The Federal Trade Commission serves a dual purpose. On one hand, it protects consumers from unethical business practices, while, on the other, it completes legal proceedings involving business mergers and other such competitive actions.

The Federal Trade Commission's offerings are decidedly not designed with K-12 education in mind. Most of the materials are fairly technical, and may require some background understanding of large-scale business. However, teachers who are willing to parse the materials may be able to use selections as the basis for in-classroom activities, particularly in a civics classroom and/or the higher grade levels.

Different sections will serve different interests. For example, if you're interested in the history of the FTC itself, the site includes eight oral history interviews with past commissioners. All are provided as transcribed text. If you are more interested in legal history, try the court case details for all cases between 1996 and the present. Other resources include commissioner speeches given between 1995 and the present and FTC annual reports from 1916 through 2008. The latter, while lengthy, could provide an excellent opportunity to compare government regulation of big business in different periods of 20th and 21st century history.

Los Alamos National Laboratory exists as a major development center for engineering and scientific national security features. To date, their major responsibility is developing and maintaining systems related to national nuclear determent.

Sadly for history teachers, although not particularly unexpectedly, the laboratory's offerings appropriate to K-12 education are nearly all focused on the sciences. That said, a couple of resources may still be of use to history educators, and teachers should feel welcome to pass on the site information to their science co-workers, particularly those within New Mexico, where the laboratory is located.

What history teachers should take a look at is a history of Los Alamos National Laboratory and national security. Sections include the "Road to Los Alamos," "People of Wartime Los Alamos," "Building the Atomic Bomb," "Postwar to H-Bomb," and "H-Bomb to Stewardship." Each section offers related materials, often primary sources, such as Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt, under "Related Reading." Also included are several image galleries, including one with pictures of the Trinity Test. On the history home page, teachers should also be aware that the "Some Staff" list to the right includes J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, and Stan Ulam, a mathematician and another major figure in the project.

Classes located near Los Alamos, NM, may also be interested in the Bradbury Science Museum, which presents the laboratory's history and current research.

The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the Department of Transportation. The administration's overall goal, according to their website, is to "improve mobility on our nation's highways." Priorities include reduction of traffic congestion, environmental awareness, and roadway safety.

The primary feature of FHWA web resources available to educators is a wide variety of statistical data. Using the information offered will require preparation, as lessons or activities will need to be built around the offered information. Possibilities include asking your students to look at older and recent statistics and make suggestions for the differences between the two data sets. How has U.S. daily life and technology changed in ways which support altered transportation trends?

Two sources which would be optimal for the above suggested activity include Traffic Volume Trends, which date from 1970 through 2009, and the National Household Travel Survey. The latter includes vehicle occupancy, public transportation availability, household travel, mode of transportation, characteristics of drivers with licenses, and more. The years covered are 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995, and 2001.

Other options exist to find articles and data which fit your classroom's needs. These include the National Transportation Library, the FHWA's Publications and Products page, and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The ATF, in its own words, is a law enforcement body created specifically to protect from "violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products."

The website is almost entirely technical data on substance and equipment regulations. The only item which may be of use to educators or to students conducting related reports is the Reading Room, which offers access to select records frequently requested by the general public. Of note are the Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Reports (1998-2007), which catalog the place of origin and numbers of exported firearms, and the 2006-2008 firearms trace data. The latter provides statistics on the number of firearms recovered in any given state, the types of weapons recovered, and the state of origin of these weapons, which may be of use for studying travel between states, area crime, and/or firearm law. The export reports, as opposed to the trace data, require the user to crunch the numbers to develop useful statistics.

The site does include a children's page. However, the majority of this page's content links to sections originally written for an adult audience.

The U.S. judicial system exists to uphold the laws initiated by the nation's legislature.

The Federal Judiciary's site, U.S. Courts, is, in large part, intended to provide individuals with forms and information relevant to legal proceedings with which they may be involved. However, noteworthy resources do exist, including an educational resources page.

This resource page offers brief overviews of major court cases and several court simulations. The simulations are designed in a number of formats including dramatic scripts and debates; and they are intended to present Constitutional amendments as relevant to teenage lives.

A number of other features may also prove handy to you. These included a comparison of federal and state courts (cases, judges, and structure) in the form of two comparable lists of bullet points; commonly used judicial vocabulary; and faqs addressing federal courts, jurors, and the Judicial Conference, among other topics.

Last, but not least, you may be searching for a way to tie current events into your history classroom, particularly in a civics class. If that is the case, you might consider looking into the courts' bankruptcy statistics, which could be used in conjunction with a lesson on the Great Depression. Note that the statistics all correspond to the past 20 years maximum.

The United States Census Bureau's mission is to collect and provide data on the economy and people of the United States.

The bureau's website is definitely worth an educator's time. Several sections are designed specifically for students of different ages, and the overall navigation is relatively simple and effective.

To start, perhaps you need current statistics to compare to historical data? In that case, the best recommendation would be QuickFacts, which offers data on the population of the states, individual counties, and all towns and cities with more than 25,000 inhabitants. State Facts offers similar data for states, presented in a more colorful, engaging, child-friendly manner. More detailed data can be found by choosing your area of interest from the navigation bar on the left of the American FactFinder page.

The bureau also offers a teacher and children's page. Highlights include lesson plans; warm-up activities; facts pre-selected for holidays and observances; and maps depicting city growth and distribution between 1790 and 2000.

A page for younger children provides counting, coloring, word, trivia, and memory games. Be aware that the site has a rather peppy little song clip, which may delight students or annoy them, depending on their ages and personalities.

Finally, if you're having a difficult time convincing individual teenage students that formal education is worthwhile, money is always a fantastic incentive. Consider showing them the financial payoffs of advanced education. The data also covers the earning differences among ethnicities in the U.S.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, the Department of Veteran Affairs exists "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan."

Primarily intended for veterans, the Department of Veteran Affairs does, nonetheless, provide a number of fascinating statistical offerings.

The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics presents demographic data on veteran ethnicity, branch of service, officer or enlisted status, and more within the nation and individual states; veteran data from the 2000 census; Veteran Affairs expenditure data and medical program information; studies on topics such as veteran employability; and special reports covering women, Alaskan, and Native American veterans, among other topics.

Perhaps most immediately relevant to classroom research is a PDF displaying war statistics, from the American Revolution through Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Data includes the total number of servicemembers, battle fatalities, non-mortal wounds, non-battle fatalities, and living veterans per war and in combination. The page also offers a list of the date of death; age; and name of the last remaining veteran, widow, and dependent (if known) of the American Revolution, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, and Spanish-American War.

The Department of Veteran's Affairs also makes several children's sites available. VA Kids, K-5th provides department information—the motto, history, seal, Veterans Health Administration, technology, research, and Veteran Benefits Administration; veteran facts; the history and display of the U.S. flag; and online games. Games require Flash 6. VA Kids, 6th-12th Grades offers similar materials, designed for a more mature student.

The Teacher's Page (under "Kids' Page") offers a Veterans Day teaching guide, stories of U.S. customs and symbols, and three other suggested resources.

Finally, the site contains a gallery of past Veterans Day posters, useful for examining iconography and changing print design trends and technology.