Breaking My Own Rules

I am going to break one of my own rules: Never run more than one major tech assignment at once.  Its a good rule and I have always followed it but I have another problem;  my students are ready to fall asleep the second I say it is time for social studies.  We are learning about pioneers and the unit is very dry so I am going to have them make a PowerPoint about a topic and then post them.  I will make a set of questions for the students to complete about each presentation.