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Best Museum Apps and Websites for Students
Top Picks
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Asian Art Museum
Inventive lessons and activities integrate Asian history, art, and more
Bottom line: It offers an in-depth look at Asia’s influence on art and history and provides lots of creative tools for educators.
Smithsonian's History Explorer
Browse and use American history artifacts and activities
Bottom line: This is a handy resource that, with some effort, will uncover resources for kick-starting curious learning.
Lawrence Hall of Science: 24/7 Science
Outdated site still useful for science games and investigations
Bottom line: Many of these interesting and highly educational activities, though a bit disorganized, still challenge and engage kids in important ways.
California Academy of Sciences
Expert research and diverse, rich lessons inspire future scientists
Bottom line: A perfect companion to (or substitute for) the Academy, this site delivers highly interactive resources and research with a lot of depth.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Powerful stories and media centralize African-American history
Bottom line: While there aren't ready-to-go curricular materials, this modern, well-curated, and well-contextualized digital collection is sure to inspire compelling lessons.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Epic science museum's site has unparalleled but disorganized content
Bottom line: While it needs some updating and organizing, this is still an unmatched resource for the history of air travel and space flight.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Virtual tour lets kids explore interactions of humans and our world
Bottom line: A great gateway to explore evidence and artifacts about the natural world; be ready to build your own lesson plans if you don't plan to visit in real life.
MetKids
Whimsical, kid-friendly intro to the wide world of art
Bottom line: A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art.
Tate Kids
Hands-on activities and explorations give the art world a splash of color
Bottom line: A wonderful site that really engages kids in the world of art and provides great inspirations.
9/11 Museum Audio Guide
Thoughtful, expansive tours personalize sobering museum experience
Bottom line: An excellent digital extension of a thoughtfully designed museum.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
Discover, create, remix, and share first-rate museum artifacts
Bottom line: This thoughtfully crafted, open-ended curation and creation tool has a place in most classrooms.
National Archives
Access U.S. history with treasure trove of docs, genealogy, and other resources
Bottom line: NARA's website wasn't designed for kids, but they can definitely use it to research and learn about history, genealogy, and the U.S. population and government.
Digital Public Library of America
Organized digital library features piles of useful primary resources
Bottom line: DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.
Ford's Theatre
Site famous for its Lincoln assassination resources has more to offer
Bottom line: This site can support meaningful, primary source-driven examination of some of the most important events in U.S. history, but educators will need to dig a little.
Exploratorium
Science experiments and activities abound in this comprehensive resource
Bottom line: A host of mostly at-home activities are available if kids stick to the Explore tab of online resources.
Google Arts & Culture
Well-curated art and history site inspires curious learning
Bottom line: A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Extensive resource collection supports teaching about the Holocaust
Bottom line: As a valuable resource for anyone teaching or learning about the Holocaust, time to explore and plan is necessary in order to make the materials effective.
National Museum of the American Indian
Valuable resources offer needed perspectives, require adaptation
Bottom line: This site is great for the planning phase and has excellent resources for bringing in Native perspectives and histories, but it will need some tweaking to fit well into classrooms.
The National WWII Museum - New Orleans
High-quality resources and activities offer an in-depth study
Bottom line: Materials and activities support a thorough study of World War II, making this a valuable resource for both teachers and students.
Smithsonian X3D
Touch, explore, and interact with amazing 3D artifacts
Bottom line: A unique, highly credible resource to add to your classroom repertoire -- if a topic matches your course and kids.
