Tuesday. June 14, 2005

Or, Why I Hate Ask Jeeves

Common Pitfalls of Searching Students
justtypeinanything.com
Can I just type in any old thing I need information on? (natural language)
mizspeling wordss
"History" (broad topics)
Point, Click, Print
Point, Click, Copy, Paste

Example: A Report on Venus
Know-Do-Understand

Alternatives to Ask Jeeves and Google
Finding Hotlists for Kids
Embracing Online Services (Subscription Databases)
Using Directories and Portals Made for Kids
Don't Miss these Resources!
DIY: 5 Ways to Share Pre-Selected Sites

Teaching Kids to Search
Web Searching Strategies: An Introductory Curriculum
for Students and Teachers by Sam Miller
Info TKO Brochure
Boolean Searching
Website Evaluation
Citation

Embracing Online Services Part Two
World Book Online presentation by Lisa Ruch

Tuesday's Leftovers--Yum!

Additional Resources for Learning and Teaching About Internet Research

Lab Time: Complete your Choice
Develop a "Baby-Step" Lesson Plan
Create a Hotlist of Sites for Future Use
:"Fill" an eLibrary Bookcart
Compose a Top Ten List of Things To Know About Kids and Internet Searching

Last 45 minutes: Share Lab Time Project with Class
Two minutes each and it's all over!

BigChalk: Illinois (eLibrary)  
and eLibrary Teacher Edition Login 
and eLibrary Elementary Teacher Edition Login
and Bookcart How-to #1
and Bookcart How to #2
and Sample BookCarts by ProQuest

World Book Online
and World Book Online Information Sheets

Using Directories and Portals Made for Kids
Yahooligans! The Web Guide for Kids

Ask Earl

Reference Tools

Animals (Ranger Rick)

KidsClick! Web Search

Sites selested by librarians

Categories in "Kid Langauge"

Four ways to Search on Main Page

Annotations include level of illustration and grade level

IPL Kidspace or IPL Teenspace

Sites chose by librarians

POTUS (Presidents of the United States)

Health and Sexuality Category (Teenspace)

ALAGreat Sites for Kids

Sites chosen by librarians

Search by age/grade level of keyword

Selection criteria for sites clearly defined

FirstGov for Kids

Great source for government department sites

Arranged by type of site: government, organization, education, commercial

Treasure hunt challenging for students

Fact Monster (Information Please)

Information Please database provides main content

Homework Center

Includes a "cite link" at bottom of content pages

AOL@SCHOOL - Welcome

Separate portals for each grade range

Study Kit

Access to limited number of BrainPop videos

Sample Lesson - Teaching Boolean Searching
Teaching the Boolean Operators -- Lesson
Teaching the Boolean Operators - PowerPoint Slides
Boolean Search Hair & Eye Examples Document
Boolean Operators Search Examples Document

Sites for Sample Lesson - Compare and Select the Best Site
Octopus- Enchanted Learning Software
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
ADW Octopus vulgaris Information

Don't Miss These Resources!
The Library of Congress

American Memory (choose more browse options) 
Global Gateway/Portals to the World

Teachers' Learning Page

Kids' Page

Snag: Saving links to pages
Bonus: download mp3s to mp3 players

PBS

Companion sites to miniseries

TeacherSource lesson plans

State standards matching

National Geographic Online

King Cobra! (search box top right)

Highlights from current issues

Archives for magazine

Smithsonian Institution

Exhibits rotate/change

Links to museums

A-Z website index points to museums, libraries, etc.

About.com

Subject guides by "experts"

Hit or miss: some guides good, some not

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Anyone can edit it"--but checked

Great results: dystopia, propaganda, national anthems