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Resources
Museums, open courses, datasets and teaching materials worth your time. Each link was opened and checked on the date shown. We list them for their usefulness; none are paid placements.
Resource list
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APA: Psychology Topics (opens an external site)
An index of plain-language articles on subjects from sleep and stress to relationships, written for the public by the American Psychological Association. Useful for orientation; some linked journal content sits behind fees.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Art Institute of Chicago: Open Access (opens an external site)
Explains how the museum shares images, data and website code for public use. Handy for anyone building projects around artworks.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Association for Psychological Science (opens an external site)
The home of a research-focused psychology society, with news summaries of new studies and links to its journals. Good for seeing how findings are reported, though member areas and some journal articles require an account or payment.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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British Museum Collection (opens an external site)
Landing page for the museum's online collection and themed ways into objects from across the ancient and modern world. Browsing is open; reuse of images follows the museum's own terms.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (opens an external site)
The US public health agency's website, with plain-language pages on diseases, prevention and data. Reflects US public health perspectives; educational rather than personal medical advice.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Cleveland Museum of Art: Open Access (opens an external site)
Describes the museum's CC0 release of public-domain artwork images and collection data, free without permission.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Coursera (opens an external site)
A platform for university and industry courses. Some courses and course previews are free, but full access to many courses and certificates requires payment or financial aid.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Digital Inquiry Group (formerly Stanford History Education Group) (opens an external site)
A nonprofit offering evidence-based history lessons and digital-literacy materials. Downloads require creating an account or signing in with an existing SHEG account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Digital Public Library of America (opens an external site)
A free search across millions of images, texts, videos and sounds held by libraries, archives and museums in the United States, plus exhibitions and primary source sets.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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edX (opens an external site)
A catalogue of university courses and programmes. Free and paid options vary by course, with certificates and degrees costing money, so check each course page for current terms.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Encyclopaedia Britannica (opens an external site)
A long-established general encyclopedia with edited articles on history, cultures and ideas. Many entries can be read without paying, but some content is reserved for subscribers.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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ESA Education (opens an external site)
The European Space Agency's education site, with classroom resources, a kids' section and opportunities for students and early-career professionals. Some programmes have separate application steps.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Europeana (opens an external site)
A portal to digitised artworks, books, photographs, film and music from heritage institutions across Europe. Each item carries its own rights statement, so check before reusing.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Exploratorium (opens an external site)
A San Francisco science museum whose website shares exhibits, online collections and hands-on ideas about perception, physics and human behaviour.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Facing History and Ourselves (opens an external site)
Lesson plans and teaching strategies on history, ethics and civic participation. Some resources may ask for a free account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Gapminder (opens an external site)
An independent educational nonprofit with free tools and teaching materials for exploring global trends and correcting common misconceptions with data.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Google Arts & Culture (opens an external site)
Artworks, artefacts and stories from thousands of museums and archives, shown through online exhibits. Browsing needs no sign-in; favourites and profiles do.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Greater Good Magazine (UC Berkeley) (opens an external site)
Articles and practical exercises on empathy, gratitude, connection and well-being, drawn from social-science research at UC Berkeley. Read it with the usual caution that popular summaries compress mixed evidence.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Harvard Professional and Lifelong Learning: Free Courses (opens an external site)
A catalogue of free Harvard-affiliated online courses. Listings carry an asterisk, so read each course page to see what is free and what costs extra, such as certificates.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (The Met) (opens an external site)
Essays and chronologies connecting artworks to places and periods across the world, written by museum specialists. A useful way to see how cultures made, traded and borrowed ideas.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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HHMI BioInteractive (opens an external site)
Free biology-teaching resources and professional learning for educators. Some featured items need a free account to view.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Internet Archive (opens an external site)
A nonprofit digital library of books, recordings, films, software and the Wayback Machine's archived web pages. Much can be read without an account, while borrowing lent books requires a free account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (opens an external site)
A free scholarly encyclopedia written by professional philosophers, often a gentler first stop than longer specialist entries. Covers ideas about mind, self, society and technology.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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ITU DataHub (opens an external site)
The International Telecommunication Union's tool for finding and comparing information and communication technology statistics for nearly 200 economies. Useful for questions about internet access.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Khan Academy (opens an external site)
A nonprofit offering free lessons and practice across school subjects, including history, science and economics. An account lets you save progress.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Library of Congress: Free to Use and Reuse (opens an external site)
Curated sets of historical images, posters, maps and films that the Library has identified as rights-free for reuse. A good source of visual primary material from American history.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Library of Congress: Teachers (opens an external site)
Classroom materials, primary source collections and professional development from the Library of Congress. Pricing is not stated on the landing page, so confirm per resource.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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LibriVox (opens an external site)
Volunteer-read audiobooks of public-domain texts, free to listen to and download. Quality varies because readers are volunteers.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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MIT OpenCourseWare (opens an external site)
Free lecture notes, assignments and videos from MIT courses, with no registration required. It offers materials rather than credit, a certificate or instructor support.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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NASA Learning Resources (opens an external site)
NASA's hub of STEM materials for students, educators and families.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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NASA Science (opens an external site)
News, mission pages and explainers on planets, stars, Earth and the Sun from NASA's science directorate. Free to read, with plenty of images and data links.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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National Archives: Educator Resources (opens an external site)
Teaching tools, primary sources and programmes for educators and students from the US National Archives. Distance-learning programmes are described as free.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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National Gallery of Art: Open Access Images (opens an external site)
More than 60,000 artwork images available for download for any use, commercial or not, at no charge.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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National Geographic Education (opens an external site)
Maps, videos, interactives and live events for classrooms. Some live event series ask you to register, and not all features are confirmed free.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Natural History Museum (London): Human Evolution (opens an external site)
An introduction to hominin species, Neanderthals and the emergence of our own species, with links to further articles. The online pages are free even though the museum's gallery visit may be ticketed.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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NIH: Health Information (opens an external site)
A hub linking to the US National Institutes of Health's public pages on health topics and research news. Educational, not medical advice.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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NIMH: Mental Health Information (opens an external site)
The US National Institute of Mental Health's public pages on conditions, statistics and research, written in accessible language. Educational material only, not a substitute for professional care.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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NOAA Education (opens an external site)
Resources about oceans, weather and climate from the US science agency, including material for classrooms and the public.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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OECD Data (opens an external site)
A gateway to statistics, indicators and dashboards on economy, education, health and the environment. Access terms for individual datasets may vary, so check each source.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Open Yale Courses (opens an external site)
Recorded introductory lectures from Yale faculty in the humanities, sciences and social sciences, with no registration. No credit or certificate is offered.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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OpenLearn (The Open University) (opens an external site)
Free articles, videos and short courses from the UK's Open University. Enrolling on courses and tracking progress needs a free account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Openverse (opens an external site)
A search tool for openly licensed and public-domain images and audio, with one-click attribution. Open-source and run as part of the WordPress project.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Our World in Data (opens an external site)
Charts and articles on health, population, education, technology and more, built from published datasets. Content is openly licensed (CC BY unless noted) and each chart links back to its sources.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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PBS LearningMedia (opens an external site)
Videos, interactives and lesson plans for classrooms across subjects. The site is free; registering unlocks tools such as saving and sharing.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Pew Research Center (opens an external site)
A nonpartisan research organisation publishing survey-based reports on social trends, technology and public attitudes. Reports are free to read; raw datasets generally ask for a free account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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PhET Interactive Simulations (opens an external site)
Free interactive simulations from the University of Colorado Boulder for physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and maths. Good for building intuition by experimenting.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Project Gutenberg (opens an external site)
Tens of thousands of public-domain ebooks that can be read or downloaded with no fees and no registration.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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PubMed (opens an external site)
A search engine for biomedical research with tens of millions of citations. Abstracts are free to read, and many papers link to free full text in PubMed Central, though others sit behind publisher paywalls.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Smithsonian Collections (opens an external site)
The entry point to the Smithsonian's digitised holdings, with image search and an Open Access programme for reusable material. Coverage ranges from art and natural history to air and space.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Smithsonian Human Origins Program (opens an external site)
Fossil, tool and climate evidence for human evolution, organised by species, sites and timelines. A solid starting point for the scientific picture, which is revised as new finds appear.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Smithsonian Learning Lab (opens an external site)
A platform for discovering Smithsonian objects and building collections and assignments around them. Exploring is free; saving and assigning use a free account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (opens an external site)
The museum's website, covering research, online exhibits and collections on fossils, human origins, minerals and living things. Online material is free to browse.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (opens an external site)
A peer-reviewed reference whose entries cover mind, consciousness, ethics, knowledge and meaning in careful scholarly detail. Entries are free to read; the site funds itself through donations.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Stanford Online: Free Courses (opens an external site)
A list of courses from Stanford instructors offered at no cost. The page needs JavaScript, and registration steps differ by course.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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TED-Ed (opens an external site)
Short animated lessons on science, history, literature and more. Lessons can be watched without signing in, while customising lessons needs an account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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The Met Collection Online (opens an external site)
A searchable database of more than half a million works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with filters for items that are in the public domain.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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The Met Open Access (opens an external site)
Explains the museum's Open Access programme, which releases images of public-domain works and basic data under Creative Commons Zero. Includes a JSON API and bulk CSV data, none requiring an account.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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UN World Population Prospects (opens an external site)
Official United Nations population estimates and projections, with the 2024 edition covering 237 countries or areas and projections to 2100. Includes an online data portal; check the site's terms for reuse.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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UNESCO Institute for Statistics (opens an external site)
Internationally comparable statistics on education, science, culture and communication, accessible through its data browser.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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UNESCO World Heritage List (opens an external site)
A searchable catalogue of more than a thousand inscribed cultural and natural sites, each with a description and reasons for its recognition. Helpful for finding places that anchor human history on every continent.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Wellcome Collection (opens an external site)
More than a million items on health, medicine and the human body, including manuscripts, images and archives. A library account is only needed for visiting or requesting physical material.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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WHO Global Health Observatory (opens an external site)
The World Health Organization's gateway to health statistics for its member states. Check its terms of use before republishing figures.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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Wikimedia Commons (opens an external site)
A repository of tens of millions of freely usable images, audio and video that anyone can contribute to. Licences vary per file, so check attribution requirements.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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World Bank Open Data (opens an external site)
Free development indicators for countries worldwide, including population, education, health and economy. Downloadable for your own analysis.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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World History Encyclopedia (opens an external site)
A nonprofit publisher of articles, timelines and maps spanning many regions and eras. Reading is free; an optional account and membership add extras.
Link checked October 21, 2026
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