Furthering Internet Understanding and Educational Uses for Teachers

Overview:

During this workshop, we will be discussing Internet uses in the classroom as well as how to find and evaluate resources. Our goal is to find/identify/create at least one lesson that integrates the Internet into your classroom.

Topics to be covered:

• advanced searches
• evaluating educational web sites
• exploring online lessons and resources
• integration into the curriculum

Advanced Searches:

We will look at this topic in two ways. First, here are some general strategies:

• Realize that each search engine searches its own database, so different search engines might return different results depending upon each database. A "meta" search engine searches the databases of other engines so it might give you more information. However, it will probably use the lowest common denominator of search strategies.
  
• Use Boolean operators: AND, OR or NOT ex: bicycle AND horn, bicycle OR horn, cats AND dogs NOT birds
  
• Use power or advanced search options.
  
• Skim the hits you receive. You don't have to look at every single one.
  
• Use "wildcard" searches. A star symbol (*) at the end of a word will allow you to search simultaneously for several words with the same root. ex: test* = testing, tests, tester, etc.

Second, here are some tutorials with specific strategies or listings of different search engines and their particular characteristics. I can give you a printed copy of these resources, but if we use it online, you will be able to link to all of the resources.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Searching Strategies
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/yp/iypsrch.html

Nueva Library Help
http://NuevaSchool.org/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html

UC Berkeley Library Recommended Search Strategies
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html#Recommend

Seven Steps Toward Better Searching
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/WebQuest/searching/sevensteps.html

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Evaluating Educational Web sites

What criteria should we use to evaluate web resources? Here are some questions to ask:

• Are there articles or factual information to share?
• Is there information that you can't find in other places?
• Who wrote it?
• Is there educational content?
• What is the reading level?
• Is the site age appropriate (lots of pictures for young students)?
• What type of site it is? Who sponsors it? Is it commercial or educational?
• Does it meet your personal objectives and goals? (interactive v. gathering information)
• Is the site current?
• What is the editorial quality? Are words misspelled? Is it grammatically correct?
• Is there contact information on the site?
• Watch out for ads and banners or sites with lots of commercial content!
• Does it load quickly?
• Is it easy to navigate?

Examples of web site evaluation tools can be found at Ed's Oasis (http://www.edsoasis.org/guide3.html) and Ten C's for Evaluating Internet Sources (http://www.uwec.edu/Admin/Library/Guides/tencs.html).

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Exploring Online Lessons and Resources

Math/Science
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
http://www.enc.org

SCORE Math
http://score.kings.k12.ca.us

SCORE Science
http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us

ASK Eric lesson plans
http://www.ericse.org

Math Forum
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/teachers/elem/

Language Arts
SCORE Language Arts
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/SCORE/cla.html

Early Reading Technology Project
http://www.ertp.santacruz.k12.ca.us

General Resources
California Department of Education
http://goldmine.cde.ca.gov

SCORE homepage
http://www.score.k12.ca.us

CTAP homepage
http://ctap.k12.ca.us

Tech Challenge Grant homepage
http://www.techchallenge.org

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Integration into the Curriculum:

Now that we have identified and evaluated various resources, we are going to put some of our new skills to the test! We are all going to find or create one lesson that integrates something from the Internet with your curriculum. Some applications of the Internet are: using information for another purpose (finding weather data to compare and chart), using pictures or sounds as resources (to illustrate a concept or lesson) or to share work (putting student work on the web). Use your creativity!

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