Academic Journals
Academic Journals
JSTOR
JSTOR
JSTOR is a growing digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. VIEW WEBSITE
EBSCO
EBSCO
EBSCO provides free research databases covering a variety of subjects for students, researchers and librarians. VIEW WEBSITE
BARTLEBY LIT HUB FREE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS
BARTLEBY LIT HUB FREE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS
Reference offers a wide range of classic full-text searchable reference works. VIEW WEBSITE
With tens of thousands of poems by thousands of authors, Bartleby verse offers one of the largest and oldest free full-text collections of verse on the web. VIEW WEBSITE
Bartleby Fiction provides the best works of fiction from a wide range of classic authors. VIEW WEBSITE
Bartleby.com publishes a diverse and intelligent nonfiction corpus, including many works of political and social history. VIEW WEBSITE
MUSE
MUSE
Project MUSE offers open access (OA) books, journals, and digital humanities works from several distinguished university presses, scholarly societies, and independent not-for-profit academic publishers. Through our open access hosting programs, we are able to offer publishers a platform for their OA content which ensures visibility, discoverability, and wide dissemination. These materials are freely available to libraries and users around the world. VIEW WEBSITE
Artificial Intelligence Guidelines
Artificial Intelligence Guidelines
Colorado Roadmap for AI in K-12 Education (pdf), issued by Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) with guidance for local school districts and state-level organizations for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning.
Biographies
Biographies
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
A free collection of selected primary source documents intended for students in middle school through college, arranged by time period and covering 1790-2000s. VIEW WEBSITE
Encyclopedia Britannica Biographies
Encyclopedia Britannica Biographies
Britannica is a dynamic, continuously updated, rigorously fact-checked information source for students, teachers, and lifelong learners. VIEW WEBSITE
Encyclopedia of more than 3,000 famous people and fictional characters. VIEW WEBSITE
Competitions and Contests
Competitions and Contests
English:
American Library of Poetry has a student poetry contest. Deadline to enter is April 30th, and poems are accepted all year long.
River of Words art and poetry contest is open to any student aged 5-19 with a December 1st postmarked deadline.
Scholastic Writing and Art Awards are for students in grades 7-12.
The $1000 for 1000 Words fiction writing contest sponsored by the Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation is open to all students grades 6-12. To enter, submit an original fiction piece consisting of exactly 1,000 words. The deadline is February 1st.
Adlit.org, a national multimedia project is a resource for parents and educators of students in grades 4-12 has a list with links to several writing contests.
Take a look at the different contests held by the New York Times each year. Be a reviewer, an editorial cartoonist, a videographer -- there are lots of ways to show your journalistic creativity.
Science:
Toshiba and NSTA sponsors Exploravision. Teams of two to four students in grades K-12 can create and explore their visions of future technologies.
The Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS) was founded in 2012 to help transform learning into an exciting challenge for all students. We exist to support students in realizing the full potential of their future.
Power to Explore, NASA https://rps.nasa.gov/
Social Studies:
For the annual National History Day competition an historical theme is selected to frame students' research
C-SPAN's StudentCam is an annual national video documentary competition for grades 6-12.
Not Subject Specific:
Best 2024-25 Competitions for Students in Grades K-12 Competitions in STEM, ELA and the arts, and more! From We Are Teachers, Free classroom resources, inspiration, and support.
Best 2024-25 Competitions for Students in Grades K-12 Competitions in STEM, ELA and the arts, and more! From We Are Teachers, Free classroom resources, inspiration, and support.
Create a video for LACUE and your teacher could win $200.
ID Tech offers a list of STEM challenges and competitions available for students
Crisis Hotlines and Website Help
Crisis Hotlines and Website Help
If you are experiencing a medical emergency, are in danger, or are feeling suicidal, call 911 immediately.
U.S. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988
Immediate Medical Assistance: 911
Crisis Text Line (U.S.): Text HOME to 741741
Teen Health & Wellness: Real Life, Real Answers is for educational purposes only. If you have a question on a health or wellness issue, we strongly encourage you to call one of the hotlines below to speak to a qualified professional or speak to a trusted adult, such as a parent, teacher, or school counselor. Crisis Hotline Numbers
Now fully updated with a fresh, new look and feel, the critically acclaimed, award-winning resource Teen Health & Wellness provides middle and high school students with nonjudgmental, straightforward, curricular and self-help support, aligned to state, national, and provincial standards. Topics include diseases, drugs and alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide and bullying, green living, LGBTQ issues, and more. VISIT WEBSITE
Encyclopedia/Dictionary/Thesaurus
Encyclopedia/Dictionary/Thesaurus
Britannica is a dynamic, continuously updated, rigorously fact-checked information source for students, teachers, and lifelong learners. Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos.
Find definitions for over 300000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings. Browse the Dictionary or Thesaurus
Cambridge Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus
Cambridge Dictionary - English dictionary, English-Spanish translation and British & American English audio pronunciation from Cambridge University Press.
Source for easy-to-understand explanations of how things work.
Premier encyclopedia covering mythology, folklore, and religion.
Database cataloging information on thousands of known species.
Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.
Free Databases
Free Databases
A listing of databases free on the web for anyone. All of the databases listed below were selected by California State University-Long Beach subject librarians. All are accessible free on the web, csulb.libguides.com/freedatabases
History
History
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project (Fordham)
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. Collections include Ancient History, Medieval Studies, and Modern History.
UK National Archives View Website
UK National Archives is focused on helping students of history understand World War II. Primary sources can be found by selecting individual theaters from World War II.
The Avalon Project will mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. We do not intend to mount only static text but rather to add value to the text by linking to supporting documents expressly referred to in the body of the text.
The British Library View Website
The British Library invites you to explore thousands of high resolution collection items, current academic research, films and animations, and teaching resources. The site provides unparalleled digital access to the British Library, inspiring and enhancing understanding of our collections for teaching and learning.
The British Museum View Website
The entire British Museum database can be searched here and new records and images are added every week. There are currently 2,309,469 records available, which represent more than 3,500,000 objects. 985,874 records have one or more images.
The Cambridge Digital Library View Website
The Cambridge Digital Library is a collection of digitized material and research resources from the University of Cambridge.
The Colorado Encyclopedia View Website
Colorado Encyclopedia is the leading online reference work on the Centennial State, with more than 1,000 entries written and edited by scholars, students, professional researchers, community members, and others. Entries cover everything from the state’s ancient history to wildlife, sports, weather, geology, modern culture, current events, and much more. Approximately 25 percent of all entries include versions re-written at 4th, 8th, and 10th-grade reading levels for greater accessibility to K-12 students. Many entries also come with teacher resources, created according to state educational standards to help educators.
The Digital Public Library of America View Website
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science.
Florida Atlantic University Libraries: Wars & Conflict View Website
War & Conflict Primary Source Guide.
The Gilder Lehrman Collection View Website
The Gilder Lehrman Collection is a unique archive of primary sources in American history. Owned by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and located at the New-York Historical Society, the Collection includes more than 60,000 letters, diaries, maps, pamphlets, printed books, newspapers, photographs, and ephemera that document the political, social, and economic history of the United States. An extensive resource for educators, students, and scholars, the Collection ranges from 1493 through the twentieth century and is widely considered one of the nation’s great archives in the Revolutionary, early national, antebellum, and Civil War periods.
Google Books
Google Books is a service that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text, and stored in a digital database. Be sure to use the search filters -- especially "Free Google eBooks" and the document type and time period filters -- to search for documents that are accessible and relevant to your need.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum View Website
Collections Search is the primary method for searching and discovering the Collections of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Our goal is to provide comprehensive, effective, and convenient access to our collection catalogs. Collections Search currently includes 260,065 records.
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Sponsored by Georgetown University. The Labyrinth provides free, organized access to resources in medieval studies. The Labyrinth’s easy-to-use links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images around the world.
LIFE photo archive View Website
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
The Miller Center View Website
The Miller Center provides a great collection of active, live links to digital primary sources on World War II including war posters, Japanese internment, the bombing of Hiroshima, letters to and from the front lines.
Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept forever. Those valuable records are preserved in the National Archives and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family's history, need to prove a veteran's military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you.
The National Screening Room from the Library of Congress
Videos that offer a view of America's historical past and culture, 1800-1899
The National WWII Museum View Website
The National WWII Museum has collected these Primary Sources to supplement teaching WWII to your classes. Organized by subject, these galleries include photographs, documents, and other materials you can print out and use to enhance your WWII lessons.
OldMapsOnline View Website
OldMapsOnline developed out of a love of history and heritage of old maps. The project began as a collaboration between Klokan Technologies GmbH, Switzerland and The Great Britain Historical GIS Project based at the University of Portsmouth, UK thanks to funding from JISC. Since January 2013 is the project improved and maintained by volunteers and the team of Klokan Technologies GmbH in their free time. OldMapsOnline.org indexes over 400.000 maps. This is only thanks to the archives and libraries that were open to the idea and provided their online content.
Umbra Search African American History View Website
Umbra Search African American History makes African American history more broadly accessible through a freely available widget and search tool, umbrasearch.org; digitization of African American materials across University of Minnesota collections; and support of students, educators, artists, and the public through residencies, workshops, and events locally and around the country. Umbrasearch.org brings together more than 500,000 digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.
The Wilson Center Digital Archive View Website
The Wilson Center Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. It collects the research of three Wilson Center projects which focus on the interrelated histories of the Cold War, Korea, and Nuclear Proliferation.
Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.
Online Field Trips
Online Field Trips
40 Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips
40 Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips
Amazon Career Tours are free virtual field trips that inspire students to pursue careers of the future! Tour whenever, wherever on Kahoot!
Ever wondered how Amazon delivers packages at lightning speed? Take a 45-minute behind-the-scenes tour of an Amazon fulfillment center to see how computer science, engineering, and real people work together to make the magic happen. During this interactive virtual field trip, students meet Amazon engineers who explain concepts like algorithms and machine learning. There are versions for grades K-5 as well as grades 6+!
Or you can take the Space Innovation Tour, where students will learn about the amazing technology on board the Orion spacecraft in NASA’s Artemis I flight test. Hear from real-life engineers from Lockheed Martin, Webex by Cisco, and Amazon who made it all possible. These virtual tours come with a Teacher Toolkit that includes a facilitation guide and student worksheets. Plus, be the first to hear about Amazon’s brand new Career Tour launches including one this fall!
2. The Zoo
2. The Zoo
There are so many amazing online options when it comes to zoos that we couldn’t narrow it down to just one. Most zoos have live webcams in some of their most popular exhibits, such as the KC Zoo Polar Bear Cam and the Giant Panda Cam at Smithsonian’s National Zoo. However, some zoos offer a more in-depth look. You’ll definitely want to check out the San Diego Zoo as their site for kids includes behind-the-scenes videos and stories, as well as a variety of printable activities and online games. Check out our full list of virtual zoo goodness.
3. The Aquarium
3. The Aquarium
It’s a similar story with aquariums. You have your pick of live webcams, but our favorites are the Georgia Aquarium’s Ocean Voyager webcam (wait for the whale shark!) and the “Jelly Cam” at Monterey Bay Aquarium (so soothing). The Seattle Aquarium even has a 30-minute video tour. Want more under-the-sea fun? Here’s our ultimate list of virtual aquarium field trips.
4. The Farm
4. The Farm
The classic preschool field trip goes online! You can have your pick of dairy farm field trips, but we like this one from the Dairy Alliance and this one from Stonyfield Organic. Farm Food 360 gives students the opportunity to immerse themselves in Canadian farm and food tours—from raising pigs to making milk and cheese. We’re also loving these virtual egg farm field trips from the American Egg Board.
5. An Art Museum
5. An Art Museum
We found 20 art museums with virtual tours, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s #MetKids and its awesome Where’s Waldo? setup. And you can’t miss the world-famous Louvre in Paris (no passport needed!). Check out the current virtual tours: Traveling Materials and Objects, the Advent of the Artist, the Body in Movement, and Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader!
6. A National Park
6. A National Park
From webcams at Hawaii volcanoes to a virtual run along the rim of the Grand Canyon, you have tons of options here. Our top pick would have to be Yellowstone. The interactive maps are a great way to see the Mammoth Hot Springs and Mud Volcano, but we think kids will be psyched about the Old Faithful Geyser livestream and the opportunity to make their own predictions for its next eruption. Check out everything the National Park Service has to offer virtually.
7. A Planetarium
7. A Planetarium
Through Stellarium Web, kids can explore over 60,000 stars, locate planets, and watch sunrises and solar eclipses. If you enter your location, you can see all the constellations that are visible in the night sky in your corner of the world.
Take your students on a virtual field trip of a recycling center and a modern landfill. Plus, there’s a full-on curriculum that includes lesson plans, take-home handouts, and more.
Nickelodeon teamed up with two astronauts on the International Space Station to demonstrate how slime reacts to microgravity and had kids reproduce those same demonstrations back here on Earth. It makes for an amazing 15-minute virtual field trip.
The Nature Conservancy has a brand-new virtual field trip entitled “You’re the Scientist! Citizen Science, Frogs & Cicadas.” Check out their full library of videos on topics like climate change and water security.
Discovery Education hosts a variety of virtual events—each with a companion guide with hands-on learning activities. Current offerings include “Making a New Life: The Courage of a Refugee” and “The Future Is Now” (architectural and engineering innovations). Stay tuned for their upcoming civics virtual field trip, “The American Ideal.”
This virtual field trip from Great Lakes Now has three components: coastal wetlands, algae, and lake sturgeon. Each video is a quick five minutes long.
Explore online exhibits and discover the history and evolution of play. Check out board games that changed play, sports video games that shaped digital play, and the making of Monopoly to name a few.
We hope you enjoy your virtual field trip to Colorado National Monument. Use this as an opportunity to explore the park, and to learn about its geology, plants, animals, and people. Discover for yourself why this is such a special place.
The “Museum of We the People,” the Constitution Center serves as a “headquarters for civic education.” Check out the Interactive Constitution section, and be sure to watch the virtual tour.
Houston, we have a virtual field trip. Three, actually. All with companion educator guides. The star of the show is the behind-the-scenes tour of the Johnson Space Center.
We’ve collected 10 of our favorite resources for virtual field trips. There is something here for all age levels and music subjects, from general music to high school ensembles.
This living-history museum provides a look into life in an early American community. The website offers five different webcams featuring areas such as the tavern and the armory.
This virtual experience of George Washington’s home is incredibly well done. Enter the different buildings—from the opulent mansion to the chilling slave quarters—and click on different items for video and text explanations.
This virtual tour comes with a real tour guide! Blaine Kortemeyer is the Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Education, who lends his expertise on the building of this national monument. The 3D Explorer is also an excellent tool.
Take a visit to the National WWII Museum for “a cross-country virtual expedition to discover the science, sites, and stories of the creation of the atomic bomb.” Don’t forget to download the classroom guide!
For a look inside the iconic building, check out the 360° tour of some of the most historic rooms of the People’s House, from the Situation Room to the Oval Office. Examine each room and check out the contents up close.
The National Museum of Natural History’s virtual experiences are self-guided, room-by-room tours of permanent, current, and past exhibits. Be sure to send kids to the second floor Bone Hall so they can take a look at all different kinds of skeletons.
A collaboration with over 1,200 leading museums and archives, Google Arts & Culture is an incredible storehouse of monumental works of art. We recommend the Street View and Play sections.
Boasting the world’s largest collection of 360° image videos, 360 Cities provides kids with the opportunity to see stunning panoramas across the globe, including their video of the ice floe on the Vistula River in Poland.
It’s the official residence of the Queen of England, and boy, is it opulent! Get a peek inside the gorgeous Grand Staircase, White Drawing Room, Throne Room, and Blue Drawing Room.
See one of the wonders of the world with this amazing, thousands-year-old fortification system known the world over. This virtual tour has four scenes available (you have to pay to get access to all 14). The bird’s-eye view of Mutianyu pass is a highlight.
Most of us recognize the giant stone statues of Easter Island, but what’s the story behind them? Nova’s online adventure “Secrets of Easter Island” delves into the mystery with a virtual tour.
The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks. Home to nature, history and collections and 360° tours!
You don’t need a time machine! Discovering Ancient Egypt has a ton of free resources, but it’s the interactive pyramid map and 3D temple reconstructions that really give it a field trip feel.
Virtually visit Turn Back the Clock, a museum exhibit that ran for two years at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. Through compelling personal stories, innovative interactive media, and pop culture artifacts, the exhibit takes guests through seven decades of history—from the dawn of the nuclear age to significant policy questions our leaders face today.
No, really! You can absolutely “go” to the red planet. With Access Mars, you can see the actual surface of Mars, recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover. Trust us—don’t skip the intro. And if your kids liked that, check out this 4K tour of the moon. These may go down in history as some of the best virtual field trips your students get to experience.
Take a virtual tour of this historical battleship located on the Camden waterfront. This battleship has traveled more miles than any other!
No need to travel to Rome! Take in the amazing art and architecture located in the Vatican Museums with these 360-degree views.
Download the app and climb aboard the virtual tram line! Take a virtual walk through the Space Center Houston with informational stops along the way.
Virtually visit museum rooms in the famous Louvre located in Paris. Even check out The Louvre kids’ site for student-friendly galleries and stories. You can’t visit The Louvre without seeing the Mona Lisa, so check out their immersive Mona Lisa experience available in the app store.
This interactive tour of Ellis Island created by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), Heritage Documentation Programs, National Park Service.
38. Plimoth Patuxet Museums
38. Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Travel back to the 17th century with options for free, on-demand, digital resources or a live, 1-hour virtual school program led by a Plimoth Patuxet Contemporary Indigenous Museum Educator. Students explore Wampanoag daily life and history; discover the real history of Thanksgiving and the legend behind it; meet a 17th-century Pilgrim; get an interactive sneak peak into 17th-century wardrobes; and learn about simple machines and water power at the Plimoth Grist Mill. There are also options for virtual hands-on history workshops, including Wampanoag Pottery and Write Like a Pilgrim.
When you can’t visit the museum in person, 3D virtual field trips to the Children’s Museum Houston are the next best thing. All videos are produced and curated by museum educators and feature hands-on activities that can be done in the classroom. Topics include nutrition, math, states of matter, forces and properties of water, and more.
Beyond the Battle Field is a virtual field trip for grades 2-8 hosted by Lauren Tarshis, author of the I Survived historical-fiction series for kids. Students will meet a museum educator as well as the museum curator, and explore artifacts and documents from the American Revolution. Plus they’ll hear the stories of teens who served during the war. There’s also a Classroom Kit available with a vocabulary list and discussion questions by grade level.
Science
Science
Founded in 2003, Science News Explores is a free, award-winning online publication dedicated to providing age-appropriate science news to learners, parents and educators. d in 2003, Science News Explores is a free, award-winning online publication dedicated to providing age-appropriate science news to learners, parents and educators.
Since 1972, the joint U.S. Geological Survey / NASA Landsat series of Earth Observation satellites have continuously acquired images of the Earth’s land surface, providing uninterrupted data to help land managers and policymakers make informed decisions about natural resources and the environment.
Database cataloging information on thousands of known species.
Launched in October 1998, the Solar System Exploration website is a real-time, living encyclopedia of the robotic exploration of our solar system.
Science Fair
Science Fair
Search through hundreds of idea starters to develop your own investigation or engineering design challenge.
Hands-on Science Resources for Home and School
Hands-on Science Resources for Home and School
Database cataloging information on thousands of known species.
Find science fair project ideas from our collection of 1000+ STEM projects!
Find science fair project ideas from our collection of 1000+ STEM projects!
Shakespeare Help
Shakespeare Help
Sources for Photos
Sources for Photos
Pixabay.com is a free stock photography and royalty-free stock media website. It is used for sharing photos, illustrations, vector graphics, film footage, music and sound effects, exclusively under the custom Pixabay license, which generally allows the free use of the material with some restrictions. VISIT WEBSITE
Pixabay.com is a free stock photography and royalty-free stock media website. It is used for sharing photos, illustrations, vector graphics, film footage, music and sound effects, exclusively under the custom Pixabay license, which generally allows the free use of the material with some restrictions. VISIT WEBSITE
Morguefile is a free photo archive created to serve as a free image exchange for creative professionals and teachers to use in their work. All photos found in the Morguefile archive are free for you to download and re-use. VISIT WEBSITE
Morguefile is a free photo archive created to serve as a free image exchange for creative professionals and teachers to use in their work. All photos found in the Morguefile archive are free for you to download and re-use. VISIT WEBSITE
RawPixel collection of public domain art and design resources collated and digitally enhanced from international museums and our own original collection of artworks.
Flickr Commons is a unique collection of historical photography from over 100 cultural institutions from all around the world, all with no known copyright restrictions. VISIT WEBSITE
Flickr Commons is a unique collection of historical photography from over 100 cultural institutions from all around the world, all with no known copyright restrictions. VISIT WEBSITE
Getty Search Gateway Images now available for free download under the Getty's Open Content Program. VISIT WEBSITE
Getty Search Gateway Images now available for free download under the Getty's Open Content Program. VISIT WEBSITE
Library of Congress The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress offers broad public access to these materials as a contribution to education and scholarship. VISIT WEBSITE
Wikimedia Commons a collection of 93,479,231 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. VISIT WEBSITE
Wikimedia Commons a collection of 93,479,231 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. VISIT WEBSITE
Writing Resources
Writing Resources
EasyBib Writing Resources
EasyBib Writing Resources
EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools that are easy-to-use and educational. EasyBib is not only accurate, fast, and comprehensive, but helps educators teach and students learn how to become effective and organized researchers. VISIT WEBSITE
Purdue Online Writing Lab
Purdue Online Writing Lab
The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. VISIT WEBSITE
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