Activity 2: Skills and Best Practices

Using Maps in Social Studies

The site below provides an lesson plan illustrating the use of maps in the social studies classroom. This lesson helps students evaluate how different types of maps can provide both historical and geographical information for use in problem solving and decision-making situations.

Pertinent questions addressed by this activity include:

• What topographical changes can be traced through comparing various maps?
• How do maps demonstrate the view of the world and what countries or regions are significant in the world at different points in time?
• What political changes can be traced through the use of maps?

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/19990115friday.html

Alison Zimbalist, The New York Times Learning Network

Concept Formation

The site below contains a formal definition of concept formation. Teachers have been doing concept formation activities with students as a component of higher order thinking for a long time. However, few have taken the time to analyze the process as a psychological process.

• http://www.dushkin.com/connectext/psy/ch08/conform.mhtml

This site also discusses:

• How young children first learn concepts
• Theories related to concept formation
• How interests, beliefs and values affect concept formation