Social Studies Resources

The heading of Social Studies includes history, geography, government, and a range of other topics. Some of these overlap with SCIENCE, ART, and LANGUAGE ARTS, so you might want to check out our pages on those subjects. (Adventure Learning, for example, covers many disciplines.)

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL STUDIES -- This is a SUPERIOR starter site, one of the best on the entire Web. Click on "educator" for a wealth of links and lesson plans.

ANNENBERG CLASSROOM -- Rich resource for teachers of civics and government.

TOP 50 STATES -- Resources and information on each of the 50 states.

DIGITAL HISTORY -- American History for K-12 with online textbooks.

OLD 45's -- A delightful look back at the 1950's and 1960's.

HISTORY MAKERS -- African-American contributions to American culture.

THIS DAY IN MICHIGAN HISTORY -- Find out what happened on any date.

BETTER WORLD PROJECT -- 1000 free printables on 50 social issues.

NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER -- Lessons, quizzes, resources and homework helpers about our Constitution.

HISTORIC MAPS IN K-12 CLASSROOMS -- Good for social studies, history and geography.

C-SPAN CLASSROOM -- Educator resources for Principles of Government and more.

E PLURIBUS UNUM PROJECT -- Studies three pivotal decades: 177s, 1850s, and 1920s.

EASE HISTORY -- From MSU, studies U.S. history through presidential campaign ads.

360 MICHIGAN -- 360-degree pictures of Michigan places, like the State Capitol.

AMERICA'S STORY -- Stories from America's past.

WOMEN IN WORLD HISTORY -- Women's history on a global context.

POLITICAL FACT CHECK -- Holds politicians accountable for their facts.

OPEN SECRETS -- Guide to money in U.S. elections. See who gets what from where.

NATION MASTER -- Compares countries in 1,187 statistical categories and generates graphs.

STATE MASTER -- Compare U.S. states in several statistical categories.

COUNTRY REPORTS -- Content found within CountryReports.org provides statistical information as well as cultural information which students, parents, teachers and researchers find valuable. 260 countries and over 23,000 pages of content.

ALIKE AND DIFFERENT – Students can examine the similarities and differences between the Middle East and their own cities and states. From National Geographic.

OUTLINE OF U.S. GOVERNMENT – This site outlines the major aspects of the American government.

BEN’S GUIDE TO U.S. GOVERNMENT -- Ben Franklin guides students through facts on the U.S. government. Units for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and parents/teachers.

MIDDLE AGES – Feudal life, religion, homes, clothing, and more about the Middle Ages.

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS – Discover historic landmarks protected by the National Park Service.

HISTORIC PLACES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT – A tour of the important places of the civil rights movement.

GEOGRAPHY OLYMPICS – Take an online quiz to test your geography knowledge. Your scores are averaged with other test takers and compared to results from other countries.

CONGRESS FOR KIDS -- Uncle Sam leads a tour of Congress.

ISSUES GUIDES -- Helps students form opinions about national policy.

MAP MACHINE -- National Geographic helps find every spot on earth with maps and statistics.

AMERICAN JOURNEYS -- Digital library with eyewitness accounts of early American exploration and settlement.

OUR DOCUMENTS -- Full text of 100 historical documents.

AFRICAN AMERICAN ODYSSEY -- Collection from the Library of Congress.

AFRICAN AMERICAN WORLD -- The courage and talent that shaped the African American experience, from PBS.

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE -- Stories and exhibits presented by the National Park Service.

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES RESEARCH GUIDE -- From Yale University.

TAPESTRY OF TIME AND TERRAIN -- Geological and topographical maps of the lower 48 states.

MIDDLE EAST RESOURCES -- Excellent collection from eBrary.

MI KIDS -- Learn all about Michigan with fun activities.

UNDERSTANDING THE IRAQ CONFLICT -- Resources for teachers, students and parents.

STUDENT NEWS NET -- Online news written specially for students. Great careers page, too.

BEST HISTORY SITES -- Massive list of resources for every aspect of history. Includes lesson plans, activities, multimedia ideas, and an Art History section.

NEWSEUM -- Read the daily front pages of newspapers from all over the world.

TIME MAGAZINE FOR KIDS -- Complete online magazine with lesson plans and reproducibles in the teacher section.

HIDDEN BIAS TESTS --11 self tests that reveal your hidden biases. From Tolerance.org.

HISTORY LINK 101 -- Helps teachers sift through websites for useable materials.

WEB GENERATION -- Shows trends and fads from the 1940s to present.

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY CHALLENGE -- Profiles of famous 19th century African Americans and interactive self-grading quizzes.

THIS NATION -- Comprehensive guide to American government and politics.

SALARY TIMER. Compare your salary with the per-second earnings of celebrities and pro athletes.

MI KIDS -- Teaches Michigan history, geography, and government.

AMERICA'S LIBRARY -- 4,500 items about American history and culture from the Library of Congress.

MAPS FROM VIRTUAL LIBRARY -- Find maps to every place in the world.

HISTORICAL MAPS -- See the world of the 18th and 19th centuries. (Michigan, too.)

THE HISTORY PLACE --Presentations on hundreds of topics and a homework helper.

AMERICAN MEMORY -- 7 million item digital archive of American history and culture from the Library of Congress.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS -- The ultimate online research library.

KIDS IN THE HOUSE -- Shows how laws are made and how Congress functions.

DON'T BUY IT -- Show the tricks advertisers use.

COUNTRY STUDIES -- Everything you want to know about 100 different countries.

U.S. MINT FOR KIDS -- Shows how coins are made. Fun online activities.

911 DIGITAL ARCHIVE -- History of the September 11, 2001 attack on New York.

GREAT WOMEN -- From the National Women's Hall of Fame, women who have had historical impact on America.

WORLD WISE SCHOOLS -- A living geography lesson from the Peace Corps. Your students can read essays by volunteers from around the world.

HISTORY MATTERS -- Gateway for resources for high school teachers of U.S. History.

HISTORY AND POLITICS OUT LOUD -- Audio clips of historically significant events, people, and speeches.

USER'S GUIDE TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE -- Everything needed to learn about this document.

ARCHIVING EARLY AMERICA -- Everything about Early america, incl;uding a "On this day in Early America" feature.

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD -- From National Geographic, an interactive site that puts students into the world of a runaway slave.

FIRST GOV -- Everything about government. Links together 27 million web pages of government information.

FIRST GOV FOR KIDS -- Sort of like First Gov, but with a kid-friendly navigation system.

HISTORY BUFF -- Read about events from the newspapers of the day.

THE HISTORY CHANNEL -- More than TV listings! Classroom materials, games, great speeches, This Day in History, and a list of hotlinks by theme are all part of the mix.

50 STATES -- Every possible piece of information about each of the 50 states.

WEB CHRONOLOGY PROJECT -- From North park University, hyperlinks the world's history, spanning East to West.

HISTORY HOUSE -- This is an online history magazine and free newsletter that treats history as breaking news. A great read.

THOMAS WEB -- Everything about Congress (from its own library). Good site for legislative information.

FROM REVOLUTION TO RECONSTRUCTION -- An outline of American history with links to original documents. Mostly text, but great for research papers.

TERRA SERVER -- Want to see where something is? The Terra server is the largest database on earth -- 4 trillion bytes of aerial and satellite photos of (every place on) Earth.

TIME CAPSULE -- Type in a date and get a digest of news headlines, top song titles, and other factoids about that day in history.

READY.GOV -- From the Office of Homeland Security, how to plan for emergencies.

REGULATIONS.GOV -- One stop site for federal government regulations.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION GUIDE -- Lesson plans.

MANAGING MONEY -- Teaches budgets, credit and more.