LibGuides: Social Studies Education Resources: World History

Associations/Organizations

National Geographic Society: Education: The National Geographic Society's website features an Education section which includes resources for educators, such as lesson plans, units, activities, and educational games. These resources can all be filtered by age group and/or subject.
Grades: K - 12

Hathi Trust Digital Library: HathiTrust is a partnership of over 60 research institutions and libraries who have digitized books and periodicals to preserve and make them accessible. Most of these primary sources were published before 1900 and represent a variety of languages.
Grades: 9 - 12

Medieval Digital Resources (MDR): The MDR is a database of freely accessible digital materials about the Middle Ages. These resources include images, manuscripts, letters and other primary sources. Accessible through browsing or searching specific terms or keywords.
Grades: 6 - 12

Life in Elizabethan England: Nearly 90 pages of information about everyday life in Tudor England--food, occupations, games, religion, fashion, manners, attitudes and education in the time of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare. Written by Maggie Secara for writers, actors and re-enactors.
Grades: 6 - 12

World Digital Library (WDL): Established by the U.S. Library of Congress in collaboration with UNESCO and partner organizations around the world this free resource provides significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. Organized by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, resources can also be found by keyword search. Navigation and descriptions of resources are available in seven different languages. A text to speech option is available, as well as many other special features.
Grades: 7 - 12

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: The C3 Framework was the result of a collaborative effort of many social studies teaching organizations to help states and local districts to update their standards. Its objectives were to increase the rigor of social studies education, build critical thinking skills and align programs to the Common Core Standards.
Grades: K - 12

National Standards for History: Developed in 1996 by the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of the National Council for History Standards, the National Standards for History for grades 5-12 are divided into three strands. Standards for K-4 are also available through this website, as well as an alignment to the Common Core Standards.
Grades: K - 12

Ancient Egypt: The British Museum's website has an extensive Learning section for Schools and Teachers. This page contains a variety of teaching resources about Ancient Egypt, as the Museum has an extensive collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. The Learning Section for Schools and Teachers also contains many other subject areas that relate to the Museum's collections.
Grades: K - 12

Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History: Developed by the University of Chicago in collaboration with a team of Chicago Public School teachers this website uses artifacts Oriental Institute. The Teacher Resource Center provides sample lesson plans, teaching activities and other resources.
Grades: 4 - 8

Food Timeline: Links to ancient recipes, descriptions of ancient foods, and explanations of the development of various popular food items are listed and linked to further information in this timeline that covers from 17,000 BC to the present.
Grades: 3 - 12

History Lab: Subtitled: An inquiry-based approach to teaching history. The History Lab provides a framework to help teachers teach history through primary sources. Search by broad topic, grade level or keyword. Search results identify primary sources and instructions for the suggested project. A primary source guide guides students through the activity.
Grades: 3 - 12

Imagining Japanese History: This website from the Program for Teaching East Asia, part of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is "an online curriculum designed to enhance students' visual literacy skills, historical thinking skills, and knowledge of Japanese history. Five online modules each provide a case study in the role of art in capturing and conveying human experience."
Grades: 9 - 12

Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance: Comparing the Medici family to the Mafia, this website is based on the PBS series about the Medici family and the Renaissance. Includes information about the accomplishments of several generations of the Medici family. The art, politics, religion and science of the Renaissance is explored. Lesson plans are available, as well as an interactive time line, reading list, and links to additional resources.
Grades: 8 - 12

National Geographic Education: Covering a variety of subject areas National Geographic Education tries to inspire the spirit of adventure. Videos, games, lesson plans, unit plans and other learning activities are searchable by grade level and subject area.
Grades: K - 12

National Geographic Society: Education: The National Geographic Society's website features an Education section which includes resources for educators, such as lesson plans, units, activities, and educational games. These resources can all be filtered by age group and/or subject.
Grades: K - 12

National History Day: "It's not just a day, it's an experience" is the slogan for the History Day competition for students in grades 6-12. Stressing strong research skills and the use of primary and secondary resources, the official website includes information about the contest, lesson plans, links to primary resources, as well as samples of successful History Day projects.
Grades: 6 - 12

Reading Like a Historian: Developed by the Stanford History Education Group this curriculum includes lessons in both U.S. and world history. Using collections of primary sources each lesson encourages the use of reading strategies to engage students to respond to an historical question and support their responses with evidence.
Grades: 6 - 12

Roman Empire in the First Century: Based on a PBS series this website explores the culture, life, politics, religion and people of first century Rome. Includes interactive features: The Emperor Game, timeline, Augustan family tree, Who are you? and a Virtual Library. Interdisciplinary lesson plans, reading list and links to additional resources are available.
Grades: 6 - 12

Smithsonian Folkways: This resource from Smithsonian Folkways, the nonprofit recording label of the Smithsonian, provides educators with music-based lesson plans for cultures around the world. The website is divided by region. The lesson plans can be downloaded as PDF's.
Grades: K - 12

Smithsonian Learning Lab: There are over a million resources available in the Learning Lab representing the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 research center and the National Zoo. Educators can use the content and collections for free.
Grades: 3 - 12

TeachingHistory.org: This website provides history educators with a variety of resources, such as lesson plans, teaching guides and other teaching materials, history content, quizzes, and best practices.
Grades: K - 12

War of 1812: The Canadian Encyclopedia: This article from the Canadian Encyclopedia provides a thorough overview of the War of 1812 from the Canadian perspective. It also includes a timeline of events.
Grades: 6 - 12

World History for Us All: A free model history curriculum for middle school and high school developed by San Diego State University in cooperation with the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. Using primary and secondary sources this curriculum continues to be updated.
Grades: 6 - 12