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.)

THIS DAY IN MICHIGAN HISTORY -- Check any date for what happened on that day in Michigan's history.

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.

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

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

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

E PLURIBUS UNUM PROJECT -- Resources to study three pivotal decades: 1770s, 1850s, and 1920s.

NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER -- Lesson plans, quizzes, homework help, and more.

NATIONMASTER -- Compare nations via a massive database of statistics.

STATEMASTER -- Compare data on the different U.S. states.

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

HISTORIC MAPS IN K-12 CLASSROOMS -- Map-based resources and lessons for social studies, history and geography.

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

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

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

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.

360 MICHIGAN -- Great site that shows 360-degree pictures of places in Michigan, like the State Capitol.

AMERICA'S STORY -- From America's Library, a time machine into America's past.

WOMEN IN WORLD HISTORY -- Includes lessons, essays, biographies, and curriculum materials.

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.

MAP MACHINE -- National Geographic helps you find every location on earth. Maps and statistics.

ISSUE GUIDES -- Helps students develop opinions on national policy.

CONGRESS FOR KIDS -- Take a tour of Congress to see how it works.

FACT CHECK -- Annenberg political fact check that holds politicians accountable for their facts.

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

NATION MASTER -- Compare countries in 1,187 statistical categories and generate graphs.

MIDDLE EAST RESOURCES -- Great collection from eBrary.

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

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

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE -- Great site from the National Park Service.

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES RESEARCH GUIDE -- Presented by Yale University.

OUR DOCUMENTS -- 100 full text historically significant documents.

HISTORY BUFF -- History as it was reported in newspapers of the day.

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

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

TIME MAGAZINE FOR KIDS -- Complete magazine with teacher resources, standards-based lessons, and reproducibles.

NEWSEUM -- Daily front pages from newspapers all over the world.

MI KIDS -- Learn about Michigan while doing fun activities.

HISTORY LINK 101 -- Helps sift through usable sites for curriculum material.

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

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

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

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

WEB GENERATION -- Shows all the popular trends for decades from the 1940s to present.

BEST HISTORY SITES -- Valuable resource with lesson plans, activities, and multimedia ideas.

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

MAPS OF THE WORLD -- Virtual Library presents maps from everywhere.

HISTORICAL MAPS -- See the world as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries. (Michigan, too.)

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

THE HISTORY PLACE -- Presentations about 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 nation's digital library has resources for every research project.

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

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

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

U.S. MINT'S SITE FOR KIDS -- Shows how coins are made. Lot's of hands-on activities.

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

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

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD -- From National Geographic, this interactive site puts you into the world of a runaway slave in a quest for freedom.

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

ARCHIVING EARLY AMERICA -- Everything about Early America, even an "On this day in Early America" feature.

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

USER'S GUIDE TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE -- Everything you need to teach about this historical document.

HISTORY MATTERS -- Resource gateway for high school teachers of U.S. History.

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

FIRST GOV FOR KIDS -- Just 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.

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

READY.GOV -- From the Office of Homeland Security, ways to be ready for an emergency.

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

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION GUIDE -- Lesson plans.

MANAGING MONEY -- Teaches about budgets, credit and more.