Using Technology to Teach Social Studies

I've heard students say that they don't like history because it's boring.  Let's face it, listening to historical facts and figures doesn't appeal to everyone.  I need to find a way to make history exciting and real to students.  One way to do this is to actual *show* them where events took place and how areas have changed over time.  Insert:  Google Earth.  This is a remarkable tool.  You can look at maps of how the colonies looked during the American Revolution and look at battle sites from the Civil War.  How awesome is that?

I saw this lesson that teaches students many different aspect of social students.  It's called The Amazing Race.  Each group represents a region of the United States and is responsible for researching political, economic, land form, and vegetation regions within their region.  The group will create a digital poster and post an "artifact" to the class wiki about the regions.  The groups then present their findings to another class.  One way to create a digital poster is to use Glogster.   I plan on doing a post on Glogster a little later on.

I'm sure there are a ton more ways to incorporate technology when teaching social studies.  When I find new ways I'll be sure to post about it!