Tuesday, July 20, 2004

One of the Best, Historically Speaking

Finding the "best" of something is what a lot of people spend a lot of time doing. When it comes to finding the highest quality web sites for just about any purpose, simply typing in a search string into Google typically gives you a lot of links to check out but no real way to judge how good or relevant each of those sites is.

Not surprisingly, a number of "Best of........" sites have sprung up to help people find really useful sites without having to spend hours checking hundreds of sites themselves.

In the realm of history and social studies, I recommend a web portal called Best of History Web Sites. Historical sites are grouped by era (e.g. Prehistory, Ancient/Biblical, Medieval, 20th Century, US History, Art History, etc.) and by rating (top rating is five stars). There are also links to Maps, Multimedia, Lesson Plans/Activities, and Resources.

There is a vast amount of material represented here and I've only begun to scratch the tiniest surface layer. My early sets of exploration, though, have taken me to fascinating and very useful resources. And that luck included the exploration of lesson plan and classroom activity resources that are included here.

I would highly recommend Best of History Web Sites for all students of history.