TOP PICKS | 24 TOOLS
Civil Rights and Social Justice Resources for Classrooms
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Anti-Defamation League
Toolkit equips teachers to tackle bias with ready-to-go resources
Bottom line: This site fuses meaningful curricular connections between challenging current events and class content, and is a helpful go-to for teaching tough issues.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Teaching Tolerance
Thought-provoking classroom resources support diversity education
Bottom line: It's an invaluable teacher tool to help reduce prejudice and encourage tolerance in schools, as well as within society as a whole.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Library of Congress
Visit our largest library's online collection of multimedia goodies
Bottom line: The Library of Congress delivers the best of America's past and present, but it's a little tricky to navigate.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free
EDSITEment
Extensive humanities resource offers deep well of great content
Bottom line: The National Endowment for the Humanities has put together an outstanding place for art, history, language, and literature.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
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.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free
Digital Public Library of America
Impressive online collection of historic and cultural artifacts
Bottom line: This epic database of history and culture is a labor of love that all students can benefit from.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
Beyond the Bubble
Top-quality assessments challenge students to think like historians
Bottom line: A ready-to-go, pedagogically sound route for refocusing formative assessment on critical thinking and literacy rather than memorization.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Critical Media Project
Relevant media clips get students examining identity, culture
Bottom line: Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
Do I Have a Right?
Law sim lets players practice pairing rights with amendments
Bottom line: Standout iCivics title helps learners new to the U.S. Constitution get great practice matching amendments to individuals' rights, and have good fun doing it.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Facing History and Ourselves
A wealth of resources explore racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism
Bottom line: These valuable materials empower students to understand and address difficult ethical choices -- past and present.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Ken Burns
Dynamic video clips explore cultural themes throughout U.S. history
Bottom line: A huge time-saver and an effective way to share Ken Burns' brilliant documentaries with students.
The Knotted Line
Unique, artistic timeline lets kids explore freedom in U.S. history
Bottom line: Students will benefit from this eye-opening and interactive approach to studying history.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Newseum
Media museum's site mixes history and civics, teaches about journalism
Bottom line: An effective summary and introduction to the media; more exercises and tools to help budding young journalists would make the site even more noteworthy.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Youth Radio
A stellar take on the news from diverse kid journalists
Bottom line: An outstanding place to find fresh voices and NPR-quality content created by kids.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Zinn Education Project
Resources, lessons help teach a more inclusive version of U.S. history
Bottom line: Free downloadable resources encourage critical thinking and active learning in search of a more accurate picture of American history.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
American Social History Project
Deep, research-backed resources highlight America's rich diversity
Bottom line: Worth the time investment, because these valuable, socially progressive materials will add depth to the study of American history.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free, Paid The resources are mostly free; however, there are some costs associated with acquiring books and for some teaching and PD materials.
IWitness
Explore survivor testimony with lessons, video on teacher-geared site
Bottom line: IWitness allows students to reflect upon the past, looking toward today’s values and society. Students build knowledge about the past using a dynamic, specific tool.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Voices of Democracy
Vast collection of primary source documents a solid starting point
Bottom line: A great place to begin when you want to make history feel more real, but "begin" is the operative word; plan on creating your own scaffolding.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
Constitute
Extensive, highly searchable collection of the world's constitutions
Bottom line: Quickly and easily access almost any country's constitution, locate an excerpt, or compare governments.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
K-TOWN'92
LA riot videos shake up dominant narrative
Bottom line: This artful re-examination of the '92 LA riot can offer new insights and diverse perspectives, if students don't get too lost in the design.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
Liyla and the Shadows of War
Stark, arresting game offers emotional perspective on war's human toll
Bottom line: The short length and powerful themes make this an effective way to help students consider the brutal effects of war on families.
Parable of the Polygons
Dynamic interactive helps classrooms explore topics of bias, diversity
Bottom line: A fascinating way to address how communities become segregated due to individual bias.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
The Republia Times
Unassuming editorial sim elegantly exposes the business of bias
Bottom line: What this game lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in smarts, and it's certain to get students thinking and talking about bias and media politics.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Deep, complex database is challenging but a peerless research tool
Bottom line: This is a highly academic site for better and for worse; it's filled with deep, research-backed resources and primary sources but is intimidating without clear guidance.
Grades: 10–12
Price: Free
