THE CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES SUPER SITE

This is a limited annotated list of websites for Canadian social studies educators, and those interested in Canada, carefully examined for their quality and use. It was originally designed, back in the day, for the Webmaster's elementary textbook and junior high textbook which is free and online (Click here to access it). Suggestions for additional sites can be sent to the Webmaster Dr. Joe Kirman at jkirman@ualberta.ca  Please note the suggested site’s URL and mention why you think it should be on this list. Not all suggestions can be accepted, but your interest is appreciated. Updated or checked December 30, 2023. You are visitor number Counter for Forums
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CONTENTS 

DISCLAIMER ENVIRONMENT HUMAN RIGHTS
CAUTIONARY NOTE FIRST NATIONS/INDIGENOUS CANADIANS PEN PALS
CANADA - GENERAL INFORMATION GEOGRAPHY, MAP SKILLS AND SPACE AGE MAPS PLANNING AND TEACHING – GENERAL RESOURCE INFORMATION
CANADIAN BIOGRAPHIES ONLINE GLOBAL/INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES GOVERNMENT, LAW, POLITICS SPACE THE NEW FRONTIER
CURRENT EVENTS HISTORY AND HISTORICAL PICTURES CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES
THE NATIONAL JOURNAL

 

DISCLAIMER

Please be aware that there is no guarantee about the accuracy or truth of materials in any website. The authorship, timeliness, and veracity of a website need to be carefully ascertained and, if necessary, information verified in other sources. Student projects, in particular, should not rely only on Internet material. Internet sites as resources should be used by students only after they have learned how to rate the sites with guidelines established in class, with the exception of those authorized by the teacher.

Evaluating Internet Research Sources. This website by Robert Harris is one of the finest guides for evaluating sources in general in addition to Internet materials. If you are planning to teach about resource evaluations this website is a must read item.

 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE

Alert your students to immediately sign-off any website they encounter with material dealing with hate, harming others or themselves, smut, asking that the encounter remain a "secret," requesting any personal information, or to identify themselves or their location. They should report the incident to their parent/guardian or teacher.

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CANADA - GENERAL INFORMATION 

 

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CANADIAN BIOGRAPHIES ONLINE

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CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

Your Webmaster has discontinued adding new news articles and topics to the list of controversial issues. This is because you can follow any current issue you want using Google Alerts. This is a service that will email to you up-to-date media sites with the topic(s) of your choice. You can obtain earlier information on a topic by using a search engine of your choice.

 

The Valour and the Horror

This is both an example of, and information for, a case study of a controversial issue:

In 1992, the National Film Board, the CBC and Gala Films produced The Valour and the Horror, the most controversial film series ever made in Canada. The segment "Death by Moonlight" was the subject of a multi-million dollar defamation law suit by the aging veterans of RCAF Bomber Command. The case was never heard by a jury since the courts ruled that the veterans did not have legal standing to sue. The Valour and the Horror was severely criticized by Canadian historians such as Jack Granatstein (see his comments in Who Killed Canadian History?, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 1998 pp 14-15, 116-120. ) and Desmond Morton. An entire issue of Canadian Social Studies (Winter, 1994, Volume 28, Number 2) was devoted to this matter. The CBC will not show the series again since it does not meet the CBC's standards for accuracy. Bomber Command veterans and supporters of the series have set-up websites to present their sides of the story.  

  • Report of the CBC Ombudsman.    by William Morgan. Click on the Ombudsman’s report in the index or scroll down to pages 61- 72. This is in the Google Books on-line sample pages of The Valour and the Horror Revisited by David J. Bercuson and and S.F. Wise. It provides the reasons why the CBC will not re-broadcast The Valour and the Horror.
  • The Bombing Of Brian Mc-Kenna  This is a critical essay about The Valour and the Horror written by historian Neil Cameron.
  • The Valour and the Horror From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article appears to provide a fair balance between the positives and negatives of this series.

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CURRENT EVENTS

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ENVIRONMENT

  • Environment and Climate Change Canada - This site is linked through Wikipedia and informs Canadians about protecting and conserving our natural heritage, and ensuring a clean safe and sustainable environment for present and future generations. 

 

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FIRST NATIONS/INDIGENOUS CANADIANS

 

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GEOGRAPHY, MAP SKILLS AND SPACE AGE MAPS

  • The Atlas of Canada. A key source of geographic information the Atlas provides a selection of interactive and historical maps and geographical data available for reference or downloading.
  • Google Maps - This is a user friendly high resolution GIS of the world. You can zoom--in on a location and view it as a map. Zoom to see your own home, find the location of an address with the search engine, and find the route to and from two locations.
  • Google Earth - "The world's most detailed globe." More extensive than Google Maps. This program has many high resolution images and is a download item.
  • Geography Games - A set of three classroom geography games for the elementary and middle years written by the Webmaster.
 

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GLOBAL/INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

  • United Nations. The home page of the United Nations, dealing with peace and security, international law, economic and social development, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and the facilities and operation of the organization.
  • The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources. This site contains an extensive quality list of portals, indexes, web directories and other resources for international affairs.

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GOVERNMENT, LAW, POLITICS

 

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HISTORY AND HISTORICAL PICTURES

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HUMAN RIGHTS

 

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PEN PALS

Because of the danger of pedophiles trolling the Internet pen pals sites have been deleted. However, both pen pals and e-mail pals can be obtained by contacting ministries of education, educational associations -- in particular social studies specialist groups, consuls and embassies.

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PLANNING AND TEACHING - GENERAL RESOURCE INFORMATION

  • Educational Resources in Social Studies. This website was prepared by Open Learning Network’s Community Learning Network of British Columbia. It is a very comprehensive site that is Canadian oriented. There are excellent links to materials for planning and projects.
  • Teaching Values. This is the Webmaster’s theory and procedures for teaching values using love, kindness, and respect for human dignity for the elementary and secondary levels. It was originally published in the McGill Journal of Education.
  • National Council for the Social Studies.  NCSS Online. This is the site for the world’s largest social studies organization.
  • Weblens. Almost 5,000 Internet research resources. This was the companion site to Pam Blackstone's technology column in the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper and is one of the most powerful search sites on the Internet.
  • NFB. This is the National Film Board of Canada home page. Check it for visuals that you can use in class. It states: “Watch hundreds of films, anytime, anywhere, for free. Documentaries, animations and other alternative dramas on the web, or on you personalized home page, or on your iPhone. Also, watch trailers, upcoming online releases and playlists.”
  • Evaluating Internet Research Sources. This website by Robert Harris is one of the finest guides for evaluating sources in general in addition to Internet materials. If you are planning to teach about resource evaluations this website is a must read item.
  • Online Research Review: Resources for College Students. - This site deals with selecting reputable sources to add credibility and detail to research papers and reports. It contains links to information regarding resources and educational search engines. The site is excellent for teachers to mine for preparing students to do research. This site is sponsored by an insurance program but has no affect on the material.

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TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

 

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SPACE THE NEW FRONTIER

  • Canadian Space Agency. This site is contains information about Canada’s role in the space program. There is general information, current event items, and material for educators.
  • NASA - Home Site. This is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's main site. Here the social studies teacher can keep up with space exploration current events and find lots of resources about space programs.
  • NASA Earth Observatory Images. A treasure chest of images, global maps, articles and blogs from the space program.
  • Stellarium - A free downloadable powerful planetarium astronomy program that shows the night sky anywhere in the world. The display moves with a timer to show the changing night sky or can be locked for a specific time. Great for teaching about space probes in current events and astronomy in general. This program is very impressive.
  • Google Earth -  "The world's most detailed globe." More extensive than Google Maps. This program has many high resolution images.

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