Learning from Databases:
Using Existing Online Databases
In designing a lesson around a database, you can either create the database yourself and put it online using software like FileMaker or MySQL or you can have your learners explore a database that someone else has already put up. This page contains a list of existing databases to support the second approach.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try searching Google with 'searchable database' as one descriptor and a word relevant to your content (e.g., 'calories') as another.
English / Language Arts
- Letters of Mark Twain
- Concordances of Great Books
- Database of Award Winning Children's Literature
- Fiction Database
- Quotations
Visual & Performing Arts
- Lost Art Database
- American Art and Artists
- Internet Movie Database
- TV Episode Guide
- Song Lyrics
- Web Gallery of Art (European painting and sculpture, 1100-1850)
- Melodyhound Database of Tunes
- UK Hits (every hit song from 1953 to 2003)
- National Gallery of Arts
Social Studies
History
- LOC Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 - 1875
- Civil War Documents from the Ohio Historical Museum
- Library of Congress Sound Online
- Historic Census Information
- Gods & Goddesses
Politics and Government
- The Political Graveyard
- POTUS: Presidents of the United States
- Open Secrets Lobbying Database
- Federal Election Committee Campaign Donations
US Data
- U. S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder
- CIA World Fact Book
- US FedStats
- US Place Names
- US Crime Statistics
- Kids Count
World Data
- Flags of the World
- Foreign and US Stamps
- National Priorities
- World Population
- NationMaster
- Country Indicators for Foreign Policy
- World Database of Happiness
Current Events
- US Fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan
- US/UK Casualties in the Iraq War
- RAND / MIPT Terrorism Incidents
Miscellaneous
Math / Science
Plants and Animals
- Hortiplex Plant Database
- Plants
- Arkive Images of Life on Earth (search box at the top of the screen)
- Animal Diversity Web
- FishBase
- Dinosaur Data Files
- The Encyclopedia of Life
- The Internet Bird Collection
Physical Environment
- Weather
- Project NOPP Drifters
- World Lakes
- NOAA
- Mineralogy Database
- USGS Water Data
- International Disasters
Chemistry
Food and Health
Mathematicians and Scientists
Business / Economics
- US Patents Database
- US Trademarks Database
- Kelly Blue Book
- Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey
- US Jobs
- Penn World Table - Purchasing Power and Income
- Free Lunch Economic Data
Other
- California Education DataQuest (Comparing schools on tests, dropout rates, fitness, etc.)
- UFO Sightings Database
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