Elementary World Cultures & Geography
Updated - April 8, 2002
Ancient Egypt - Grade 4-6 - Social Studies - Use interactive web games to learn and test about ancient Egypt in this student made site. Students could use this as a springboard for further research or to gain overall knowledge about Egyptians. Thinkquest Junior Winner: first place, social studies, 1998.
Ancient Egypt Webquest - Grades 4-6 - Here's a webquest done by a Massachusetts teacher for his students. This is an extensive project with several layers and a lot of activities and detail. It's a great resource if you're doing Egypt with your class, or if you'd like a good model for creating a webquest.
Architecture Through the Ages - Grade 5-8 - Social studies/art - See images of different architecture styles with a glossary to understand terminology of buildings from Ancient Egypt to modern times. Use this student-made site for preliminary research before starting your own model buildings or as a supplement to the study of these civilizations. Thinkquest Junior winner: third place winner, social studies, 1998.
Arctic Studies Center from the National Museum of Natural History - Grades 4-8 is geared to the study of northern peoples, their history and environment. The site includes special online exhibits, Java-required games, and resources of interest to students. A well designed site!
AskAsia, The Asia Society’s Asian Educational Resource Center - Grades K-12 - World Cultures/Art/ Interdisciplinary - This site has comprehensive information, resources, and teaching materials about Asia and Asian-Americans. There is a virtual art gallery, a large selection of lesson plans, a locator for teaching materials in your region of the U.S., a page to send questions from teachers or students to experts on Asia, a page of interviews with authors about Asia, and a large collection of supplementary teaching materials, such as maps and images. This could be a great resource for familiarizing both teachers and students with Asian topics.
The Berlin Airlift - Grades 5-12 - This site chroncles the airlift that kept West Berlin alive during the period immediately after World War II. Though written from an American perspective, there is coverage of the broader European involvement in one of the first cold war crises.
Castles Web Site - Grade 4 and up - Pictures, descriptions, and information on daily life in castles in Europe and the British Isles. Good information for teachers; fun for students.
Castle Tour - Grades 2-6 - National Geographic offers a cartoon tour through a 14th century English castle. Suitable for use by students, the site explains why castles were built and how they functioned, while introducing what life was like in the 14th century.
Castles in Wales - Grade 4 - 8 - A collection of photos and short narratives on Welsh castles. Includes brief discussions of the various purposes for which the structures were built.
Chinese Calligraphy - Grade 3-6 - Art/ social studies - This student-created site explains about the art of Chinese Calligraphy and includes basic information about the Chinese civilization. The graphics and explanations will make students want to try this new way of communicating. Thinkquest Junior Winner: third place, art and literature, 1998.
Chinese Garden Markets - Grades 4-12 - This site is a photojournal of a tour through the Chinese countryside, noting the ways in which local "farmers' markets" contribute to the vitality of an otherwise centralized Chinese economy. Interesting for its purely local and village focus, as well as for the photos showing what life in small Chinese villages really looks like.
CIA World Fact Book - Grade level: 4-12 This newly revised site is exactly like the title; it’s a world fact book. It is a great site for a few disciplines because of the wide range of info on each country (climate, science, demographics) could be used in math, obviously any facet of history. While much the information may be advanced for 4th and 5th graders, instructors could easily select basic facts. Good site if you want relevant, direct information on a country.
Country Profiles - Grades 4-12 - ABC News offers this site as background for their international reporting, but it also serves as a great resource for short-and-sweet introductions to the politics and circumstances of foreign nations. The demographic and ecnonomic information is bery basic, but this site is a good starting point for those who need a quick update.
Discoverers' Web - Grade 4 and up - A starting point for information on explorers. Lots of links to other sites and information.
Exchange - Grades 4 to 12. This site is sponsored by the Intensive English Institute, Division of English as an International Language at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. - This site is an excellent resource for those interested in and studying other cultures. Students from around the world submit articles, recipes etc. The sections include: cookbook, world cultures (ceremonies, customs etc.), stories, penpals, and class projects that have been submitted. Cultural diversity is evident throughout this site, making it very useful.
First Grade Backpack - Places - Grade 1-2 - Here's a selection of geography sites compiled expressly for primary students. They provide quick access to a group of geography resources for first or second grade. Some can be used by students directly; others may require some help from the teacher. This site also contains arithmetic and reading sections.
Kids Web Japan – Grades 3 and up. - This site is available in 7 languages! This is an excellent site to learn the culture and history of Japan. Topics included are; regions, climate, politics/government, schools, industry, history, folklore, etc. There is a wealth of information and is presented in an interesting and appropriate manner. There is even a Language Lab and a Japanese cookbook. Great for multicultural studies! This site is sponsored by JTN (Japan)
Maps on the Internet – Grades K-12 - Source: Composite, including USGS and National Geographic. Target: High School and AP. Although maps are plentiful on the Internet, this is an unusual site. It contains views of Earth from the Sun, the Moon or Satellite. It also includes weather satellite imagery, earthquake maps, NASA data, and Ocean Maps. It also allows you to create maps of anywhere on earth at any scale. A valuable tool for the science teacher.
Maps from the United Nations - Grades 4-12 - The U.N. Cartographic Section offers this surprisingly complete collection of maps for regions around the world, each available as a printable Adobe Acrobat file. In addition to a very complete collection of country maps, there are also maps of areas in which the UN is involved in peacekeeping or other regional efforts. These are titled by acronym, so you'll need to know where you're headed in order to use them efficiently. A nice resource from an unlikely source.
Map Outlines - Grades 3-8 - This site offers a collection of outline maps for the continents, the US, and other nations suitable for reproduction and reuse in the classroom. Most are GIF files, but there are a few PDF files as well. From Houghton Mifflin.
Maps from National Geographic Xpeditions - Grades 4-12 - Here's an interactive resource that lets you find and print maps of just about any country. The final results are available as GIF or Adobe Acrobat files, and the site offers links to additional information on geography and cultures.
Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me A Map - Grade level: 4-12 - Source: University of Tennessee; last update 1996 - Well, as its title states, this site offers the basics on cartography. It’s a very good summary that explains the origins of mapmaking, the terms (w/definitions), and also has a crossword puzzle. The info could easily be streamlined so the younger kids would understand the material. It also has a listing of suggested reading, which I always find helpful. Easy site to navigate and is extremely straightforward. Great site for anyone teaching maps.
Maya Quest - Grades 2-6 - National Geographic's Kids series offers a tour of a Mayan temple and city, introducing participants to Mayan civilization and culture. Visually interesting cartoon style should keep young users' attention.
A Medieval Technology Timeline - Grades 5-12 - There's more here than meets the eye. This site offers a time-line showing the evolution of simple tools and technologies during the middle ages. Those who are persistent will also find more detailed drawings and explanations of the various implements. This is a great site to show how major changes can arise from simple inventions.
Medieval Studies Unit - Grades 4-6 - Here's a very thorough Medieval site from a Canadian school. The presentation includes lesson descriptions, students handouts, and a collection of web resources. We like this approach because it provides an element of structure before sending students "out surfing." While there are lots of Medieval sites, this one has a lot of "bang for the buck."
Microsoft Terraserver - Grades 4-12 - Terraserver is Microsoft's very popular satellite photo database which can produce aerial images of almost any point on earth. Users can key in a location, see an image, then pan and zoom to isolate particular features. Works fine with a 28.8 connection, but be patient, lots of others are using this service.
The Middle Ages - Grades 4 and up - A comprehensive look at the Middle Ages - religion, medicine, food, the arts, entertainment, and daily living. More text than pictures, but an interesting, high-quality presentation. Funded in part by the Annenberg Foundation.
Medieval Siege - Grades 4-12 - The PBS Nova series describes life in a medieval castle and the process of laying siege to a castle. The highlight of this site is the building of a trebuchet - a medieval catapult with huge throwing capacity. There's even a "besiege the castle" shockwave game that shows the principles of physics on which the trebuchet operates. The castle buffs in your class will love this one.
Mythweb - Grades 4-10 - Don't let the cartoon style fool you! This site is a very complete resource for students to study Greek mythology, stories, characters, and more. It presents the content is small, visually appealing doses, and includes links to lesson plans and other related information. Well worth a look if you want a site that students can use on their own.
National Geographic's Xpeditions - Grades 4-8 focuses on an interactive world in which different aspects of the study of geography are presented using the analogy of different "worlds." There are interactive atlases, forums for discussion, exhibits, and geography standards to review. Very entertaining, a great "game-like" site for students!
The Renaissance - Grades 4-12 - This offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary introduction to Renaissance life and thought. Developed as part of the Annenberg/CPB project, it exposes students to the interplay of art, philosophy, and science which made the renaissance unique in European history. There is particular emphasis on the Italian renaissance.
St. Petersburg in Pictures - Grade 4 and up - This is a Russian-produced site showing sights in St. Petersburg. Quality is uneven, but it's authentic.
Third from the Sun: Geographical Features Seen From Space - Grades 3-6 - The Exploratorium - This site is a self-guided tour and history of using satellites to see the earth from above. There are a few mysterious pictures taken from space for students to identify as well as a section explaining how NASA’s LandSat works. This would make good supplementary material for a unit of study on space or landforms.
The Tower of London - Grades 4-12 - While not designed explicitly as an educational tool, this site has features that will appeal to all ages. Elementary students will enjoy the images and maps; older students can make use of the extensive text describing the many facets of the Tower's 1,000 year history. Requires Shockwave, which is available from the TeachersFirst Toolbox.
World Almanac for Kids - Grades 3-7 - This is a nicely configured on-line almanac that covers a full range of content on geography, nature and the environment, biographies, and much more. The content at each level is basic, providing an introduction and enough facts to get a young researcher started. Good site for an introduction to research techniques. Commercially published.
The World of the Vikings - Grades 4-12 - This British site is home base for a collection of Viking and Norse links, mostly from Europe and Scandinavia. They cover academic topics, history of sailing vessels, and even Viking re-enactors (!) The information is uneven but interesting, and often requires a little digging. Nonetheless, it's a good starting point.
World Wise Schools Teacher's Guides - Grades K-12 - This is a collection of resources created by the Peace Corps. While the content was originally designed to accompany a videotape series, most of the information can easily be used without the videos. Content is based on cultures of several different continents in which the Peace Corps has been active, and the presentations and activities are geared to specific grade levels.
World Cultures
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Middle & High School World Cultures Resources
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