52 Peer-Recommended Resources for Social Studies Teachers

New Jersey Alternate Route candidates specializing in Social Studies Education recently recommended free web resources that they’ve consulted when preparing lessons and engaging, relevant activities for students. Their suggested resources are a part of our blog series featuring go-to-Websites, blogs, and other online teaching and reference materials for helping our state’s youth achieve the NJ Student Learning Standards. More than 300 teachers participated in this professional swap and share, with many contributing lesser-known resources that even seasoned educators will be excited to discover.  Read why our Social Studies educators love the resources they recommend.

Actively Learn

"Actively Learn provides students with sources on various topics and has them answer questions as they examine a given source."
-John J., Grades 6-12 

Ambitious Explorers 

"Discusses a lot of math within Social Studies."
-Anthony M., Grades 6-8

American Battlefield Trust

"Has great content for 8th Grade history topics like the American Revolution and Civil War."
-Christopher H., Grades 6-8

American Panorama: An Atlas of US History

"This website utilizes data collected throughout US history and translates this data to clear images colorful graphs and charts. One particular example allows the user to track which countries immigrants have come from in each year since the nation’s founding. This website is a great way to bring data to life."
-Jack T., Grades 6-8

Art Institute of Chicago  

"This is the Art Institute of Chicago’s website which is an excellent resource to integrate art and history as this website contains beautiful images of fine art through the centuries and voice descriptions and excerpts describing the art piece and its history."
-Sara S., Grades 9-12

BBC World News

"BBC is considered one of the most unbiased news and information mediums. Most materials are at an easy reading level and extremely informative. Current event materials give a global perspective as well."
-Steven M., Grades 6-8

Big History Project

"It is a free and thorough curriculum. It has full units, plans, activities, and PD for teachers, and is a truly engaging program. I've used some lessons in my sociology class. It focuses on "Big History", the history of Cosmos, Earth, Life and Humanity, so it covers almost every topic a social studies teacher can teach."
-Matthew H., Grades 9-12

Biography

"Has great articles on biographies of famous people. Students can take notes from biographies to use in class."
-James V., Grades 6-8

Black Perspectives

"There is information about Black history that is included here that can be reworked for lessons for students about Black life in American history."
-Stephen S., Grades 6-8

Brain Facts

"Great 3D interactive tutorial for AP Bio Unit, as well as tabs with information on disorders and diseases."
-Adam C., Grades 9-12 

c3teachers

"This is another website that allows teachers to search for relevant material related to a specific topic."
-Thomas D., Grades 9-12

"C3 Teachers features a page dedicated to the Inquiry Design Model (IDM). IDM is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers’ knowledge and expertise, avoids overprescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (2013). Unique to the IDM is the blueprint, a one-page representation of the questions, tasks, and sources that define a curricular inquiry."
-Lee S., Grades 9-12

Character Counts

"I actually teach Character Education, even though it isn't available as a class.  I enjoy this website because it supplies me with extra work and resources that I can give my students from grades 4 all the way to grade 8."
-Luke H., Grades 4-8

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

"Provides academic information about social emotional learning as well as manuals with recommended activities for all grade levels."
-Amelia G., Grades 9-12

College Board AP World History

"I use College Board for AP World History. The site provides mock questions that students can actively engage with as it is reflective to the AP exam they will take. My curriculum directly matches the layout of the College Board. The site allows me to better connect the historical periods and develop my knowledge about history while also understanding the criteria needed to be met for AP courses within History."
-Elio V., Grades 9-12

Crash Course

"This YouTube channel is probably no secret to most history and social studies educators, but on the off chance that it is unknown by some, I have selected it as my first choice.  Crash Course is invaluable to me in the classroom, covers all topics with simultaneous depth and ease of understanding, and all around is one of the best educational tools at my disposal, in my opinion."
-Frank S., Grades 6-8

DBQ Project

"This is an excellent resource to develop higher-level literacy and writing skills in your students. We conduct routine DBQs—modifying them according to learning level and they definitely assist a student in providing cohesive formative assessments that lead to the ultimate summative DBQ essay. The site has very detailed teacher guides to give the educator greater clarity and important insight when conducting the DBQ and preparing the student for it."
-Sara S., Grades 9-12

Desmos

"For all subjects, the teacher can design a slide-by-slide lesson that is based on interaction.  Slides include text boxes, dragging items into the correct order or location, and graphing.  The teacher is also able to see each slide the student is on and can pause the activity if needed.  Students may work individually or together."
-Gary K., Grades 6-8

Digital History

"The site has links to Primary Documents and Document Based Questions, music, newspaper articles, film, and timelines."
-Michael F., Grades 9-12

Discovery Education

"This site gives teachers an alternative to the regular textbook. It features a "techbook" that covers all subjects and integrates technology into the lesson by the way of videos, readings, pictures, and assignments."
-Nicholas A., Grades 6-12 

"We use this as our online textbooks. The teacher's edition includes ideas for activities and assessment."
-Brandon N., Grades 6-8

Do Something   

"This site allows my character education students to think differently and to be proactive in their community by clicking on multiple subheadings.  These subheadings have different topics that they can learn about such as civil rights, mental health, and bullying."
-Luke H., Grades K-8

Edpuzzle

"Provides content related videos for all disciplines and grade levels.  Videos include a variety of options for pre-created questions—multiple choice and open-ended--with the ability to customize the questions.  Students can complete live Edpuzzle assignments in classroom or independently asynchronously."
-Amelia G., Grades 9-12

"Edpuzzle provides students with an interactive way to learn by having them answer questions that are embedded into videos."
-John J., Grades 6-12

History Channel

"This offers well-rounded access to history and social studies-related materials with a recognizable name for added credibility."
-David D., Grades 9-12

"Large extent of topics with entertainment value which is necessary for my students."
-Bryant L., Grades 9-12

"History.com is a great source for almost any topic in history. It provides content that can be used for student readings or it can be used as a source for research for students to learn more on a topic if additional information is needed, or if they are working on a research project."
-Andrew H., Grades 6-8

"Even if the TV Channel isn't great, History.com/topics has lots of great articles and videos talking about various aspects of history. Whether you need it for a leader or an event, the articles and videos are high quality and at a level where students can understand it."
-James V., Grades 6-8

Kahoot

"Although most people are familiar with it by now, I still like Kahoot for practicing for assessments.  In each classroom that I have been in, students often get very excited and therefore are engaged.  Also, a student can use this outside of the classroom and practice it unlimitedly even though they are not physically in class.  For special education and general education, the teacher can pretty much create a Kahoot based on the upcoming assessment.  Students typically show positive test results after participating in a Kahoot."
-Gary K., Grades 6-8

iCivics

"This site has a lot of helpful resources to use when teaching the political aspect of history."
-Cameron C., Grades 6-8

"The site was founded by Justice O'Connor and offers free interactive games and activities that make civics more engaging and interesting for students. It's easy to navigate, is free, and has a ton of document-based assignments and activities."
-Matthew H., Grades 9-12
 

"Offers lessons, activities, games and supplemental reading articles for civics and government classes, excellent for middle school civics and government."
-Jorge V., Grades 6-12

"Lots of fun games and interactive activities about government. Also, some good professional development which gives teachers some tips to make things more engaging."
-Jack W., Grades 6-8

IXL
"This site is already used by many school systems, typically for math and ELA, but it can definitely be a great tool to assist in student growth objectives and completion of achieving standards related to social studies."
-Elio B., Grades K-5

Kahn Academy

"It is basically an online school, with classroom resources for many different, specific classes."
-Brandon N., Grades 6-8

King and Generals

"This YouTube channel is second-to-none in terms of in-depth analysis of historical topics.  While it is probably suited only for AP-type classes, in situations where it is appropriate, no one covers nuanced topics better.  For instance, their video on the transition from ancient slavery to medieval serfdom, what the differences are, and how this historically manifested, would be hard to beat in terms of a short video which synthesizes complex economic, cultural, and political factors to illuminate the unfolding of the historical process."
-Frank S., Grades 6-8

Learning to Give

"This site allows teachers to look at some lessons, activities, and resources to help students to learn more about voluntary action and how to use it in their world.  This website helps with lesson ideas for more current topics like civil rights and LGBTQ+ issues."
-Luke H., Grades K-8
 

Lucid for Education

"Specifically focusing on LucidPress, LucidSpark or LucidChart.  All three options provide great opportunities for blank maps, charts, timelines, literary brochures, etc.  Each has a blank template that can be modified by the teacher and is easily edited, so students can utilize them successfully and with minimal issues.  These sites give great variety and can work with any subject field."
-Robert B., Grades 9-12

Lumio by Smart

"Similar to Nearpod, Lumio delivers engaging lessons no matter where your learners are. Lumio is the digital learning tool for transforming lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences that engage students on their own devices."
-Andre N., Grades 6-8

Museum of the City of New York

"MCNY has lots of lesson plans and digital exhibitions that tell 'lesser known' stories in US history."
-Lee S., Grades 9-12
 

National Constitution Center

"Great website for a Constitution unit that helps to contextualize some of the archaic text in the document. Provides easy to understand explanations of different clauses and sections with fun interactive activities."
-Jack W., Grades 6-8

National Geographic

"Trusted name with short videos on a variety of topics. Useful since I find short videos are more effective than longer ones which tend to lose my students."
-Bryant L., Grades 6-12
 

"National Geographic is a great resource to use with students. Students can use this for research and reading assignments. Also, some articles are cross-curricular."
-Steven M., Grades 6-8

Nearpod

"Neadpod is a platform that serves as an interactive lesson. Students log in with to the lesson with a code. The lesson moves at the same pace for all. Nearpod allows teachers to have insights into student understanding through interactive lessons, interactive videos, gamification, and activities. Nearpod also contains pre-made lessons in all subject areas."
-Andre N., Grades 6-8

New York State Social Studies Toolkit

It has amazing resources for social studies teachers, including very well thought out lesson plans and lesson ideas.
-Thomas D., Grades 9-12

Newsela

"Provides good secondary source articles about historical and current events and, most importantly, allows the teacher to customize the Lexile level of the assignment to fit their students' needs. Can give the whole class the same content even if they are at different reading levels."
-James M., Grades 9-12

Oregon Trail Center

This is great for teachers who want primary sources for the Westward Expansion 
-Anthony M., Grades 6-8

PBS Learning Character Education

"This website is great because it has multiple videos of teachers teaching certain lessons on the same stuff I teach as well as new topics that I can cover with my students."
-Luke H., Grades 6-8

PBS Teachers

"The site offers brief video clips on a range of topics within Social Studies. This includes Civics, US History, and World History. As I teach each of these subjects, this website will be a great source to supplement my lessons. I can begin lessons with one of these clips to introduce topics and have the students take notes and answer factual and interpretive questions based on the videos. I can do this before we begin the session lecture or start an activity for the students to engage in on the topic. I could also use multiple videos to incorporate into a more involved activity for the students on the subject."
-Andrew H., Grades 6-8

Pear Deck

"Pear Deck is great because it allows teachers to build interactive lessons and quick comprehension checks. It works well with Google slides and Google classroom."
-Dustin W., Grades 9-12
 

Society For the Teaching of Psychology Division Two of the American Psychological Association

"This is a peer reviewed site, so the collaboration of information is of abundance and admired as there are works from many perspectives." 
-Heather B., Grades 9-12

Stanford History Education Group

"Provides lesson plans and assessments for history."
-Kayhla B., Grades 9-12

"Stanford provides premade lessons on a broad range of topics in Social Studies. What is best about the lessons is that they usually include primary source documents for the students to analyze as well as opposing viewpoints on topics. These lessons can be used for a full lesson or pieces of the material can be incorporated to support lessons I have put together."
-Andrew H., Grades 6-8

"Offers mini lessons and primary sources documents for reading and writing activities."
-Jorge V., Grades 6-12

Teachers Pay Teachers

"Provides educational materials made by teachers for free! It can serve any content area."
-Joseph A., Grades 6-12

Teaching American History

"Offers wide range of resources to help teach American History."
-Policht J., Grades 6-8

Teaching History

"This website provides a multitude of resources for history teachers split up by student age group.  The website provides materials, best practices, and reviews of other history-related websites. This is sort of like "the mall" of history content."
-Jack T., Grades 9-12

Ted Ed

"Ted Ed is great because it allows teachers to take potentially difficult topics and utilize YouTube videos, Ted Talks, and other videos to better explain material. I have found this site useful for my semi-flipped classroom with my AP class. It is helpful to actually build the lesson around the video they watch."
-Dustin W., Grades 9-12

Virtual Field Trips

"Offers virtual field trips to a wide range of places."
-Policht J., Grades 6-8

Vocabulary.com

"Vocabulary.com isn't just another vocabulary review site; it also has games that students can play to learn on their own or against each other, as well as pre-created vocabulary lists for particular topics in Social Studies, or other subject areas."
-James M., Grades 9-12

YouTube.com 

"I find this website incredible because there is more than one teacher on this website. Sometimes students may need a break from my teaching style and a video from YouTube can be a refreshing approach to learn the content I am teaching. The content on YouTube can be informative and have different visuals that can engage students."
-Max C., Grades 9-12 

Zinn Education Project - Teaching People's History 

"Lots of different resources and readings on a wide variety of sources. All the resources follow a theme however of addressing inequality or injustice. The Zinn Project does an ideal job of providing the voices of marginalized groups in any American History curriculum."
-Jack W., Grades 6-8

"Sharing because it is valuable for learning history."
-Stephen S., Grades 6-8
 

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