Math+in+Social+Studies

In terms of writing and numbers, a recent study had some important findings about data:

From this study: "The meta-analysis revealed that teaching through inquiry was the instructional method with the greatest impact on the quality of students writing (see Figure 22). In this method, students use sets of data and, in a structured manner, incorporate them into their writing. Students may record, describe, and present evidence while taking into account set criteria. For example, students may be given information about a particular subject, such as pollution, prison rebellion, etc, and then be asked to consider ways to help solve the problem. This inquiry process leads students to develop better ideas, produce stronger support and evidence, and recognize and address positions that are in opposition to them. The research findings indicate that having students go through the steps of observing and writing had greater impact on the quality of writing than did more traditional teaching using model writings."

Teaching With Data is an initiative to provide meaningful, current data, charts, and graphs that relate to the social sciences. It is searchable.

This site is meant for middle school, but has transferable ideas in terms of some basic ways to incorporate math into the social sciences.