Name:Infoplease® Almanac: History & Government / Year by Year
Brief Description of the Site:
Scroll down to the middle of the page to find "Year by Year: 1900-2004", type a year, and click "Go" to bring up a comprehensive summary of that year's major events in six categories: World, U.S., Sports, Entertainment, Science, Deaths. For example, enter "1969" and scroll down to "U.S." and find a box of significant statistics plus clickable links to four major news stories, including the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Similarly clicking on the name of a personality under "Deaths" such as "Dwight David Eisenhower" will bring up a brief obituary, links to at least ten other obituaries, and links to search for more information about a national hero who lived before not only your students but their parents were born. This site epitomizes the power of Hypertext, the ability to 'dig' deeper and deeper into the multiple levels of a topic.
How to use the site:
An excellent resource for students compiling "That Was The Year That Was" type reports in which they present "news stories" about events that happened long before they were born. Another possibility is for a class to create original "This Was Your Birth Year" cards for their parents and/or other adults, which can lead to great inter-generational learning experiences. And finally, for the student who complains "I can't find an interesting research topic" have him/her select a year at random and explore it in depth or select several years and do comparisons (i.e.: how was the world of 1955 different from the world in 1985?)
