This is Cool! Albert Einstein's Library Online

Through the Open Culture blog I just learned that more than 80,000 of Albert Einstein's documents and drawings are now available to view for free at Einstein Archives Online. The archives include not only his scientific work but also his images and documents from his travels and thoughts on the world in general.

Applications for Education
I haven't had much time to look at the Einstein Archives yet (I'm boarding a plane in two minutes), but I think that it has the potential to be a great resource for science, math, and history teachers who their students to research the development of Einstein's ideas over the course of his life. After I get more time to browse the archives, I'll update this post.

Google Earth Tour of James Cook's Exploration of Australia

Well-constructed Google Earth tours can be excellent multimedia alternatives to textbooks. One such example of this is a collection of Google Earth files about Captain James Cook's exploration of Australia and New Zealand. The files contain animations and audio explanations of Cook's explorations of the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand. I learned about these files from the Google Earth Blog. You can read more about the construction of these files on the Google Earth Blog.

Download Cook's Exploration of Australia (warning, it's a very large file).
Download Cook's Circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Download Cook's Circumnavigation of South Island, New Zealand.

Applications for Education
These files could provide helpful audio and visual aids for teachers of history and world geography.

Paper Toys - Build Great Paper Models

One of the "skills" that I've never really acquired is folding paper to create anything other than poorly gliding airplanes. That could all change thanks to Paper Toys. Paper Toys is a website providing free, printable templates and directions for making paper models of all kinds of buildings, cars, hats, and landmarks. The directions are PDFs that you can download and print. The templates range from simple hats and dolls to complex structures like the White House, the Great Wall of China, and the Eiffel Tower.

Applications for Education
Building some of these Paper Toys models could be a fun hands-on conclusion to a lesson about the places where some of these landmarks are found.

H/T to iLearn Technology. 

Another Great YouTube Channel for History Students and Teachers

Last week I posted 7 Useful YouTube Channels for History Teachers. Admittedly, that list was skewed toward US History. In the comments on that list P.M. Laberge suggested that I look at the History for Music Lovers channel on YouTube. I'm glad that suggestion was made because History for Music Lovers is a great place to find music videos about dozens of topics in World History. The videos are set to the music of popular songs with the lyrics changed to tell the stories of things like The French Revolution, The Crusades, and William the Conqueror. The images in the videos come from a mix of movies, music videos, and documentaries.

The story of William the Conqueror is told in the video embedded below.



Applications for Education
If you're looking for a new way to introduce or review some topics in your World History curriculum, take a look at History for Music Lovers on YouTube. You can also find them on Facebook.

Browse for Primary Sources on the World Digital Library Map

The World Digital Library hosts nearly 5,000 primary documents and images from collections around the world. Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the mission of the World Digital Library is to promote the study and understanding of cultures. The WDL can be searched by date, era, country, continent, topic, and type of resource. In my search of the WDL I noticed that roughly half of the resources are historical maps and images. The WDL aims to be accessible to as many people as possible by providing search tools and content descriptions in seven languages. The WDL can also be searched by clicking through the map on the homepage.

Applications for EducationThe World Digital Library can be a great resource for anyone that teaches history and or cultural studies. The wealth of image based resources along with the document based resources makes the WDL appropriate for use with most age groups. 

7 Useful YouTube Channels for History Teachers

One of my favorite things about Netflix streaming is that I can watch some great history documentaries on my laptop or tablet. As much as I enjoy a good documentary I also know that not everyone does. I also know that many students get bored by documentaries very quickly. On the other hand, short video clips can be helpful to help teachers illustrate a point or present a point in a different manner. If you're a history teacher, particularly a U.S. History teacher, here are seven YouTube channels where you can find some good short video clips to use in your lessons.

Hip Hughes History is a channel that Greg Kulowiec shared on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. Hip Hughes History is a series of short, upbeat lectures on topics in US History and World History. The videos are produced by Keith Hughes, a high school history teacher in Buffalo, New York. A sample video is embedded below.



Dizzo95 is the first YouTube channel that came to mind when I started to build this list. I've featured a bunch of the videos from this channel in the past. On this channel you will find a lot of short (2-5 minutes) US History and World History videos. Most of the history videos on this channel are overviews of eras or major topics in history. The channel does not have much organization and videos on topics outside of history are mixed-in so you will have to use the search function to find gems that you can use. I've included a sample from Dizzo95 below.



The U.S. National Archives YouTube channel offers a mixed bag of videos that include everything from old propaganda films like this one (also embedded below) to lectures from historians to short lessons about items in the National Archives.



The New York Historical Society has a YouTube channel that at first you might not think has anything of relevance to teachers and students outside of New York, but on further investigation you will find content like this playlist of videos about Frederick Douglass.



World History & Other Stuff contains just what the title implies. The channel is curated by a teacher of AP World History for his students. The playlists that are assembled are excellent, here's one about the collapse of the Soviet Union and here's one about the Enlightenment.

The Smithsonian has many channels on YouTube. The one that I want to highlight is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History YouTube channel. Here you will find playlists about the museum, its exhibits, and short lessons based on the work of the museum.

For the military history buffs, the Naval History & Heritage Com'd channel (to be clear, the channel is not administered by the U.S. Navy) contains 43 playlists covering all aspects of U.S. naval history. Here's a playlist about navy medicine at war. If your school offers a course in military history, this channel could be particularly useful.

History of the Indus Valley Civilization in Ten Minutes

Crash Course is a small YouTube channel featuring a couple of short, fast-paced video lessons about World History. The two history videos on the channel right now are Indus Valley Civilization and The Agricultural Revolution. Both videos move very quickly, almost frantically at times, making them more like entertaining overviews of these topics than serious lessons. There are a couple of innuendos thrown into both videos, so watch them and use your discretion before showing them in your classroom.


H/T to Open Culture. 

A Google Maps Lesson Idea - Seasonings Around the World

On Wednesday morning I came across a neat article on NPR titled A Trip Around the World, By Way of Seasonings. The article is part of a series of recipes that call for using spices from places all over the world. The article gave me an idea for a Google Maps project in world history classes.

As any history teacher knows, discovering new travel routes for the spice trade was one of the motivations for early explorers. The idea I had was to have students research where those spices came from, which explorers went where, and plot that information on a Google Map or in Google Earth. Students using Google Earth could create a narrated tour of the world using the information that they include in their placemarks.

For directions on creating placemarks and tours in Google Maps and Google Earth, please visit my collection of Google tutorials.