Using the Web for Social Studies Enrichment

Abstract

when I wanted to enrich the social studies curriculum, I needed additional materials to supplement the textbook. I made endless trips to the public library to find supplementary resources. When my students participated in National History Day® or conducted other historical research, they often struggled to locate primarysource materials. Some students traveled to the Library of Congress or to national and university libraries.

With the advent of the Internet, finding enrichment materials and primary source materials in history and the social sciences has become much easier. Primary source material is much more accessible since the Library of Congress and other institutes, museums, and libraries have begun to digitalize their collections. In addition, historical accounts, economic reports, maps, political commentaries, and demographic information abound on the Internet. Now, instead of going to the library, I log onto to the Internet first.