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Great Social Studies Apps and Websites
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Current Events
News-O-Matic EDU
Daily news stories and supplements keep elementary schoolers current
Bottom line: This highly useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary school classrooms.
News2you
Draw kids into weekly news with powerful symbols and voice narration
Bottom line: Students can expand literacy skills, learn about the world, and get involved with discussion questions and activities.
Listenwise
Bring real-world stories from public radio into the classroom
Bottom line: A fantastic resource that brings both historical and current event public radio stories into the classroom.
The New York Times
Easy access to news, but most content is available only to subscribers
Bottom line: Provides an easy-to-use news resource, but only section front pages are accessible without a subscription.
NPR: Borderland
Illuminating, up-close-and-personal visit to the U.S.-Mexico border
Bottom line: As a truly unique resource that's worth using, teachers will need to create lessons that scaffold students' understanding of the complex issues found within.
NPR One
Trusty podcast app has quality content but lacks learning supports
Bottom line: An enticing free option for connecting current events to content through podcasts, but student engagement hinges on how you incorporate it.
Model Diplomacy
Students become foreign policy experts in this real-world simulation
Bottom line: This impressive program has ready-to-use and expert-vetted content that'll help advanced students engage meaningfully with foreign policy issues and processes.
Geography & Exploration
Google Earth
Dazzling globe-trotting tool has endless classroom applications
Bottom line: This tool defines engagement and offers a completely open-ended experience perfect for use across the educational spectrum.
Barefoot World Atlas
Visually stunning 3-D globe piques students' interest in world facts
Bottom line: Dive right in to world geography with a beautiful, interactive globe full of narratives and photos of different cultures and traditions.
Stack the Countries
A whole world of facts, maps, and fun waiting to be stacked
Bottom line: Kids learn about the world through easy-to-use flashcards and exciting stacking games.
Stack the States 2
Geography trivia game balances facts and fun
Bottom line: This is a clear go-to if you're looking to help students memorize state locations, shapes, capitals, history, and more.
Google Earth VR
Explore the world with an incredible new perspective and sense of scale
Bottom line: An amazing experience that brings the world to life, despite the heavy investment in VR required.
The Pyramids
Tap into students' inner archaeologists as they discover Ancient Egypt
Bottom line: Students can experience some of Egypt's most famous pyramids and tombs while learning more about the life of Ancient Egyptians.
Global Awareness & Cultures
Homes by Tinybop
Explore homes -- and cultures -- around the world in exquisite detail
Bottom line: Offers a delightful and accessible way for kids to learn about the world's cultures.
Learning for Justice
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.
Oddizzi
Kids travel the world, cultivate global curiosity and responsibility
Bottom line: Kids get a sense of culture and global responsibility via kid-friendly articles and great multimedia.
PenPal Schools
Give students global perspective with pen pal projects in any subject
Bottom line: This is a thoughtful, ready-to-go platform that facilitates authentic and safe cross-cultural collaboration.
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.
Global Oneness Project
Captivating, cross-curricular stories increase cultural awareness
Bottom line: Teachers looking to enrich their curriculum with high-quality, thought-provoking videos and photos will find plenty of inspiration, but may need to create or fine-tune some lessons.
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.
History & Historical Figures
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.
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.
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.
TeachRock
In-depth, interdisciplinary lessons crank up the learning
Bottom line: This site's materials have the potential to supplement, augment, or even replace favorite units of study, once teachers dig into and master what's offered.
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.
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.
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.
A History of Ideas
Philosophy podcast makes heady concepts accessible
Bottom line: These philosophy podcasts and videos offer entertaining introductions to key concepts and thinkers, but require some smart lesson planning for deeper learning.
U.S. History & Civics
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.
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.
Annenberg Classroom
Civics website makes teaching the Constitution manageable, meaningful
Bottom line: Go for the videos, stay for the lessons: Annenberg Classroom saves teachers' prep time when teaching the Constitution, current events, or other civics lessons.
iCivics
Well-designed games, lessons can spice up your civics curriculum
Bottom line: This game-based curriculum would be an excellent addition to any secondary social studies.
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.
Digital Civics Toolkit
Superb, timely civics lessons focus on social media and student voice
Bottom line: For teachers looking to make civics relevant to students, there's nothing else out there as extensive or relevant.
Kialo Edu
A terrific, troll-free zone for structuring student discussion and debate
Bottom line: A valuable platform for students to learn about social and political issues while practicing digital citizenship and argumentation.
Journalism in Action
Journalistic history site helps students analyze primary sources
Bottom line: This is a strong resource for showing the power of journalism and research, and it'll engage most students; others will need teacher support.
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.
Sift - News Therapy
Sifts through daily news content to offer a deep dive on hot topics
Bottom line: Sift can supplement students' study of a few hot-button topics -- and open up a conversation about media balance -- but it's lacking some learner supports.
Timelines
Sutori
Build timelines, embed media with cool storytelling tool
Bottom line: With a super-simple design and tons of flexible features, this is an appealing and intuitive way for teachers and students to organize and share class content.
Tiki-Toki
Create eye-catching multimedia timelines for any purpose
Bottom line: Multimedia timelines connect events visually, creating pathways for deeper analysis of any chronological story.
TimeToast
Simple timeline creator could use more features and options
Bottom line: An easy to use timeline tool for one-off projects, but for sustained use teachers will need to upgrade, and ultimately the features might not be robust enough.