Resources

Online Resources and Curriculum Units

Hemispheres

• Explorers, Traders, and Immigrants: Tracking the Cultural and Social Impacts of the Global Commodity Trade
  Inspired by the 2003 Hemispheres Summer Institute for teachers, which explored cultural contact by looking at the food we eat, Explorers, Traders, and Immigrants examines eight global commodities from their points of origin and the social, cultural, political, and economic changes they wrought along their way. Each case study covers the initial discovery of and/or access to a commodity, its progress from local good to international trade, the ramifications of large-scale production, and the drama of its boom-and-bust cycles through the years.
  
  
• People and Place: Curriculum Resources on Human-Environmental Interactions
  Inspired by Hemispheres 2004 Summer Teachers Institute, People and Place: Human-Geographic Relations, this curriculum unit was designed to address human adaptation to and modification of the environment. Each case study includes myriad activities that build social studies skills by incorporating primary and secondary sources, presenting information in a variety of formats (including graphs, charts, and maps), including varied points of view, and using mathematical skills to interpret social studies information.
  
  
• Understanding Migration
  Developed at the request of educators like yourself and piloted at professional development sessions in the spring and summer of 2004, Hemispheres is pleased to release the final version of our popular curriculum unit online. Explore the basic concepts of human migration, and download classroom-ready activities to use. There's even a PowerPoint presentation to help you get started!
  
  

• Africa Enslaved: Comparative Slave Systems Outside the United States
  A Document-Based Question (DBQ) unit designed around the AP World History curriculum and aligned with Texas and National standards for history and geography, Africa Enslaved explores comparative slave systems outside of the US, with particular focus on Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Co-developed by LLILAS and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS)

• Study Seminar and Curriculum Development Project in Brazil  
  Curriculum units created by educators who participated in a 2004 Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad program in Salvador, Brazil.
  
  
• Sustainability and Development in Action: Ecuador as a Case Study
  Curriculum units created by educators who participated in the 2005 Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad program in Ecuador.LANIC Newsroom
  Browse digests of news articles about current and past issues of importance in Latin America, from Caribbean hurricanes to national elections to the World Cup.

• Southern Cone Exploration: Argentina and Peru
  An online journal and curriculum units created by educators who participated in the 2004 Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad program in Argentina and Peru.
• Southern Cone Expedition Journal (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
• Curriculum Projects

Center for Middle Eastern Studies

• Cairo: Living Past, Living Future
  An interactive web unit designed specifically with K-12 students and educators in mind. This unit will allow you to explore this history, culture, society, geography, and environment of this fascinating city that sits at the crossroads between ancient and modern, east and west, tradition and innovation.

• Middle East Slide Packets
  Originally published in the mid-1980s, this collection of images and articles about different cultural and social topics has been out of print for over a decade. Now they are available again for use in classrooms! Units include Middle Eastern Families and Middle Eastern Food: Production and Distribution.

• Turkey and Cyprus: East and West
  A collection of curriculum units designed as a capstone for the 2004 Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad "East and West: Turkey and Cyprus in the 21st Century." Topics range from Greco-Roman art to conflict resolution activities designed around the Cyprus conflict.

Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

• Fulbright: Bulgaria
  A collection of curriculum units designed as a capstone for the 2004 Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad in Bulgaria. Topics range from art and culture to economics.

• Introduction to Central Asia: Lesson Plans for 6th Graders
  This unit contains three lesson plans intended to introduce middle school students to the region of Central Asia.  The countries which define the region of Central Asia include: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Each lesson is designed to broaden students' understanding and appreciation of Central Asia through topics broadly related to geography, social studies and culture. Lessons begin with the understanding that in order to best understand another region, country or society, it is important to first understand your own.

• The Life and Times of Dmitri Shostakovich - A Curriculum Unit for Middle School Students
  The activities in this lesson are intended to help students understand the life and music of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Students will gain an appreciation for music as both a controversial form of human expression and as a response to pressing social issues.

• Where East Meets West: An Introduction to the Caucasus and the BTC Oil Pipeline -- A Curriculum Unit for High School Students
  The activities in this unit are intended to introduce students to the geopolitical issues that surround a highly debated infrastructure project: the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. In studying the BTC pipeline, students will: 1) work collaboratively to learn more about the Caucasus and the BTC pipeline through Internet-based research; 2) explore the varied geopolitical issues which the construction of the pipeline has created; 3) view a documentary film about the BTC pipeline which explores both its global and local impact; 4) thoughtfully and critically examine the interests that various stakeholders have in the BTC pipeline; and 5) defend the interests of a particular interest group in a conflict-resolution activity.

South Asia Institute

• Cultural Enrichment Trunks
  Browse the catalogue of SAI's two cultural trunks -- on India and Tibetan Buddhism-- each containing a collection of objects, projects and curriculum materals suitable for use in K-12 classrooms.

• India Unlimited
  An interactive web resource providing fundamental information to those wishing to do business in India. Whether you are a small business looking to import raw materials or prefabricated goods, or you are a larger organization or venture capitalist looking to expand or invest in new regions of the globe, India Unlimited has the information you need for doing business in India.
  
  
• Three South Asia Religions Venn Diagram
  Created by an Asian Studies PhD graduate student in 2005, this diagram highlights the similarities and differences between three religions that have their origins in South Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
  

Network Information Centers (NICS)

The advent of information technology has more and more people turning to the Internet as a source of quick information. However, the quality of information garnered online cannot be assured, despite the explosion in on-line data. Each of the Centers has implemented a Network Information Center (NIC), an on-line virtual library consisting of critically reviewed links, so that you can be assured of the quality and relevance to your research. Teachers, students, business and media researchers, experienced web surfers as well as Internet newcomers will find the NICs a convenient place not only to begin, but to visit again and again. In addition to a comprehensive listing of on-line resources devoted to each region of the world, on-line components, guides, and units on specialized topics like those mentioned above have been developed by each Center and are also accessible through the NICs. Whatever you're looking for, you'll be able to find your information quickly and easily through Hemispheres' online offerings.

The web addresses for the NICs are:

Asian Studies Network Information Center (ASNIC):
http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/index.html

Latin American Studies Network Information Center (LANIC):
http://lanic.utexas.edu/

Middle Eastern Network Information Center (MENIC):
http://menic.utexas.edu/menic.html

Russian and East European Network Information Center (REENIC):
http://reenic.utexas.edu/reenic/reenic.html