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SOCIAL SCIENCE RESOURCES, LESSONS & INTERACTIVE SITES
 

General History/Social Science Sites

United States History Social Science Sites

World History Social Science Sites.

GENERAL HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE SITES Back to top

ALL ABOUT RELIGION - http://www.teachingaboutreligion.org
The goal of this site is to provide academic information and teaching materials related to teaching about religion in public schools.  Contains teaching materials, lessons and loads of information and related links.

ATLAS FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC -  http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/map-machine
From Washington State University, Historical atlases and map resources for Greece, Hebrews, Judea and Israel, India, Italian Renaissance, Japan and Rome.

THE AVALON PROJECT: 20TH CENTURY DOCUMENTS - http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/20th.asp
This site has virtual versions of important documents of the twentieth century from around the world; from the Agreement Between the United States and Cuba for the Lease of Lands for Coaling and Naval stations to the Hamas Covenant, everything's here. Also links to 18th, 19th and 21st Century documents.

BBC HISTORY - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
A wide ranging history resource, that provides many excellent internal and external links and activities.  Constantly changing and developing.  Some splendid recent additions including much  suitable for student research. 

CALENDARS THROUGH THE AGES - http://webexhibits.org/calendars/
This site begins: "The schedule of our lives is shaped by the movement of the sun and the moon." Click on calendars, history, timeline, astronomy, definitions.  Everything is here.

 CALENDOPAEDIA - http://calendopedia.com/
A great source for data on calendars.  Check out Comparison of Calendars page first!  Neat!

CITY POPULATIONS   - http://www.citypopulation.de/
If you're looking for current population information for cities  around the globe, this is the place for you.  Print out a list of the abbreviations so that you can understand them before you get into the maps and tables. Figure population density of population by hectares.

CITIES OF THE WORLD IN HISTORY - http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm
Whether doing a report on ancient, medieval or modern cities, or just wanting to know something about a city, this is the place to start

COLLAPSE:  WHY DO CIVILIZATIONS COLLAPSE? - https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/civilizations-collapse.htm
"Nearly every continent has its ruins -- places where only stones tell the tale of fallen civilizations. They might lay buried under the Earth, in the shade of jungle canopy or amidst the teeming industry of a modern city. Yet they all raise the same questions: How could something so great all but vanish? Why do civilizations collapse?" And, how do they thrive? Read all about it here.

COLUMBUS SITES -  http://ginaotto.com/columbus.html
Links to many things Columbus with cute lessons complied by Gina Otto.

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY - http://geography.about.com/msubmenu3.htm
This site includes agricultural geography showing crops and animals, info on AIDS, airports, buildings and architecture, calendars and seasons, cities and urban geography, crime and law enforcement, entertainment and sports, languages, medical, food and famine, religion, politics, time and time zones, transportation and population links.

DOCUMENTS IN LAW, HISTORY AND DIPLOMACY - http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
Historical documents, pre 18th century, 18th, 19th and 20th century in World and American History.  If you want authentic sources, try these.  They are listed in alphabetical order, so you may need to scan through if you don't know the name of the document you are looking for.  the Avalon project written at Yale Law School.

EYEWITNESS - HISTORY THROUGH THE EYES OF THOSE WHO LIVED IT - http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Click on an era, time period or other link.  Includes a photo of the week.

FLAGS OF THE WORLD - http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/
Flags of the World is the Internet’s largest site devoted to vexillology (the study of flags). Here you can read more than 49,000 pages about flags and view more than 90,000 images of flags of countries, organizations, states, territories, districts and cities, both past and present.

GEOGRAPHY LINKS  - http://geography.about.com
From blank outline maps, to climate, to large cities, rivers and streams.  Check this site out, it has everything about geography; even zip codes. SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER.

GREAT BUILDINGS.COM  - http://www.greatbuildings.com/
Great Buildings is a huge database of information about architects and their buildings. 800+ Buildings are featured from 40 countries. There aren't images of every building, but many buildings shown have multiple views. Virtual Reality (VR) versions of some building are available, although you need to download a free software package for viewing VR.

GREATEST PLACES - http://www.greatestplaces.org/
The Greatest Places is a large-format educational film that  takes the viewer to " seven of the most geographically dynamic locations on Earth."  From the Amazon to Tibet, this Web site introduces us to geography with annotated clips from the film and notes. To get an overview of the site, start at the Table of Contents. Don't miss the Activities. like See How Maps Lie which uses an orange to demonstrate the problems of making of a flat map.

<>HISTORY CHANNEL: THIS DAY IN HISTORY - http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
The History Channel brings us not just one This Day in History, but nine including Automotive History, Civil War History, Crime History, Literary History, Technology History and Wall Street History. Browse the files by any date (such as your birthday) to learn of important headlines and birthdays throughout the centuries.

<>HISTORY FOR KIDS - http://www.historyforkids.net/
A great site originated by 12-year-old Stephen Byrne, who wrote "I’m 12 years old. I’m the creator of History for Kids website. I live in Dublin, Ireland with my brother Paul, Mom and Dad. About a year ago in school I was working on a project about history. My dad suggested we work on a website to help me understand the topic better, and also learn more about programming websites, which is another topic I love." The site includes info, games, videos, coloring pages, and worksheets on Egypt, Middle Ages, Greece, Rome, Asia, China, and the U.S. with more to follow. The site is creative, neat, easy to read and use, and innovative in its concepts. Check it out!

HISTORY GAMES - https://schoolhistory.co.uk/games/

Interesting games for all phases of history. Walk the Plank, Hoop Shoot, Penalty Shootout, Historical Hangman. Playing the games is free, but you need to register. Oliver Cromwell, Normans in Ireland, Age of Exploration, Texas History. A Plethora of topics and fun.

<>THE HISTORY INDEX - http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html
From the University of Kansas, links to all social studies subjects by eras and epochs, historical topics and countries and regions.

HOW FAR IS IT? http://www.indo.com/distance/
Just type in two places in the world and the distance will be calculated for you.  From the U.S. Census Bureau

<>HYPER HISTORY - http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html
Over a thousand files are interconnected to create an online interactive world history chart of people, history, events and maps.
 
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN SOCIAL STUDIES - http://www.cln.org/subjects/socials_inst.html
Collection of links, lessons, lesson exchange K-12. Theme units from Over Population to Biomes.

INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS THEME PAGE - http://www.cln.org/themes/inventors.html
Links to resources and instructional materials to aid in incorporating creative thinking into your Science classroom; presented by CLN    Links to Ancient inventions, etc.

LATITUDE - ART AND SCIENCE OF 15TH CENTURY NAVIGATION -http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~feegi/
Before 1440 and after.  This site explains how navigation changed.

THE LOC.GOV WISE GUIDE - http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/jan09/index-flash.html
The Library of Congress Wise Guide web site is designed to introduce you to resources available from the nation's library. The site changes every month..

MAPS - PERRY CASTENEDA LIBRARY MAP COLLECTION - http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html
Need a historical map?  Do not miss this site.  It has everything, including links to gazetteers and other map sites of importance!!

PRIMARY SOURCES AND ACTIVITIES - http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html
Contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross curricular connections.  Click on teaching with documents ...

PUPPET RESOURCE CENTER - http://www.legendsandlore.com/puppet-resource.html
How to make sock puppets, sack puppets, write plays, teach history, teach math, teach English are just some of the subjects on this page.

REFDESK.COM HISTORICAL INFORMATION RESOURCES - http://www.refdesk.com/facthist.html
A wonderful alphabetical listing of historical information sources, lessons and references.  A must use.

SACRED TEXT ARCHIVES - http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm
This is a quiet place in cyberspace, dedicated to religious tolerance and scholarship.  World religions, mysteries, and sacred texts are housed here.

SCORE - http://score.rims.k12.ca.us
California Standards and Frameworks in Social Science/History.

SMITHSONIAN LESSON PLANS - http://smithsonianeducation.org/
This is the Smithsonian site for teachers.  Great classroom ready lessons and activities for arts, language arts, science and social studies.

SOCIAL STUDIES FOR KIDS - http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/
Get rid of the pop-up window. A neat site which opens to world events. Click on Glossaries at the top and you get answers to who, what, where, and when. On the left you can click on current events, book reviews, fun and games, cultures, holidays, languages, religions, economics, geography with maps both modern and historical, government info, timelines and time, and history (U.S. world, ancient, Middle Ages, Renaissance, explorers, 20th Century, wars, archaeology, sports and other sources including stuff for teachers.  Each page has great links which are updated constantly.

SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCES - http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/index.html
Current events, online activities, lesson plans, resources, newsgroups and mailing lists

10,000 YEAR CALENDAR - http://calendarhome.com/tyc/
On this site, you type in a date and it gives you the events etc. that occurred then.  It's fun to do for the kids birthdays and briefly discuss what happened when they were born.

TODAY IN HISTORY - http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
From the History Channel; allows you to search any date for significant events throughout history.

A WALK THROUGH TIME - http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/Time/time.html
"In the 1840's a Greenwich standard time for all of England, Scotland, and Wales was established, replacing several 'local time' systems.  The Royal Greenwich Observatory was the focal point for this development because it had played such a key role in marine navigation based upon accurate timekeeping. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) subsequently evolved as the official time reference for the world and served that purpose until 1972." This fabulous site, produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, presents both the history of timekeeping and a peek at its current state.  If you want to coordinate your Windows-based computer clock to the NIST clock, you can download a program to do so over the Internet (look under NIST Time Calibration).

WHERE IS THAT? - http://www.funbrain.com/where/
A game where your mind is your map. Choose from seven maps and five levels of difficulty.  Level one starts with multiple choice questions ("Is this France, Russia or Germany?") Level five means spelling the country or state AND its capital city.   Want to play against a buddy? Hats off to Funbrain for including a two-player version, where each player can choose his own level of difficulty.  And this marvelous game is Java-free, so it's compatible with older browsers and WebTV.

WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE - http://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/womens-suffrage/
Barbara J. Feldman's links to many things about Women's suffrage. Check it out, she's done all the work.

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Last Updated October, 2022

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