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.

Richard Feynman on Knowledge and Ignorance

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

“I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.”

Richard Feynman

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Populace (n) and Populous (adj)

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here are five worksheets on the homophones populace and populous. These are vocabulary builders as well as usage guides. I guess there is not much more to say about them then that.

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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Nirvana

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The Sanskrit word ‘Nirvana” means ‘blown out’: a profound peace of mind, a freedom from suffering, and union with the Brahma-like symbol for the universe.

As the Lord Buddha explains, ‘Where there is nothing; where naught is grasped, there is the Isle of No-Beyond. Nirvana do I call it–the utter extinction of aging and dying…That dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support. This, just this, is the end of stress.'”

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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Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Independent Practice: Charles Martel

Posted on January 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here’s another document on a figure from the early medieval period, to wit this independent practice worksheet on Charles Martel. I’m not sure why I wrote this, but I suspect it was a response to a student’s interest in this relatively important, but little-known figure in global history.

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.

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Term of Art: Grammar of Schooling

Posted on January 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The assumption that schools have certain invariable features, such as classrooms, teachers, subjects, textbooks, tests, report cards, rewards and sanctions, a certain architecture, and a certain layout of the classroom. Education historians David Tyack and William Tobin are credited with the phrase and the observation that the grammar of schooling is remarkably resistant to change.”

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

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Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Cultural Literacy: Academic Freedom

Posted on January 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

I know I’ve beaten this trope to death lately, which doesn’t make it any less true that our current zeitgeist offers the perfect time to post something like this Cultural Literacy worksheet on academic freedom.

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.

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A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “End of a Villain”

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

OK, here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “End of a Villain.”

I use this cultural literacy worksheet on the American idiom “Once in a Blue Moon” to begin this lesson after the class change that brings students into my classroom. Here, from a Crime and Puzzlement book itself, are the illustration, text, and questions that drive this lesson. Finally, here is the answer key for the case.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Book of Answers: The Red and the Black

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

“In The Red and the Black, what do the colors stand for? In Stendahl’s 1830 novel, the red refers to Napoleon’s colors or the military life, the black to the clergy or religious life.”

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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Genre

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

“In a broad sense, the term may refer to a type of art, such as landscape or portraiture, within the general category of painting; in a specialized sense, it refers to the portrayal of scenes from unidealized daily life: domestic and tavern scenes, musicales, Fetes champetres, etc. The term applies especially to painting. Genre scenes can be the entire subject or just a detail in a nongenre picture. Explored as a distinct type of Baroque painting in the Low Countries.”

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

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The Problem of Evil

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

This seems like as good (or the best) a time as any to post this short reading on the problem of evil and vocabulary building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. This has tended to be high-interest material for the students I’ve served in my career, particularly high school juniors and seniors.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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