Educational websites

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Educational Websites > Environmental Studies > Social Subjects > People In The Past

A Victorian Diary
This site is related to a Channel 4 television programme - Victorian Diary - where daily life is explored through the diaries of various characters.

Am Baile - the Gaelic village
A major learning and research resource for everyone with an interest in the language, culture and history of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The site is available in English and Gaelic, and offers access to photographic collections, published texts, archive materials, films, sounds, interactive games and comics.

Ancestors on board
Website created by Findmypast.com in association with The National Archives, which presents a database of the Outward Passenger Lists for long-distance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1890 to 1960. You can search by passenger name, country of destination, port of departure or ship name, including the Titanic and the Lusitania. Some areas of the site are restricted to fee-payers only.

Ancient Egypt
A British Museum site that gives information about ancient Egypt on topics such as daily life, religion, geography, Pharaohs, pyramids and mummification.

Anne Frank Center
The website of The Anne Frank Center in the USA. The sections for teachers and students contains downloadable materials for teachers and students about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

Around Scotland
These interactive BBC websites are designed to support 5-14 environmental studies. The topics include the Highland clearances and daily life in the time of Mary Queen of Scots.

BBC Education World War II site
BBC Education website looking at Scotland during the time of the Second World War. The site complements the Around Scotland television series Scotland During the Second World War, but can also be used as a stand-alone resource. Aimed at 10-12 year olds, it provides an interesting arena for investigation, evidence gathering and assessment for pupils whilst encouraging them to role-play as enemy spies.

BBC History : Vikings
In-depth background information about the Vikings from BBC History. This site contains several interactive games, including the adventure "Viking Quest".

BBC Schools: The Vikings
An introduction to the Vikings suitable for the middle and upper primary. It contains interactive activities for pupils and the teacher's section includes a curriculum guide and lesson plan based on the 5-14 guidelines.

Black Europeans
This special feature on the British Library website has information, essays and images about five famous figures from history who had mixed European and African ancestry. The featured individuals are the writer Alexander Dumas, the poet Alexander Pushkin, the musician George Polgreen Bridgetower, the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and the politician John Archer.

Burgh Life
A website focusing on burgh life in Scotland during the sixteenth century. This site enables children to focus on people, events and societies of significance in the past in a Scottish context.

Burns' Night and dialect
January 25th is Burn's Night. Using this lesson plan, students take a quiz, learn about the poet and take a look at dialect

CBBC Newsround - The Holocaust
A short feature in simple language on the Holocaust and explaining the purpose of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Cecil Slack and the Great War
This site presents the history of World War I as examined through the diaries and letters of one soldier.

Channel 4 - Lost Generation
A website packed with information about the First World War including a database of the names of those who died.. The website is aimed at pupils aged between 11-16 years old and offers a tour of a typical trench, timelines of events including the Somme and reflections by contemporary teenagers.

Churchill the evidence
Exploration of the life and times of Winston Churchill using historical documents, original photographs and resources for schools.

Culloden
Information from the National Trust for Scotland on the history, politics and events surrounding the battle of Culloden, along with details of what you can see on the battlefield today and a description of the new visitors' centre and exhibition.

Early British Kingdoms for kids
Historical information about the dark ages of British history, including sections on King Arthur, the Saxons and the Picts.

Eternal Egypt
Eternal Egypt is a virtual museum containing a wealth of exhibits, maps, multimedia clips and historical information drawn from the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Filth and fever
This online learning pack from the British Library explores what life was like for the poor in Victorian cities and examines the 1840s campaign for public health reform. It has copies of original sources with cartoons, statistics, and newspaper articles as well as biographies of the reformers, a timeline and a glossary.

Highland Clearances
This website looks at the lives of people who lived in the Scottish Highlands during the time of the clearances. It covers levels C-E of Environmental Studies 5-14.

Historical Texts
Online access to information and images of letters, books and manuscripts from significant episodes in British history, including Magna Carta, the last entry in Captain Scott's diary, a letter by Queen Elizabeth I and the draft of ultimatum sent to German Government in 1939.

Holocausthistory.net
The Beth Shalom Center's introductory guide to the Holocaust, designed for school students.

Images from the Royal Scottish Academy
This resource contains a selection of images of artworks from the Royal Scottish Academy together with critical commentaries on the work and artists’ biographies. Suggested topics for the works are also given. Images may be printed but will contain a watermark.

Indus Valley
A BBC website taking 9-11 year olds on an archaeological journey in search of the lost city of Mohenjo-daro. They discover what everyday life was like for the people who lived in Mohenjo-daro, a civilization that existed between 2600 and 1800 BC. The site provides the learner with opportunities to go on an archaeological dig and travel to a museum to catalogue the artefacts they find before visiting a press office to write up their story in the local Mohenjo-daro newspaper.

Kid's castle
This site is linked to information and activities about medieval castles. It is part of the Kids on the Net website.

Leonardo da Vinci
A website from the Museum of Science in Boston about Leonardo da Vinci. His work as an inventor and scientist as well as an artist is considered. The site includes games and multimedia sections.

Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a British Museum website suitable for middle to upper primary stages. It focuses on some of the ancient civilisations of the middle east, and covers topics such as mythology, daily life and ancient systems of writing.

National Archives of Scotland - Learning
Online resources developed to support the Scottish curriculum based on materials in the National Archives. Teaching topics include The Appin murder, St Kilda and The Declaration of Arbroath.

National Library of Scotland
Website of the National Library of Scotland, an information treasure trove of Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture, with millions of books, manuscripts and maps covering every subject

National Maritime Museum
Online exhibitions from the National Maritime Museum around the themes of travel and exploration. Features include the mythological stories behind the names of the constellations, an interactive learning activity about Tudor exploration and downloadable teaching materials on the Vikings.

PhotoArch
The website of PhotoArch, an annual Scotland-wide heritage photographic competition for primary schools and primary-aged children. Organised by the Scottish Civic Trust, the competition encourages young people to look at their heritage in the places they live, and through the medium of photography, develop an understanding of the world around them.

Romans in Scotland
Pictures and short movie clips from the Roman Scotland exhibits in the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

Royal Bank of Scotland Memory Bank
Teaching resources mainly supporting 5-14 environmental studies but with some cross-curricular components. They are produced by the the Royal Bank of Scotland and contain materials from its archives. Units include 'The Darien Adventure', 'Georgian New Town', 'History Detectives' and 'Antique Experts'. Teachers' notes, downloadable pupil information sheets and worksheets are provided.

Schoolhistory.co.uk
A portal for the teaching of history containing many resources, online quizzes and games.

Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Created to mark the bicentenary of the 1807 Abolition of Slavery Act, this website has information about Scotland's role in the transatlantic slave trade, about the abolitionist campaign and its legacy, ideas for religious observance assemblies and links to other key resources, including events and exhibitions across Scotland in 2007.

Scotland and the Slave Trade
National Trust website with information and resources to introduce teachers and youth workers to using drama to learn about the slave trade.

Scottish Archives for Schools
Scottish Archives for Schools is a free educational website designed by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) to support the teaching of Scottish history, as well as wider areas of the Scottish curriculum, in schools and colleges.

Search for Scotland
A BBC website providing a short overview of Scottish history.

See you see me
BBC education site covering three topics for primary pupils: the Picts and the Scots, the Romans in Scotland and sustainability and environmentalism.

Skara Brae
A BBC website with learning activities that allow primary children to explore the world of Skara Brae past and present, and find out how archaeology is used to discover what life was like five thousand years ago.

Spartacus Educational
This site is a good source of background information on history topics and contains a number of useful activities and links.

Sugar, slavery and the making of the West Indies
This virtual exhibition from the British Library is part of its collection of images called Caribbean Views. The exhibition includes a personal essay by author and broadcaster Dr Mike Phillips and access to the selected 19th century images of the West Indies and people and artefacts from the slave trade and its abolition.

Texts in Context
This is a rich and unusual collection of over 400 British Library texts. It enables students to explore how English language and style have continually evolved and changed over time. Digitised versions of original handwritten documents and recordings (with transcripts) are provided on topics such as shipwrecks and smuggling, tourism, recipes, dictionaries, dialects and colonial life. All texts are listed with a commentary on their potential for teaching and learning, and there is advice for teachers on how to select texts to work with.

The Blitz on Clydeside
A website produced by Glasgow City Council Libraries with memories, documents and photographs of the people and places of Clydeside during the Second World War. Resources include copies of pages from the Daily Record and a photo gallery.

The Cave of Lascaux
This site allows you to take a virtual tour of the famous caves in Lascaux to see 15,000-year-old wall paintings.

The Highland Clearances
A historical overview of the Highland Clearances and their legacy today. This well illustrated site contains video clips and downloadable worksheets.

The Home Front
Covering topics such as the Blitz, women at war, spies and evacuation, this website, produced by the Public Record Office, is an invaluable resource for teaching World War II. It includes excellent graphics, online activities, video clips and worksheets.

The Imperial War Museum Education
Educational resources on the theme of life in wartime from the Imperial War Museum. The site contains some excellent interactive activities such as a game based upon a second world war ration book.

The Museum of Antiquities
The Museum of Antiquities is based in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and offers archaeological information - in particular on Hadrians Wall and the Roman Britain.

The National Archives Learning Curve
Developed by the education department of the public record office, this excellent website includes original sources to explore many historical periods and events. Although the references are to the National Curriculum for England and Wales, there are several topics relevant to 5-14 People in the Past, including the Victorians, Mary Queen of Scots, World Wars I and II and the Cold War.

The rise of Adolf Hitler
Website about Hitler's rise to power. Interactive quizzes test the knowledge pupils have gained.

The Vikings
This site, which offers activities on Vikings, is part of the much larger American Public Service Television site.

United States Holocaust Museum
Online exhibitions based on the collection of the United States Holocaust Museum. The education section contains a learning site for students and a wide range of downloads for teachers, including the book 'Teaching about the Holocaust.'

Victorian Britain
Covering subjects such as crime and punishment, leisure, industry and the role of women, this website, produced by the Public Record Office, is an invaluable resource for teaching a topic on the Victorians. It includes excellent graphics, games and downloadable materials.

Virtual Victorians
The Victorians is a popular People In the Past topic, and this informative and entertaining website covers many aspects of life in Victorian times. The Virtual Victorians are an imaginary family, and schools can register to ask them questions about their lives. The site includes impressive animated simulations of some Victorian toys.

Visual Arts Data Service
Online access to visual arts resources from the UK focussing on images from fashion, design, architecture, arts and crafts collections and of historical prints, posters and banners. The images are copyright-restricted but can be used for personal, education and research purposes.

Voices of history
This British Library website has recordings of significant people from history including Franklin Delano Roosevelt declaring war on Japan, a fund-raising request by Florence Nightingale, Margaret Thatcher on the invasion of the Falkland Islands, Christabel Pankhurst on votes for women, a Christmas message to the Empire from King George V, Lenin praising a revolutionary comrade and several others.

Voyage of exploration
This site is an excellent resource for a topic on exploration and includes lesson plans, quizzes and timelines.

World War One
A BBC history site about the First World War, with extensive background information including battles, campaigns and life in the trenches. The multimedia section includes a 3D simulation of a trench.

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