Social Studies Lessons for High School is designed for social studies teachers to use with their government and history courses. It was developed in response to a shift in education throughout our country: a move away from rote memorization and toward the critical thinking skills necessary for many of the new performance assessment programs.

Each lesson will enable teachers to teach seven specific critical thinking skills in a step-by-step process. The information has been adapted for old media and new media formats. Web sites will be provided that will allow teachers to choose the most appropriate resource for the selected activity. All selections can be copied for classroom use. Teachers may adapt activities to allow students to complete assignments via the web.

Robert O. Black is a social studies teacher at the Harbor City Learning Center, and former Teachers Network web mentor.

Introduction

This lesson is included because of how frequently students must use charts, graphs, or tables to extrapolate information and draw conclusions. Have students practice frequently with the template using data located in the following web sites or selected text books.

Web Sites for additional charts, graphs, & tables:
The Global Policy Forum
http://www.igc.org/globalpolicy/nations/indextab.htm
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tables/index.htm
http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/indextab.htm

Population Clocks
http://www.spiritone.com/~orsierra/rogue/popco/clockdx.htm

The lesson plan and sample student response sheet were developed to match:

Standard

• Students will explain the influence of demographic changes on government policies.

• Students will gather, manage, and convey information using a variety of skills, resources, and technologies.

Below is the graph "U.S. Life Expectancy" that students will use in this lesson. Make an overhead transparency or individual copies.

• Template
• Lesson Plan
• Sample Student Template