Library Databases for Social Studies Education
The library provides you with access to several databases specific to the field of education. General databases such as Academic Search Elite may also prove useful. Each database uses its own subject terms so the keywords that create a successful search in one database may not work in another. Be ready with synonyms and use the database thesaurus to check your terms for the most accurate, successful searches.
- Kraus Curriculum Library: Click on Advanced Search for more options. Keyword search or search by Primary Section (Mathematics), Educational Content (Lesson Plans) and Grade Level.
Education Research Complete: We just subscribed to a new EBSCO database that is the world's largest and most complete collection of full-text education journals. The database covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues, provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,730 journals
and contains full text for nearly 830 journals.
- Education Full-Text: Education Full Text brings you comprehensive coverage of an international range of English-language periodicals, monographs and yearbooks. Full text of articles cover to cover, from hundreds of journals, make this a great source for research.
- ERIC (EBSCO): ERIC contains indexes and abstracts from education and education-related journals and from professional papers, reports, and documents. Journal articles have an “EJ number” and documents have an "ED number.”
- Academic Search Elite: Academic Search Elite, an EBSCO database, is a general academic index that indexes almost 3,000 magazines and journals from every academic discipline and provides the full-text of more than 1,200.This is also an EBSCO product, so looks very similar to ERIC, but it searches different journals and uses different subject headings. These subject heading can be explored in the thesaurus, which works the same as in ERIC.
Social Studies Lesson Plans and Unit Ideas
- Voyager Online Catalog for finding textbooks and lesson plans:
- Limit your keyword search (in the drop-down menu) to the IMC. Be specific in your keyword search.
- Add "study and teaching" to your keyword search to bring up lesson ideas, not literature.
- Use the drop-down menu to search “as a phrase” if using more than one word
- When you've found an item that is what you are looking for, scroll down to the subjects. You can cross-search them by clicking on them.
- Try these general subject headings
- Social sciences -- Study and teaching
- Social sciences -- study and teaching (Elementary) -- United States
- Social sciences Study and teaching (Middle school)
- Social sciences Study and teaching (Secondary)
- ERIC (EBSCO): Lesson plans, journal articles, and much, much more.
Tips for searching ERIC- Include the phrase "lesson plans" in keyword search
- Click on Find It! to search other databases for the same article.
- The library has almost all the ED materials on microfiche on the 2nd floor.
- Kraus Curriculum Library: Click on Advanced Search for more options. Keyword search or search by Primary Section (Social Studies), Educational Content (Lesson Plans) and Grade Level.
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) WINNS Curriculum Resource Center: Thousands of high-quality lesson plans, classroom activities, instructional television programs, and more, all provided by leading professional education organizations, and aligned to Wisconsin's model academic standards.
- IDEAS: Provides Wisconsin educators access to high-quality, highly usable, teacher-reviewed web-based resources for curricula, content, lesson plans, professional development and other selected resources. These resources help Wisconsin educators use technology to meet the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards and create the foundation for a statewide knowledge management system.
- Educator's Reference Desk: 2,000+ lesson plans, 3,000+ links to online education information, and 200+ question archive responses. Search using the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM): keyword search, refine by selecting from links on far right; ERIC Database.
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) Curriculum Guides
- National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS): "Your Classroom" tab contains links to: Curriculum Standards, Election 2004, Lesson Plans, Notable Trade Books, Teaching Resources
- National History Day: National History Day curriculum books contain lesson plans, classroom activities, research tips, Internet sources and many other useful teaching tools. Available to download as PDFs.
- Awesome Library:
Organizes the Web with 33,000 carefully reviewed resources, including the top 5 percent in education.
Social Studies Lesson Plans and Unit Materials
- McIntyre Library IMC Collection: Videos, multimedia, children's book collection. Using the online catalog, if you are looking for a particular type of material, you can click on "More Limit Options." Once there, you can limit the location to "IMC" and then limit the medium to "videorecording" for videos, or the item type to "computer file/software," "kit," or "mixed materials/collection."
- Eau Claire Public Library CD-Roms for Children and Teens: The public library has a big collection of computer games, many educational in nature. Following are links to some young adult computer games available through the MORE catalog:
- Amazon Trail – Users begin the 4,000 mile journey near the mouth of the Amazon at Belém and journey to Vilcabamba near the river's source. Players choose which guide and what supplies they want and travel by canoe to their destination. Along the way, users will need to fish and hunt, run across many different types of vegetation and animals and various native peoples They also meet conquistadors from the 16th century, naturalists from the 19th century and businessmen from the 20th century. Some people will be helpful and others will try to take advantage of players.
- Civilization IV – Updated version of the historical computer game that allows the player to control the evolution of human civilizations by building an empire, defending it from invaders, and developing social, cultural, and scientific skills. New features include overhauled interface, multiplayer, and 3D living world.
- Hearts of Iron II – You are the supreme ruler of your chosen nation during the tumultuous struggle of World War II. Play through the most dynamic period in history as democracy, communism and fascism clash in battles that will decide the fate of the entire world.
- American Conquest – American Conquest offers plenty of single-player campaigns, plus skirmish and multiplayer maps and a good history lesson to boot, and it makes a great addition to any real-time strategy enthusiast's collection.
- Age of Empires III – Command one of eight mighty European powers grappling to conquer the New World.
- Rome Total War – A game of empire-building and real-time warfare covering hundreds of years from the Punic Wars to the rise of the Roman emperors.
- Pirates! – Role-playing and action game in which users play a 17th-century pirate captain in the Caribbean and battle enemies, woo fair maidens, and pursue riches while seeking to become one of the most famous pirates in history.
- Rise of Nations – The entire span of human history is in your hands. Master 6,000 years of history, from the Ancient Age to the Information Age. What forces will you wield to lead your nation to global prominence? Trade, espionage, diplomacy ... war?
- Civilization III – Compete against the greatest leaders throughout history in an all-out quest to build the ultimate empire. Civilization III offers more ways to win than previous versions of the game--use diplomatic finesse, cultural domination, or sheer military might to dominate the world.
- Age of Mythology –
History made larger than life! From the creators of Age of Empires and The Age of Kings come Age of Mythology! Enter the age of powerful gods and heroic mortals, mythic beasts and immortal powers, a time when history and myth are one!
- CESA 10 IMC: Resources that can be ordered through your cooperating teacher or school.
- Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Social Studies Introduction
- Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
Social Studies Education Professional Societies
- American Historical Association
- Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4)
- International Assembly of Social Educators
- National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS)
- National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)
- National Council for History Education (NCHE)
- National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
- Organization of American Historians
- Social Science Education Consortium (SSEC)
Integrating Literature
- Children's Literature Comprehensive Database: Search by age and subject matter. Great for reviews, reading level, and annotations.
- Teaching Books: Keyword search on your topic or check out the Thematic Booklists. First time users will need to create an account before using.
- Cooperative Children's Book Center: Bibliographies and reviews.
- McIntyre Library IMC Collection: Children's book collection.
- 10 C's for Evaluating Internet Sources - Not every site is credible! Make sure your site fits the bill.
- Scholarly vs. Popular Publications - Does your assignment call for articles only from "peer-reviewed" sources? Not sure how to tell? Use this handy guide to help you determine if you're on the right track!
- Ulrich's Periodicals Directory - Tells you if a journal is refereed or peer-reviewed
- Evaluating Sources - A great overview from UW-Madison Libraries
And now for a little fun, as Stephen Colbert analyzes Wikipedia!
- Citation Linker - allows you to input the basic details from an article citation and then links you to the article online, if available. It is a powerful tool for tracking down references cited in bibliographies, by professors, and online.
- Formatting Citations (MLA/APA)
- Citing Online Sources
- Noodle Tools
