Social studies educators live and teach in the middle of an information revolution as the Internet becomes an integral part of education. The rate of Internet use in the classroom has risen dramatically. From 1994 through 1998, the percentage of public schools with Internet connections jumped from 35 percent to 89 percent. This Digest summarizes ways that classroom teachers can combine the Internet with other instructional resources and methods. Web sites and ERIC resources are cited that offer ways to explore the Internet and to incorporate it into the social studies curriculum. Web site topics of interest are Civil War photographs, the women's suffrage movement, early ranching in Nevada, Gross National Product per capita data, key economic ratios, and long-term trends for nations. Information and web site examples are given for creating a "portal" site for a school's social studies department. A portal is a World Wide Web site designed to serve as a main "point of entry" to the Web. It features an extensive catalog of Web sites and other Internet resources, a search engine, or both. The Digest describes virtual field trips as another way of using the resources available on the World Wide Web. Web sites for the White House, exhibitions of African and pre-Columbian Native American art from the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Egyptian pyramids offer opportunities for creating virtual field trips. Web site addresses for samples of published student work and social studies lesson plans also are included. (LB)