Website resources for social studies

“History is the process by which complex truths are transformed into simplified falsehoods”—Sharon Kay Penman

First resource:

History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web (along with its counterparts, Historical Thinking Matters and World History Matters):
I believe that students learn best by “doing” history. If the students can be historians, and can do research using primary sources like historians do, they will understand the material much better than if they just heard facts in a lecture or read it in a textbook. These websites are wonderful because they teach students how to analyze historical documents (maps, advertisements, diaries, speeches, cartoons, documentary photography, etc). There is also a strong focus on the documents of “ordinary” people throughout history, and there is a large multimedia collection on each site. Good teachers, in my opinion, should also make the students aware of some of the biases and inaccuracies in social studies textbooks. The “Historical Thinking Matters” website has a whole section on lesson plans on how to integrate the textbook with primary sources. These sites help students to think “historically”—that is, to think critically about what narratives they are being told about the past.

Second resource:

Internet History Sourcebook Project:
This is an extremely thorough collection of primary sources organized by three main historical periods (ancient, medieval, and modern) with other collections organized by geographic location (Africa, Asia, etc). A unique aspect of this website is its listing of historical films. I believe that teachers can engage students in history and spur interest through (accurate) films and fiction, both classic and contemporary works. I also believe that good social studies teachers bring to light the voices and experiences of people who have been traditionally ignored in the historical narrative—such as women, ethnic minorities in the U.S., and the non-Western world. Teachers should help students understand that there is more to history than the stories of white men. This website includes these neglected topics. The site also enables students to create research projects on topics that interest them.

Third resource:

Common Place Online, sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society:
This website is only one of several historical scholarly journals available online. This one in particular covers early America, my area of expertise. As a teacher, I would also like to make my students aware of the diversity of thought regarding history. History is not just facts, but the interpretation of those facts, and there are significant and controversial disagreements amongst historians because the study of history is complex. The scholarly articles included on this site will provide students with examples of that complexity and will perhaps ignite debate and Socratic seminar discussion during class. It also provides the chance to cover topics that may be left out in textbooks, but may be of interest to students interested in social, cultural, local, and economic history in addition to political history (which is often the focus of most classes). It is also an avenue for opening up discussions about historiography, a too-often ignored topic. I also believe that students learn history best when it is connected to the present day and their own communities and personal lives. Many of these articles connect the past to contemporary issues and relate how the past matters in shaping the way we make decisions in the world today.

Honorary mentions:

The Journal for Multimedia History

From Revolution to Reconstruction…and what happened afterwards

Do History