Gapminder

"Gapminder" is a fascinating website that visually represents all types of historical data. In particular, if you load gapminder world, it will display the graph above of life expectancy and GDP over time. (It also tracks population with the size of dot). I selected "Canada" from the list and it created a graph of how Canada has changed over time. Notice that in the early 1800's (when Socials 10 'starts') the life expectancy in Canada was less than 40!

I use this website to introduce what life might have been like in the early 19th century, but of course the students just want to know which country is the biggest dot and which country is the richest, etc... I figure that can't hurt, and I know some students go home and check out the graph when they get home.