Kids News - Social Studies for Kids

After being removed from the curriculum for over 14 years, cursive writing is making a comeback in some US public schools. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is the elegant form of penmanship where letters or characters are joined together in a flowing manner, generally to make writing faster....

Researchers have always suspected that the Amazonian rainforests were once home to ancient cities. However, looking for remains of urban structures in the thick, remote forests was a difficult endeavor. But the use of Light Detection and Ranging, or Lidar, has been a game changer. The remote sensing technology uses laser light to help identify human-made features on the ground, such as walls, roads, or buildings. It has led to several exciting discoveries. The latest to be revealed is a network of 15 ancient settlements in the Upano Valley of eastern Ecuador in South America....

Archeologists in China have unearthed what they believe is an ancient "celestial calendar." The 23 rectangular wooden pieces were found inside a 2,200-year-old tomb in China's Wulong District. They are etched with Chinese characters connected to an astronomical calendar known as Tiangan Dizhi. It was established during the Shang dynasty, which ruled from 1600 BC to about 1050 BC. This is the first time written slips linked to the ancient calendar have been found in a tomb....

Dr. Ivan Šprajc has spent the past 30 years looking for Maya cities in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. In 2013, the archeologist and his team found one dating back to the 8th century in the Chactún rainforest. A year later, they unearthed two more cities abandoned over 1,200 years ago. But a massive ancient settlement found deep inside Mexico's Balamkú Ecological Conservation Zone, is the team's most exciting discovery yet....