Best of History Web Sites: Lesson Plans & Activities Print

PLEASE NOTE: Best of History Web Sites now features links to K-12 lesson plans, teacher guides, activities, games, quizzes, and more throughout its pages!! So, if you are looking for a lesson plan or activity on, say, the American Civil War simply go the the Best of History Web Sites U.S. HISTORY section and then click on CIVIL WAR. Scroll down and you will see many resources for teachers and students. Many of the lesson plans and activitities you will find have been drawn from the sites below.(posted June 23, 2003)

Lesson Plans and Resources for Social Studies Teachers
Dr. Marty Levine, Professor Emeritus of Secondary Education, California State University, Northridge (CSUN),has gathered lesson plans and resources from the Internet which social studies teachers should find very useful. The site is detailed, well organized, and well maintained.

PBS Teacher Source
PBS has a great source for information on a myriad of historical events and personalities. PBS's assorted and diverse web exhibits supplement specific individual television series and generally include a resume of each episode, interviews (often with sound bites), a timeline , a glossary, photos, and links to relevant sites. Categories include American History, World History, History on Television, and Biographies. Go to the PBS Teacher Source for lessons and activities -- arranged by topic -- and sign up for their newsletter.

Center for History and New Media: History Matters
CHNM produces historical works in new media, tests their effectiveness in the classroom, and reflects critically on the success of new media in historical practice. CHNM's resources include a list of "best" web sites, links to syllabi and lesson plans, essays on history and new media, a link to their excellent History Matters web site for U.S. History, and more. Resources are designed to benefit professional historians, high school teachers, and students of history .

Learning Page (Library of Congress)
LOC's Learning Page provides activities, tools, ideas, and features for educators and students. Features include: Thanksgiving, Presidents, Immigrants, Women, Elections, and Inaugurations

SCORE -- Schools of California Online Resources for Educators
The Schools of California Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) project is a terrific resource for teachers and students alike. You'll find lesson plans -- all rated and arranged by grade level and content area.

Digital History
A great site for teaching American History that includes: a U.S. history e-textbook; over 400 annotated documents, primary sources on slavery, Mexican American and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history; short essays on the history of film, ethnicity, private life, and technology; multimedia exhibitions; reference resources that include a searchable database of 1,500 annotated links, classroom handouts, chronologies, glossaries, an audio archive including speeches and book talks by historians, and a visual archive with hundreds of historical maps and images. The site's Ask the HyperHistorian feature allows users to pose questions to professional historians.

History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers
A retired high school history teacher has produced a well-organized and super-stocked resource of links to history and education-related sites. Check out "K-12 resources" for a set of links to roughly 155 sites for lesson plans and links.

Social Studies School Service Links
Contains lesson plans and teaching strategies, online activities, and tips on teaching current events. Lists are comprehensive and arranged alphabetically. Also sells social studies books, ebooks, videos, DVD's, CD-ROMS, and more.

Ask ERIC Virtual Library
Produced by the Education Research Information Center (ERIC) this site is an information clearinghouse on 16 specific subject areas. Of special note is its collection of thousands of lesson plans for varied grade levels and subject areas. There is a question-and-answer section and plenty of educational tips and guides.

Marco Polo
An impressive site that features reviewed links to top sites, professionally developed lesson plans, classroom activities, materials to help with daily classroom planning, and search engines.

The Web Quest Page
A WebQuest is a form of project-based and problem-based learning in which the resources are located on the Web. These inquiry-oriented educational sites are produced by educators for use by students and are modeled on a template developed by Progessor Bernie Dodge. Some WebQuests are very impressive --- others are less so. I would suggest consulting the WebQuest Matrix which now contains approximately 600 pre-selected Web Quests, cataloged by grade and subject level. WebQuest links should be checked to make sure they are active.

The Gateway
Contains about 7000 educational resources including lesson plans and curriculum guides. History links are divided by grade level and contain descriptions and reviews

Social Studies Lesson Plans
Much information on government and politics for 9-12 students. Has many "mini" activities that do not necessarily involve the Web

Education World: History Center
Offers timelines, activities, work sheets, games, homework help, clip art and images, and articles.

SchoolHistory.co.uk
School History is a bountiful online history site that offers huge numbers of freely downloadable resources, interactive and entertaining history games and quizzes, interactive online lessons together with comprehensive links to online resources.

Teacher's Virtual School
The Spartacus Teachers' Virtual School History Department provides lessons under Key Stage (2,3,4) and Topic. Teachers are invited to send in details of any online history lessons they have produced for their students.

History Channel
A companion to the television channel, this commercial site contains a myriad of features and highlights for educators and students alike. Key offerings include: study guides and activities, ideas from teachers, special exhibits, speech archives, discussions, and "This Day in History." Also, try the UK site at www.thehistorychannel.co.uk and student site: www.historystudystop.co.uk

Awesome Stories
AwesomeStories.com is free, non-commercial educational web site for educators (as the basis for lesson plans) and students. Stories link to organized primary and secondary source materials found principally at U.S. and other worldwide national archives, museums, libraries, universities, news organizations and government web sites. The purpose of the site (including its eight separate, stand-alone channels) is to take visitors on a virtual guided tour of relevant on-line source materials. Be sure to check out Click2History.

ThinkQuest, ThinkQuest
A large internet-based education program that features about 1000 student-created web sites. Includes teacher resources and contests. Quality of individual sites varies. Note: Sites are down temporarily

National Council for the Social Studies: Social Studies.org
National Council for the Social Studies offers support for social studies educators. Links are categorized by themes of the Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Teachers share classroom experiences at the site and on the NCSS listserv. The National Council for the Social Studies Data Bank features an annotated list of teaching resources categorized by the ten themes of the Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Many of these resources involve technology integration, especially internet use.

Voice of the Shuttle: History Page
Part of an extensive guide to humanities resources that provides numerous links to feature sites, teaching resources, electronic journals, course syllabi, and much more

Mr. Neal’s Virtual Classroom
A high school social studies teacher has put together an impressive array of multimedia materials for teaching history and social studies. Included are history, geography, economics, and government links, PowerPoint presentations, Internet assignments and other helpful materials.

Blue Web'n Weekly Updates
A Pacific Bell production, the Blue Web'n pages are an invaluable source of up-to-date reviews of education-oriented web sites. New sites are described, rated, and classified by grade level and content. Bi-weekly e-mail updates are free and are a great source of up-to-date information.

Enactz School KiT
SchoolKiT Enactz is a library of hundreds of classroom-ready learning modules that make use of technology to enhance learning. There are some excellent sample modules to peruse at the site, but you must register to gain access to all the modules.

The New York Times Learning Network
This informative site offers detailed lesson plans and quizzes built around NYT articles. Check out the Lesson Plan Archive and search by keyword, subject, or grade level. Social studies lesson plans are objective and standard-based and are well supported by charts, graphs, and images.

CNNfyi
CNNfyi provides teachers with instructional materials for integrating current events across the curriculum. A student section keeps students in grades 6-12 aware of the latest news of interest to them. Lesson plans, background material, profiles, links to useful Internet sites, and forums for interaction with other teachers are also included.

US News & World Report
The lessons are classified according to topic: American Government, Economics, Journalism, Political Science, Sociology, U.S. History, World History

C-SPAN in the Classroom
Access C-SPAN's complete related program archives

The History News Network
The HistoryNewsNetwork was created in June 2001 and features articles by historians on both the left and the right who provide historical perspective on current events. HNN exists to provide historians and other experts a national forum in which to educate Americans about important and timely issues, and the only web site on the Internet wholly devoted to this task . HNN is a nonprofit publication run by George Mason University, is updated daily, and averages roughly 1.5 million hits a month. Those of you who have visited the U.S. History landing page in Best of History Web Sites may have noticed that I link to HNN articles in the U.S. History in the Classroom section.

Spartacus: History
Run by a small educational publishing company, this website provides free online materials for major history curriculum subjects. Visitors can sign up for a free monthly e-mail newsletter covering web reviews and using technology in the history classroom.

History Teacher
An impressive, award-winning site from a New York high school teacher. Features many research links and curriculum resources for Global Studies, U.S. AP History, US European History, and American History and Government. Also has quizzes, news links, and more.

Digital History: Links to Games About Historical Topics
The terrific Digital History site has links to several sites that offer quizzes or games.

Oral Histories
This website, run by the Oral History Society, provides some good practical advice on how to start an oral history project.

Classroom Lesson Plans: Teaching About 9-11
History News Network -- In addition to the sites listed by HNN, teachers may want to consult http://911digitalarchive.org/stories/, which is sponsored by the Center for History & New Media at George Mason University and the American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning at CUNY. This site features a large digital archive of individuals' stories about 9-11.

Out of Many: A History of the American People -- Lesson Plans
Focus Lessons for Out of Many highlights important ideas and concepts in each chapter as well as the relevant sections in the program's ancillaries. The Focus Lessons, written by an experienced AP teacher, suggest strategies for assessing how well your students understand the important points in each chapter and also provide test-taking tips that will help your students prepare for and take the AP United States History test successfully.

The American Nation: A History of the United States -- Lesson Plans
Focus Lessons for The American Nation highlights important ideas and concepts in each chapter as well as the relevant sections in the program's ancillaries. The Focus Lessons, written by an experienced curriculum developer, suggest strategies for assessing how well your students understand the important points in each chapter and also provide test-taking tips that will help your students prepare for and take the AP* United States History test successfully.

World Civilizations: The Global Experience -- Lesson Plans
Focus Lessons for World Civilizations highlight important ideas and concepts in each chapter, as well as the relevant sections in the program's ancillaries. The Focus Lessons, written by an experienced AP teacher, suggest strategies for assessing how well your students understand the important points in each chapter, and also provide test-taking tips that will help your students prepare for and take the AP World History test successfully.

Learn History
Learn History is produced by a History teacher at a London high school and features notes, quizzes, exercises and PowerPoint lessons.

TagTeacherNet
The website allows teachers to share news, views, resources and advice. The history section provides links to Associations, Events, Journals, Learning Resources, Lesson Plans, Maps, Revision, Suppliers, Teaching Resources, Timelines and Virtual Museums.

Premier History
Non-Profit UK based history support site dedicated to providing FREE online resources, essays, notes and support for all KS3, GCSE, AS, and A2 Level pupils, teachers and parents. Site is maintained by teachers.

Primary Source Materials and Document Based Questions
An Internet Hotlist on Document Based Questions. Many useful links here.

Jay Harmon's History Web Sites: AP European History
Mr. Harmon is a veteran teacher of AP European History, AP US History and AP World History and is the creator and former moderator of the e-mail discussion groups in several AP disciplines. He has been an AP exam essay reader in AP US and AP European History and is a table leader at AP World History exam essay readings. His site links to teacher-created AP sites, research sites, documents sites, art and music history links, publisher web sites, offers ideas for AP teachers and has an internet forum,

Web Guide for AP World History
The Web Guide for AP World History includes some 500 web links that are categorized and annotated to compliment the AP World History course. The Web Guide is organized into the five sections of the AP World History course: Foundations, 1000-1450, 1450-1750, 1750-1914, and 1914-present. The thematic and analytical sections that are presented follow the structure of the AP World History course. Visitors must register through the College Board.

GCSE History Pages
Main features of this site include interactive tests and quizzes, revision tips, practice GCSE exam papers with mark-schemes for self assessment, revision notes and structured lessons.

Course Models: Medieval Europe
Part of the California History-Social Science content standards and annotated course which include: background information, focus questions, pupil activities and handouts, assessment, and references to books, articles, web sites, literature, audio-video programs, and historic site. Grade 7.

Play Your Dates Right!
Active History tests historical knowledge of varied topics in a fun way by inviting students to determine whether the event described on each new "card" happened before or after the one to its left.

Practice Quizzes and Crossword Puzzles for U.S. History
The quizzes and puzzles are part of a general site called American Resources. They are arranged chronologically and thematically; the quiz questions are good, but there are only five per section.

History 20
The Saskatchewan Social Studies Curriculum has developed a "resource hot sheet" dealing with topics identified in the History 20 (Modern World History) curriculum. The resource hot sheets can act as a primary or secondary reading, or to assist in classroom discussions of a variety of topics. Each page has been supported with appropriate visual images, and where possible, first person accounts by individuals who were present during the event. In addition, a number of multimedia-learning objects have been place including sound bites, mini - movies and flash items. Two major simulations have been developed for students that can be used in a stand-alone delivery mode. The Battle of the Somme and Decision in Normandy provide students with the opportunity to participate in two major historical events of the 20th century. Students take on the role of a World War One general or recreate the events around the Normandy Invasion.

Free 20th Century History Quizzes
Learn fascinating facts about our twentieth century. Each quiz selects 20 questions at random from a total set of 600, therefore you can play an unlimited number of times.

HistoryTeacher.net: AP U.S. Quizzes
The quizzes and puzzles are part of a general site called American Resources. They are arranged chronologically and thematically; the quiz questions are challenging, but there are only five per section.