Open Ended Social Studies has the chapters that your world history textbook is missing

What is the root cause of our world’s troubles?  

If you ask me, it’s not a trade imbalance or a terrorist threat.  If we’re talking about the problem that lies at the heart of everything, it’s got to be a severe, devastating lack of empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Continue reading “Open Ended Social Studies has the chapters that your world history textbook is missing”

Unrecognized Potential: Terra Preta, Ancient Orchards, and Life in the Amazon

Until relatively recently, it was widely believed that the Amazon Rainforest was incapable of sustaining large scale human development.  New findings have challenged this view, and evidence of ancient agriculture suggests that humans once developed this fragile region in ways so subtle that – in the form of carefully managed soils and prehistoric orchards – they have been hiding in plain sight all this time, challenging the basic tenants of “agriculture” as western eyes tend to recognize it. Continue reading “Unrecognized Potential: Terra Preta, Ancient Orchards, and Life in the Amazon”

The Sandinistas

What happens after a revolution, when those who ceded power don’t want to admit it’s gone? What right do nations have to preemptively attack the governments of other nations?
This lesson was reported from:
Adapted in part from open sources.

Continue reading “The Sandinistas”

Augusto Sandino, National Hero

Is it heroic or foolish to fight against impossible odds, even if you know you are right? When is violence and revolt a justifiable strategy for change?
This lesson was reported from:
Adapted in part from open sources.

Continue reading “Augusto Sandino, National Hero”

A Basic History of Nicaragua

How does a nation with colonial origins synthesize its own identity? How does a small nation assert its own will in the shadow of a much more economically and militarily powerful neighbor?
This lesson was reported from:
Adapted in part from open sources.

Continue reading “A Basic History of Nicaragua”

Popcorn paved the way for the Aztec Empire

In the beginning, there was teosinte, the wild ancestor of modern corn.  Its kernels are too tough to eat or grind into flour.  It was consumed not as corn on the cob or as a torilla, but instead as popcorn.   Continue reading “Popcorn paved the way for the Aztec Empire”

Nicaragua, Imperialism, and National Identity

Continue reading “Nicaragua, Imperialism, and National Identity”