Interactive History Websites for Students

History is a complex subject. There are seemingly unlimited topics and numerous facts to remember. For this reason, many students find social studies to be completely overwhelming. Luckily, there are some wonderful interactive social studies websites that are easily accessible to everyone, and helpful in helping students to understand and remember the many facts and important events presented in social studies.

Online encyclopedias for students are essential to being successful in today's learning environment. Students need to have access to a wealth of resources, in order to complete homework, projects, reports, and other social studies assignments.

Below is an interactive social studies reference site called Fact Monster geared towards elementary and middle school students. It allows students to easily access a vast amount of information. The social studies topics are separated into 3 main categories: World, United States, and People. Under these topics, students will find historical information about war, religion, statistics, timelines, geography, and current events. Fact Monster also has a virtual reference desk that includes an almanac, dictionary, encyclopedia, and atlas.

Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Homework Help

Fact Monster is a free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. Get homework help and find facts on thousands of subjects, including sports, entertainment, geography, history, biography, education, and health.

Ben's Guide to Government is an excellent resource for teaching students how the government works in the United States. It has activities designed for students in grades kindergarten through twelve. A variety of activities make this an engaging site. It separates the activities by grades level groups: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The activities are then grouped into each of the following categories for each grade level group: our nation, our government, your neighborhood, Ben's ABCs, symbols of U.S. government, games and activities, U.S. government websites for kids. The activities are age-appropriate for each grade level group.

Place the State lets students practice their map skills by playing with a virtual puzzle map. They drag and drop each state into its place, and are provided immediate feedback and help when they are incorrect. It students click on one of the countries at the top of the page, they will go to an interactive map of that country.

Funbrain.com is a great site with interactive game play, to practice memorization of social studies facts. Funbrain offers history games in grades four through twelve. The games are mostly animated and require fact recall. They focus mainly on flags, geography, and U.S. presidents.

An engaging way of testing knowledging is through an interactive online assessment. One of the benefits is that the feedback is immediate, and most topics can be found quickly. Kidport offers multiple-choice assessments in every school subject, grades kindergarten through eighth. Curriculum topics will vary from state to state, however by clicking on different grade levels, you are likely to find the topic you are looking for. Kidport also has a reference library that includes map study and world geography.

Google Earth provides satellite images of places on Earth. It allows students to see the world while sitting at their computer. Students can access hundreds of maps from all over the world, see historical maps, and view the new feature showing high-resolution underwater terrain. They can even explore famous landmarks and natural wonders with a virtual tour guide. Students of all ages will enjoy exploring this site.

This website is extremely easy-to-use and very eye-appealing. The information shown is geared toward third through eight grades. Students will enjoy the movie boken into segments, explaining the growth of the United States from 1789 to 2000. Students can click on any year, for a textual explanation of the timeline events and what they are hearing.