There are some very interesting sites here. The difference between
these sites and the ones on the anthropology page is generally
small - I've used my own discretion to place them here instead
of on the anthro page.
ALA|Great
Web Sites for Kids: World History,
has 21 annotated
web sites about history. The sites are coded for grade level
appropriateness. Good stuff.
Amnesty
International, is the place to stop by if you want news of
Amnesty's campaigns and activities. You can join up here too.
Asian
Studies WWW Virtual Library, has a great set of links for
students of Asian Studies.Check it out.
Ben's
Guide to US Government for Kids (6-8), is an excellent site
produced by the US government which has easy to understand information
on the structure and function of the US government.
brain-juice,
is the home
of a number of biographies of famous 20th century people from
the arts and history. The biographies are written by university
students or former university students. Seems like a good research
site.
CIA
- The World Factbook, is from that world popular organization
- the American CIA. Regardless of what you think about the CIA,
the World Factbook is an excellent place to go for demographic
data on countries around the world. I've used this site for years
with students in my computer classes when they are doing research
on countries. They have just updated their country data as of
May, 2005
Contemporary Women World Leaders, is an excellent little site with information about women world leaders from 1945 up to the present. For those ill-informed folks who like to claim that women are hopelessly oppressed in Muslim countries, this site can be an eye opener, particularly since the US, Australia and a number of other Western democracies have never had a woman head of state. Of course, this doesn't mean that women in Muslim countries aren't oppressed. It does highlight some inconsistencies in right wing arguements about Islam, however.
Country
Profiles is a great resource from the BBC. Your students can find full profiles on history, politics and economic background of countries and territories. The files also includes audio or video clips.
Country
Studies: Area Handbook Series (Library of Congress), is the
online series of books prepared by the LOC. These online books,
covering 91 countries, are an excellent, if somewhat outdated
(1992) source of information on the countries that are covered.
Crossing
Cultures, is another online magazine "...magazine that
celebrates cultural diversity. It contains essays and interviews
about experiences in other cultures, living in two or more cultures,
being bilingual or bicultural and addresses the issue of cultural
identity. This is also a magazine that accepts essays and observations
from its readers." This has possibilities of being used by middle
school and high school teachers. It's an interesting project and
worth a look.
Cultures
on the Edge, is a new online magazine showing cultural diversity
around the world. It is "dedicated to open dialogue and increasing
global awareness about unique segments of humanity." While this
new site isn't quite finished, it's a glossy, professional job
and should be watched in the future.
Daily Life in Ancient Times, covers a wide range of cultures including Greece, Rome, China, Japan, and Native American cultures in the US.
Early
Music,
has recordings
of 2, 3, 4 and 5-part songs and instrumental selections from
the 14th - 17th Centuries. You can download these songs and
use them in your classroom. This
is a great resource.
I plan on downloading all the songs for use during our upcoming
unit on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Free
Rice, is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com and
has this to say about itself. "FreeRice
has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people
for free.
This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor
country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great
investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry
human beings, enabling them to function and be productive.
Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.
Thank you."
This is a fun game for vocab
freaks and you can use it with your students as well. What's
better than having fun and doing something worthwhile at
the same time?
Greek
People, is a site with information on Greek mythology. The articles
are short, but concise. Suitable for upper elementary and middle
school students.
Greek
Mythology, is a site with information on Greek mythology. The articles
are short, but concise. Suitable for upper elementary and middle
school students.
How
Far Is It?. You can find the latitude and longitude of two
places and calculate the distances between them. Also includes
a map with the two places on it. This is a service of Bali Online.
I discovered that it is 15,714 kilometers from my sister's house
in Chicago to my house in Singaraja. Fun if not totally useful.
Mapmaker,Mapmaker,
Make Me a Map, is an introduction to maps and map making from
those fun folks at the University of Tennessee. Oriented towards
kids. Take a look at how Peter Pan made it to Never Never Land.
Very interesting. When I was teaching Second Grade and mapping
skills I would have liked to have had this page as a resource.
Mathematician
of the African Diaspora, is produced by Dr. Scott Williams,
a mathematician at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The goal of his site is to inform students about the role of black
people in mathematics over the past 8,000 years. Recent statistics
about the number of African American Ph.D.s in math and the sciences.
Lots of stuff here.
National
Council for the Social Studies, is an online resource for
teachers of social studies. This is more a site for professional
development than a teaching resource, but if you are a social
studies teacher in an American style school, you should check
it out.
Outpost:
Human Origins, is a National Geographic website that provides
an "internet bridge between scientists and explorers in the field"
with all of us at home. You can take part in research that is
featured by interacting with the scientists who are actually out
in the field. This is fascinating stuff.
Reach
Every Child|Social Studies, is the Social Studies section
of the Reach Every Child site created by Horace Mann. Check it
out and let me know what you think.
A Roman History Timeline, has a nice, compact timeline of Roman history. Good for Middle School.
Social
Science Information Gateway, is a nifty little place to get
quick access to social science information. Has a good listing
of social science areas. Good place to visit for research.
The
United Nations CyberSchoolBus:Educational Resources for Students,
is a project begun by UN Publications. It has resources for students
on the world's cities, pollution, a photo gallery, special projects,
and a tour of the UN. Very cool stuff. The photos themselves are
reason enough to pop in. Sign the guest book and get a surprise.
Guess you can tell I'm not pushing the US to get out of the UN.
The
U.S. Committee for Refugees, has information about the refugee
situation around the world. You can access a data base on the
refugee situation within countries. Interviews with refugees are
also available. There is a major displacement of people in the
world today which affects all of us in some way. This is a site
well worth your time.
U.S.
Census Bureau Site, contains data on population and housing,
economy, geography, data access tools, latest news, etc. You can
find out recent population figures.
Virtual Kenya ,
is a portal to Kenya that a student of mine found the other day while doing research on Kenya for his geography report. He said that he found relevant information so here's a link.
WonderClub.com,
is home to
a site that has a list of all the wonders of the world. This
site provides some interesting resources for a teacher
to use with his/her students.
WSU
Social Studies Education Links, contains a string of links
to sites useful for social studies teachers and students. The
sites are organized according to categories: Links to Professional
Organizations; Links to Social Studies Listservs; Links to Other
Sources of Lesson Plans and K-12 Resources; Anthropology; Economics;
Geography; Government; History; Political Science; Psychology;
Sociology; Arab World. I haven't had a chance to check out most
of the links, but they look good. My only real complaint with
this site is the same one that I have with many sites - there
is no update or creation date listed so it is difficult to know
how long this site has been up or when it has been updated.