A hasty list of topics and materials, organized by (approximate) grade level. Some of these are described in the publications we've been working on
- Hammond, T.C., Oltman, J., & Salter, S. (2019). Using computational thinking to explore the past, present, and future. Social Education, 83, 118-122.
- Hammond, T.C., Oltman, J.L., & Manfra, M.M. (In print). Computational thinking and social studies teacher education: What, why, and how. In S. Keengwe (Ed.), Handbook of research on integrating computer science and computational thinking in K-12 education. Hershey, PA: IGI.
All of them can be easily scaled up to be appropriate for older students.
In addition to these materials, please take a look at Esri's GeoInquiries for social studies (Government, US History, World History, World Geography, Human Geography) – they aren't explicitly framed as computational thinking activities, but they lend themselves to it readily.
Elementary-appropriate
- Scaffolded geocache for absolute location...and computational thinking
- Slideshow about the concept
- Sample data sheet of targets
- Useful app for providing lat/lon coordinates, if you don't have dedicated GPS units: My GPS Coordinates (Android version, iOS version)
- "What's in a State Name?"
- Spreadsheet with state names (Note: You can repeat this with counties, or go outside the US – states of Mexico or provinces & territories of Canada.)
- ArcGIS Online map following the coding scheme in the spreadsheet.
- European settlement patterns in the Lehigh Valley (Note: This pattern repeats – or variations of it repeat – in many places)
- Story Map presenting the relevant datasets, prompting student work, and posing key questions. It's not explicitly framed as computational thinking, but it's all there: dataset, pattern, rule
Middle level
- Civil War battles in the Eastern Theater
- ArcGIS Online map. Note that you need to use the 'Cluster' tool for maximum effect
- Enslavement, emancipation, and the continuing struggle
- Story of Aaron
- The centerpiece is a set of six advertisements from the Geography of Slavery database.
- These work much better as a powerpoint presentation (write to me for a copy; I got it from Stephanie Van Hover at UVA)
- 1860 census. (Note that if you progress from 1790 to 1860, additional patterns become visible – changes in intensity, geographic point of focus over time.)
- Jim Crow laws
- ArcGIS Online map. This activity relies heavily on filters.
- Lynching
- Story of Aaron
High school
- Jewish populations circa the Holocaust
- ArcGIS Online map. Data source is from Yad Vashem, no longer posted
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- ArcGIS Online map. This activity calls for measurement (proximity to capitals) and reference to primary sources.
- Global terrorism, 1970-
- ArcGIS Online map. This activity runs in all directions, really relies on filters. Opportunities to observe changes in time within and across different geo-political contexts. (Example: Northern Ireland pre/post 1998)
- Material culture around the globe
- No dedicated resources, yet – we are currently drawing from the Dollar Street database from GapMinder.
- Representation in Congress (no spatial element to it, or at least not that I've yet observed)
- Women in the House of Representatives
- Review data on the Wikipedia page, specifically the graph by party affiliation, and observe the divergence circa 1992. What caused this? (Hint – among other factors)
- LGBTQ members of the House of Representatives
- Extract data from Wikipedia page, tabulate it by party affiliation (not enough data to be worth graphing), and observe the divergence circa 1996. What caused this? (Hint)
- Women in the House of Representatives
