Social Studies

Despite its wonders, Earth's water cycle does not spread water evenly around the planet. The Ogallala Aquifer’s huge underground reservoir of water gives the relatively dry Central Plains states such as Nebraska a large but limited irrigation source. But the aquifer's water is being used up faster than it is beng replenished.

This compelling program reveals how the interests of the industrial North and the agricultural South (the Cotton Belt) came to clash over critical issues such as plantation slavery, and how these issues eventually led to the secession of the southern states.

Join five enthusiastic students in their high-tech "Social Studies Lab" to learn about the five themes of geography: Location, Place, Human-Environment Interactions, Movement, and Regions. Visit locations around the world to understand how geographers study the earth and the people who live here.

Building on students’ basic understanding of maps and globes, the more complex concepts of latitude and longitude are introduced. The equator, north and south hemispheres, tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are defined and located down to minutes and degrees. The prime meridian, east and west hemispheres, time zones, and the international dateline come to life on a world cruise review.