Posts & Texts page, accessible through the links on the banner of the home page (right above the photograph).

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.

Thorstein Veblen

Posted on November 4, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Thorstein (Bunde) Veblen: (1857-1929) U.S. economist. Born in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, he grew up in Minnesota and earned a PhD in philosophy from Yale University. He taught economics at the University of Chicago and other universities but was unable to keep any position for long because of his unconventional ideas and the disorder in his personal life. In 1899 he published his classic work The Theory of the Leisure Class, which applied Darwin’s evolutionary theories to the study of modern economic life, highlighting the competitive and predatory nature of the business world. With dry humor he identified the markers of American social class, and he coined the term ‘conspicuous consumption’ to describe the display of wealth made by the upper class. His reputation was highest in the 1930s, when the Great Depression was seen as a vindication of his criticism of the business system.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

A Four-Page Learning Support for United States History

Posted on November 4, 2023 | Leave a comment

This year, I’ve been assigned to co-teach a United States History class. I’ll spare you the details other than to say that a student I’ve worked with several years, and who is developing into an exceptional human being, asked me for some textual support in the course. So I assembled these four pages of short articles on U.S. history from The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).

Can you use them?

Motivation

Posted on October 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

“motivation: Factors within a human being or animal that arouse and direct goal-oriented behavior. Motivation has long been a central subject of study in psychology. Early researchers, influenced by Charles Darwin, ascribed much of animal and human behavior to instinct. Sigmund Freud believed that much of human behavior was also based on irrational instinctive urges or unconscious motives. Walter Cannon proposed that basic human drives served homeostatic functions by directing energies toward the reduction of physiological tensions. Behavioral psychologists, in contrast, stress the importance of external goals in prompting action, while humanistic psychologists examine the role of felt needs. Cognitive psychologists have found that a motive sensitizes a person to information relating to that motive: a hungry subject, for example, will perceive food stimuli as larger than other stimuli. See also behavior genetics, human nature, learning.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Term of Art: Standard

Posted on October 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

“standard: An officially sanctioned description of what a student is expected to learn and how well it should be learned in specific subjects taught in school. Standards may be created by school districts, states, federal agencies, subject-matter organizations, or advocacy groups. Although the federal government is by law barred from creating or influencing curriculum, various federal agencies have done so, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S Department of Education. Following the example of the National Assessment Governing Board, which supervises the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress, most states identify achievement levels on their tests as basic (adequate); proficient (skilled); or advanced (superior). See also content standards; performance standards.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Concepts in Sociology: Animism

Posted on October 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on animism that I threw together for the sociology class I taught last year. I think I settled on this as a topic because I know, from experience, that it has tended to come up in global studies instruction the classrooms in which I have served–and it is a concept worth understanding.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Araucanians

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Araucanians: South American Indians who are now concentrated in the valleys and basins between the Bio Bio and Tolten rivers in south central Chile. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Chile, they encountered three Araucanian populations: the Picunche, who were accustomed to Inca control; the Huilliche, who were to few and scattered to resist the conquistadors; and the Mapuche, successful farmers and artisans. The first two were soon assimilated, but the Mapuche managed to resist Spanish and Chilean control for 350 years. Finally subdued in the late 19^th century, they were settled on reservations, but now live independently.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Imperialism

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on imperialism is the final documents post for National Native American Heritage Month 2023. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. Once again, like almost everything from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, this reading’s brevity–it defines imperialism clearly and correctly and explicitly links it with colonialism–is its strength.

Ladino

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

“ladino: Central American whose primary language is Spanish and who wears modern dress, Genetically ladinos may be Indians, mestizos, or persons of African descent. An Indian may become a ladino by abandoning the Indian dress and customs. Many rural ladinos practice subsistence agriculture much like that of their Indian neighbors, but they tend to put more stress on cash crops and to use modern farming techniques, which the Indians shun. In small towns ladinos commonly engage in commerce as well as farming. In the cities they engage in all occupations, from day laborer to university professor.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Category Archives: Social Sciences

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