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.

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

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

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

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

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

NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER -- Lessons and materials for educators.

EASE HISTORY -- MSU site that teaches U.S. History though presidential campaign ads.

E PLURIBUS UNUM PROJECT -- Studies three pivotal decades: 1770s, 1850s, 1920s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 that show how congress works.

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

MAP MACHINE -- Find every place on earth and get detailed maps and statistics.

NATION MASTER -- compare nations in 1,187 statistical categories and generate graphs.

STATE MASTER -- Compare U.S. states with statistics and graphs.

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

OUR DOCUMENTS -- Full text of 100 historically influential documents.

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

MIDDLE EAST RESOURCES -- Excellent collection from eBrary.

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

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

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

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES RESEARCH GUIDE -- From Yale University.

MI KIDS -- Learn 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.

MAPS OF EVERYWHERE -- The Virtual Library has maps from every location on earth.

TIME MAGAZINE FOR KIDS -- Complete magazine with teacher lesson plans, standards, and reproducibles.

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

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

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

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

SALARY TIMER -- Compare your salary to the per-second income of celebrities and pro athletes.

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

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

HISTORY LINK 101 -- Helps teaches sift through websites for useful materials.

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

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

BEST HISTORY SITES -- Lesson plans, activities, multimedia ideas, and an extensive set of reference links.

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.

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

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

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

U.S. MINT FOR KIDS -- Shows students how coins are made. Lots of online activities.

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

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.

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

WORLD WIDE 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.

GEOGRAPHY4KIDS -- Geography basics for elementary and middle school students.

HISTORY AND POLITICS OUT LOUD -- Audio clips of famous people, historical events, and important speeches.

KULTURE KIDZ --Teaches students about the African American culture.

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

USER'S GUIDE TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE -- Learn everything about this document.

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

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.

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.

CHILDREN'S EXPRESS -- A current events online newspaper for kids and written by kids.

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.

TRAMLINE -- Take virtual tours, everything from city tours and volcanoes to on-line commerce and investing. Great way to take your kids to far away places.

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, helps plan for emergencies.

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

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION GUIDE -- Lesson plans.

MANAGING MONEY -- Helps you learn to manage your money, set up a budget, protect your credit and more.