Inquiry Unit (u10075.xml)

What are some useful government agency sites for teachers and students?

Cheryl Malone (ckmalone@uiuc.edu) (not ready to use)

ASK Subject Areas

Arts, Health, Information Science, Science, Social Studies

Grade Levels

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Unit Keywords

government information, art, health and safety, the economy, history, politics, population and housing, sciences

Rationale of the Unit

A good place to begin investigating government information resources for use in the classroom.


	INVESTIGATE	Go to Top

Background and Resources

BACKGROUND
The Websites of U.S. government agencies offer texts, images, numeric data, and maps on every conceivable topic, some of which can be incorporated into inquiry-based learning. This unit offers some promising sites from which to launch investigations.

READINGS
Judith Schiek Robinson, TAPPING THE GOVERNMENT GRAPEVINE, 3rd ed. Chapter 1, "Introduction to Government Information Resources."
http://www.oryxpress.com/scripts/book.idc?acro

WEBSITES
American Art Museum http://www.nmaa.si.edu/
National Gallery of Art http://www.nga.gov/
National Museum of African Art http://ww.nmafa.si.edu
Centers for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/
Consumer Product Safety Commission http://www.cpsc.gov/
Food and Drug Administration http://www.fda.gov
National Institutes of Health http://www.nih.gov/
Economic Census http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html
Federal Reserve http://www.federalreserve.gov/
American Memory http://memory.loc.gov/
National Archives and Records Administration http://www.nara.gov
National Museum of American History http://americanhistory.si.edu
Links to the Past http://www.cr.nps.gov/
Supreme Court of the U.S. http://www.supremecourtus.gov./
Thomas, Legislative Information http://thomas.loc.gov/
U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate http://www.senate.gov/
White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/
Housing and Urban Development http://www.hud.gov
NASA http://www.nasa.gov/
National Museum of Natural History http://www.mnh.si.edu/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.noaa.gov
U.S. Geological Survey http://www.usgs.gov

RESOURCES
Federal Agency Internet Sites http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/agency/index.html

FirstGov: Your First Click to the U.S. Government http://firstgov.gov/


	CREATE	Go to Top

Activities and Open-ended problems

TUTORIALS
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids http://bensguide.gpo.gov/
Chuck Malone, The "Agency Approach" to Locating Government Information on the Internet http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfcem/agency.htm

CLASS ACTIVITIES
After exploring government agency Websites, share findings with the rest of the group.

LABS
Choose one government agency Website and explore it for ideas and information that can be incorporated into a specific lesson in one of your classes.

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