StudySC website is a good place to start!

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It's the start of a new school year, so today I want to highlight a relatively new, and continuously evolving, resource about history, culture, and the environment in South Carolina:

One aspect of information delivery that gets overlooked too often are librarian vetted websites such as StudySC. StudySC, created by the South Carolina State Library, makes available a student-friendly environment arranged by grade level and by subject area where students can find the information they need fast. StudySC provides online content to support South Carolina-specific curriculum standards. And it just keeps getting better!

K-12 students can use StudySC to:

  • Discover websites from non-profits, educational sources, and government agencies on South Carolina topics 
  • Read articles from DISCUS databases and South Carolina periodicals
  • View pictures, video, and artwork that represents South Carolina themes
  • Explore primary documents from South Carolina history such as maps, photographs, and oral history

Educators can use StudySC to:

  • Discover content from trusted websites on South Carolina themes for use in your classroom
  • Explore multimedia content such as videos, audio, photographs, and maps to make your lesson plans memorable

Each grade level in StudySC now features a "History Before 1865" section that includes information for K-12 students on the history of South Carolina, from the first inhabitants through the Civil War. For example, explore the topic First South Carolinians - "Meet the Native Americans who first called South Carolina home." To review the section from an elementary school level, click here.

Other topics include Civil Rights, the antebellum economic system, and the age of discovery -- among others.

Just remember that one doesn't have to be a teacher or a K-12 student to learn more about the history of this state and its people. Libraries, and Beaufort County Library in particular, are all about offering residents and visitors opportunities for lifelong learning. A good way to participate in lifelong learning, is to to check out StudySC, regardless of your chronological age!

About the Author

Grace Cordial has been responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Beaufort District Collection at the Beaufort County Library since 1999.  The Beaufort District Collection exists to acquire, preserve, maintain and make accessible a research collection of permanent value which records the history, culture, and environment of our part of the South Carolina lowcountry.  Besides the research room, Cordial oversees the “Virtual BDC:” the BDC web pages, the Online Obituary Index, the Phosphate, Farms, and Family digital collection, and the Connections blog.  
 
Among her duties is to coordinate or present programs about local history and our coastal environment, including the occasional instructional session about how to perform historical and/or genealogical research.