15+ Awesome Ways to Use Technology to Teach History

Bring history alive with technology. The pairing is less obvious, but if you’re willing to poke around, your students will thank you! 

Science & technology are an obvious pairing.  But history & technology?

The pairing is less obvious, and the resources aren’t as numerous.  But if you’re willing to poke around, there are some fantastic ways to bring history alive using technology! 

Technology can help you walk famous battlefields, get answers to your questions from actual historians, use technology to present and assess learning, and more.

3 Tech Resources for Teaching History

Reddit, like so many social sites, can be a mess…and it also has it’s beautiful spots in the mess.  The Ask A Historian section is a definite gem! Ask your own questions or just spend time browsing so you & your kiddos can learn what you never knew you never knew.  {They also have a great podcast.}

StoryCorps can be an interesting way to get one person’s slice of life in relation to history {through their short, weekly radio stories/podcasts}, but that’s not why I’m recommending it.  They have a set of lesson plans to teach kids how to interview someone in their family, including really cool questions, so they can learn more about their own family’s place in history.  {They call it the Great Thanksgiving Listen, watch my video about our experience.}

The Digital Public Library of America is a one-stop-shop for all sorts of photos throughout America’s history–from major events to historical photos of your hometown.

Teaching about War with Technology

Is this year’s history a modern history cycle instead?  Real-Time World War II is an amazing Twitter account that tweets WW2 events as if they were happening now.  Throughout the day, tweets recount events in both theaters, often with links and/or photos.

If the Civil War is on your study list this year, put yourself & kiddos “on” the battlefield with battlefield virtual tours from the Civil War Trust. You can walk the battlefields from some of the most famous battles including Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville.  Historical tidbits, the occasional talk from a park ranger, etc. are included as you experience these awesome field trips.

The World War II Museum in New Orleans offers virtual field trips. They host them live, but you can watch past presentations on their website.

Virtual Field Trips for US History

My freshman year of college, the internet was all brand new to me. (Who else is old enough that they had never been on the internet before college??) Spring 1996, I took a brand new course on teaching with technology.

The idea that my young-and-so-excited-TA shared that really got my mind twirling? The idea of using technology to take students around the world…without ever leaving the classroom.

Virtual Field Trips for World History

Social Studies Alexa Skills

Resources for Teaching about Government

C-SPAN Classroom has some cool resources for teaching about the government.  One resource that would be great for persuasive papers is their Classroom Deliberations. A topic is presented along with various video clips and articles for students to build their arguments.

Built around interactive games, inquiries, and lessons, iCivics provides your kiddos with a way to interact with the Constiuttional process and all things government.

History Podcasts You Shouldn’t Miss

When the kiddos were younger, our car played a constant rotation of audiobooks. But as they’ve gotten older, that’s shifted to podcasts. And since we all love history, we’ve listened to more than a few!

Don’t miss this list of even more history podcast ideas.

  1. Stuff You Missed in History Class (middle & high school)
  2. The Past & The Curious
  3. White Lies (US Civil Rights, high school)
  4. A History of the World in 100 Objects
  5. My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
  6. In Our Time
  7. The Thomas Jefferson Hour
  8. Everything Everywhere (10-15 minute episodes, grades 4 & up)
  9. Today in History
  10. The Bomb by BBC
  11. 13 Minutes to the Moon
  12. Backstory (not producing new episodes, but there are hundreds of episodes in the archive)

{Be sure to preview the podcasts before you listen.  None of these are inappropriate for children but topics or engagement levels may not be suitable for your kiddos.}

“Travel” with Google Earth

4 More Resources for Teaching about History

PBS Learning Media has taken care of tracking down videos for you.  You’ll find hundreds of videos, from short clips to longer documentaries, plus images & documents all organized by topic.  Some include support materials like teacher guides & student note pages.  The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a similar type of resource.  Browse & use their collections or create your own custom collections.

We are lucky to have some really amazing museums in this country!  But not all of us can travel to them.  Technology bridges that distance!  Virtual field trips on their websites, lesson plans, and sometimes live presentations, and their YouTube channels can enhance your learning.  But don’t stop at the museums here–museums around the world offer some fantastic resources, too.  Many of our national parks also have some great tech resources, too.

Speaking of museums, the Smithsonian’s History Explorer lets you explore artifacts from the Smithsonian museums by topic. They even have a section to search for history book titles for kids.

Put Their Learning on Display

Visme is a beautiful, FREE timeline creator.  I’m going to assign my daughter to create one every month next year as she studies US History.  I’ll have her present it to me and give me a summary of each event.

Create retellings of your studies using the comic strip creator on Storyboard That.  Maybe stop-motion animation is more your kiddos’ styles!  We love the free app from Stop Motion Studios–it’s super easy {and fun!} to use.  A reenactment of the Constitutional Convention, the San Francisco earthquake of 1903, the Battle of Gettysburg…so many possibilities!

Just for fun: History Games & Other Fun Links

A digital version of the old Guess Who? game would be a great way to play around with figures from history.  Create boards featuring notable figures in your history cycle and have your kiddos ask questions based on their knowledge of history!

Digital trading cards would be a fun end-of-the-year idea.  You and your kiddos can each create a few cards featuring events & people you enjoyed that year.  Or, for a twist, choose the biggest traitors, least understood events, shocking events, etc.

Mission US from PBS — Think Choose Your Own Adventure books but as a history game. These fantastic games from PBS were a big hit in our home for upper elementary & middle school. By placing kids ‘in the moment’ of a turning point in American history, the Mission US games are able to teach history & consequences of choices in an engaging way.

Mission US Games include:

  • For Crowns or Colony?
  • Flight to Freedom
  • A Cheynee Odyssey
  • City of Immigrants
  • Up from Dust
  • Prisoner in my Homeland
  • No Turning Back

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