I looked at a website called KidsClick! Web Search at http://www.kidsclick.org/
Advantages: This site is a kids-friendly search site where elementary school kids can look up all sorts of things from religion and mythology to health and family. Because it is supposed to be just for kids, parents and teachers can rest assured that the material the kids find in doing their searches will be appropriate and easy to understand. There are also picture and sound search tools for projects! It is owned by the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose University, so it has a reputable owner that parents and teachers can trust will keep the website up-to-date and safe for children. There are a variety of ways to search as well, you can search by overall subject, a narrower subject, or even by letter. I looked under science and math and found sub-categories such as animals, the environment, math, space, etc. In each subcategory there were even narrower categories such as "earth day" under the environment category. This helps kids scaffold their search so they do not feel overwhelmed with all the material. Lastly, under each specific topic (such as "earth day") the search site has listed the amount of illustrations each site has (no, some, many) and the reading level (such as ages 3-6)
Disadvantages: This site does not only have .edu, .gov, .org sites, therefore it might be hard to determine which sites are the most reliable for the children to use. You don't want kids getting information from someone's blog that could be incorrect. You also cannot search by reading level, which might be easier for kids so they do not have to look through material that is too hard or too easy until they find a good website.
Overall, I think this website can be very useful for teachers and students. Teachers can use it to get material for lessons and students can use it for research and other projects.
I looked at the Digital Librarian site, which I found useful because it offers an eclectic pool of resources on a wide range of subjects. It may be a little disorganized because you cannot search for a very specific subject. However, its lay-out is conducive for students to browse, especially as a starting point for research or presentations, etc. This tool could jump-start an interesting thread of resources. A second problem teachers may have with this tool is that not all the site are .edu or .org or .gov, making it hard to validate the material with certainty. However, according to the site, a librarian monitors the webpages that Digital Librarian hosts. The sheer number of sites Digital Librarian provides qualifies it as an effective research tool.
I explored the Google Custom Search Engine tool. Google continues to amaze me with its resources! The Custom Search Engine has several advantages, one being that by using it, a teacher would not have to worry about their kids running into inappropriate material on the internet. Not only does the search engine limit this kind of content, but it eliminates distractions, and makes the search less overwhelming; only 30 results might show up for a search, instead of 3,000. Students will spend less time on finding sources and information, and the teacher will spend less time worrying.
Disadvantages might be the time involved in creating the search engine. While it might be worth it in the end, the teacher would have to gather several websites ti include in the engine if they don't want it to be too small. Also, image searches might be limited, since not all sites that a teacher might include have searchable images. Lastly, there might be great sources that a teacher doesn't know about! It limits the students from discovering a useful source. But in the end, I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Its a lot like a webquest, only not guided as much.
I looked at google Notebook (http://www.google.com/educators/p_notebook.html) I really like the Google Notebook feature because it seems to combine two things I use all the time into one. I use HottNotes, a program on my PC that creates post-it note reminders, and delicious, but Notebook lets me write quick reminders that I can access on any computer AND add links to websites. I really don't like the new delicious format because it's harder to look at my labels, also you can't divide it into folders like Notebook. Google's interface is so much cleaner and more familiar to me so I'll probably use this a lot when planning my lessons because I can easily have links and notes together. You can also share your notebooks easily so that will be useful if I'm working with other teachers to plan a lesson. The only disadvantage...google is taking over
I looked at the website http://cybersleuth-kids.com/ which is a database of educational sites for students and teachers.
One of the advantages of the website is that it has a broad range of information and clip arts, ranging from medieval history to religions of Africa. The wide range of information is both an advantage and a disadvantage in that it means that something useful is probably available, but you have to wade through a great deal of information before finding it. An advantage of the website is that it is organized into genres, and then further into more specific areas. This helps you narrow your search while on the website, it also has a search bar which helps immensely.
A disadvantage of the website is that it is designed for kindergarten through twelfth grade students. This means that the information you access may not be appropriate for the age of the student you are working with. Another disadvantage of the site is that it has ads, which are distracting and may lead students to inappropriate material. Another disadvantage of the site is that is has information for teachers and students, such as worksheets and science experiment plans, as well as interactive educational sites. This may lead students to sites that are not helpful to them.
Overall, I think that this website can be very useful for older students and teachers who are knowledgeable in how to navigate search engines. Since the site has ads, information for varying age ranges, and information for both teachers and students, it may be too hard for elementary students to use.
This is a cool website for ragged time (mini-lesson time, indoor recess, etc). It is a simple adaptive vocabulary quiz. If you get an answer wrong, it gives you an easier multiple choice vocabulary question. If you get the answer right, it gets harder. This is great test prep for standardized as the SATs and GREs have become adaptive tests, and others are likely to follow.
In addition to all that, every right answer raises money to feed hungry people... hence the website name: free rice, "For each answer you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger." Perhaps too good to be true... but its a good easy game that will adapt to your students level. (It also will cycle back questions they got wrong to test their memory that they do not use the same incorrect choice again.)
Advantages - It is easy to use and images are 3 dimensional with many color choices so that diagrams and figures look very professional and neat. There are many functions and varieties of usage, so it is not just limited to making flowchart or concept map.
Disadvantage - It is not free so in order to take advantage of this fancy tool, the users have to pay some money.If the users have to pay, teachers may have hard time introducing the tool to students and let them use it for assignments.
I looked at the website called EyeWitness to History at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Advantages: This site provides a great deal of information on major historical events. It covers a large time frame, from the Ancient World through World War II. The content of the site is geared towards older elementary students as it has lots of text with high-level vocabulary. However, the site does provide several historical snapshots, pictures, and film clips.
Disadvantages: This site is probably too advanced for the majority of elementary school students, as the content is overwhelming for younger children. It also does not provide interactive questions that gear children towards the most important information or help the teacher assess knowledge of the content. In addition, the pictures and films can prove to be a distraction rather than a supplement. Lastly, as it is a .com site, it might not have the most reliable or updated information.
This site allows you to look up wildlife living in your area- plants, animals, endangered species, dangerous species, etc. It is easy to use and kids could pick an animal in their area to focus in on. You can listen to the bird calls and find out about what trees produce poisonous berries. Pictures and descriptions are included.
One disadvantage with this site is that you need to have an email address in order to access the information (though I am not exactly sure why- they haven't sent me anything). One way around this, though, is to have the students just use the teacher/school's email address.
I looked at brain boosters, discover education's website full of puzzles and teasers for students.
Advantages: This website is full of tons of brain teasers and games that students can work on. They're all challenging, and would not be just a simple time-waster. They are organized by categories that include categorization, lateral thinking, reasoning, logic, spatial awareness, numbers and math, and word and letter play. Each category contains these short brain teasers that really do make your kids think outside the box. To solve these puzzles, students have to be able to understand and apply difficult concepts.
Disadvantages: These teasers are probably too advanced for elementary aged children, but would be fun for older children to do. Even then, they might not be applicable to much of what is actually taught in the classroom - I could see them being used as opportunities for extra credit. They do still vary in difficulty, and it would take a long time to sort through all of the puzzles (and there are a lot of them) to find what you were looking for.
I looked at the site http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/iil.htm
Advantages: It has a wealth of links to primary sources. The links are split up by country or state. It's pretty easy to navigate the website. This is great material for older kids.
Disadvantage: There was a problem with the website when I pulled it up on my computer. It only filled up half of the window, which meant that I was constantly having to scroll left and right. This became a real problem when I was looking at the George C. Marshall website and I couldn't scroll all the way to the left. Even when it works, this is not a good site for younger kids.
I checked out http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/iil.htm web page.
Advantages: There is an abundance of resources available. The links are well organized and easy to get around, and provide information relevant to all age groups.
Disadvantages: Much like Greg, I had issues with opening the web page when I first attempted to pull it up. It affected my ability to read through the entire content.
I looked at PB Wiki. An advantage is that it seems very easy to use and monitor. You can find out who puts up each comment so that there is no inappropriate things put up. It is also easy to make folders so that all the information on the blog is organized. A disadvantage is that it is not really appropriate for younger students because an e-mail address is required to make comments and sign-in.
http://www.50states.com/ Advantages: I feel this website is extremely helpful in elementary schools when kids are having to identify each state and capital. It is easy to navigate because the facts are listed by state. Another creative feature is it lists each's state presidents and offers biographies on each. Disadvantages: Each state has links that elaborate on the subjects. For example, if you want to learn more nursing schools, it takes you to a different website. however, i find this a disadvantage because you can not always trust all websites and where they take you.
14 comments:
I looked at a website called KidsClick! Web Search at http://www.kidsclick.org/
Advantages: This site is a kids-friendly search site where elementary school kids can look up all sorts of things from religion and mythology to health and family. Because it is supposed to be just for kids, parents and teachers can rest assured that the material the kids find in doing their searches will be appropriate and easy to understand. There are also picture and sound search tools for projects! It is owned by the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose University, so it has a reputable owner that parents and teachers can trust will keep the website up-to-date and safe for children. There are a variety of ways to search as well, you can search by overall subject, a narrower subject, or even by letter. I looked under science and math and found sub-categories such as animals, the environment, math, space, etc. In each subcategory there were even narrower categories such as "earth day" under the environment category. This helps kids scaffold their search so they do not feel overwhelmed with all the material. Lastly, under each specific topic (such as "earth day") the search site has listed the amount of illustrations each site has (no, some, many) and the reading level (such as ages 3-6)
Disadvantages: This site does not only have .edu, .gov, .org sites, therefore it might be hard to determine which sites are the most reliable for the children to use. You don't want kids getting information from someone's blog that could be incorrect. You also cannot search by reading level, which might be easier for kids so they do not have to look through material that is too hard or too easy until they find a good website.
Overall, I think this website can be very useful for teachers and students. Teachers can use it to get material for lessons and students can use it for research and other projects.
I looked at the Digital Librarian site, which I found useful because it offers an eclectic pool of resources on a wide range of subjects. It may be a little disorganized because you cannot search for a very specific subject. However, its lay-out is conducive for students to browse, especially as a starting point for research or presentations, etc. This tool could jump-start an interesting thread of resources. A second problem teachers may have with this tool is that not all the site are .edu or .org or .gov, making it hard to validate the material with certainty. However, according to the site, a librarian monitors the webpages that Digital Librarian hosts. The sheer number of sites Digital Librarian provides qualifies it as an effective research tool.
I explored the Google Custom Search Engine tool.
Google continues to amaze me with its resources! The Custom Search Engine has several advantages, one being that by using it, a teacher would not have to worry about their kids running into inappropriate material on the internet. Not only does the search engine limit this kind of content, but it eliminates distractions, and makes the search less overwhelming; only 30 results might show up for a search, instead of 3,000. Students will spend less time on finding sources and information, and the teacher will spend less time worrying.
Disadvantages might be the time involved in creating the search engine. While it might be worth it in the end, the teacher would have to gather several websites ti include in the engine if they don't want it to be too small. Also, image searches might be limited, since not all sites that a teacher might include have searchable images. Lastly, there might be great sources that a teacher doesn't know about! It limits the students from discovering a useful source. But in the end, I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Its a lot like a webquest, only not guided as much.
I looked at google Notebook (http://www.google.com/educators/p_notebook.html) I really like the Google Notebook feature because it seems to combine two things I use all the time into one. I use HottNotes, a program on my PC that creates post-it note reminders, and delicious, but Notebook lets me write quick reminders that I can access on any computer AND add links to websites. I really don't like the new delicious format because it's harder to look at my labels, also you can't divide it into folders like Notebook. Google's interface is so much cleaner and more familiar to me so I'll probably use this a lot when planning my lessons because I can easily have links and notes together. You can also share your notebooks easily so that will be useful if I'm working with other teachers to plan a lesson. The only disadvantage...google is taking over
I looked at the website http://cybersleuth-kids.com/ which is a database of educational sites for students and teachers.
One of the advantages of the website is that it has a broad range of information and clip arts, ranging from medieval history to religions of Africa. The wide range of information is both an advantage and a disadvantage in that it means that something useful is probably available, but you have to wade through a great deal of information before finding it. An advantage of the website is that it is organized into genres, and then further into more specific areas. This helps you narrow your search while on the website, it also has a search bar which helps immensely.
A disadvantage of the website is that it is designed for kindergarten through twelfth grade students. This means that the information you access may not be appropriate for the age of the student you are working with. Another disadvantage of the site is that it has ads, which are distracting and may lead students to inappropriate material. Another disadvantage of the site is that is has information for teachers and students, such as worksheets and science experiment plans, as well as interactive educational sites. This may lead students to sites that are not helpful to them.
Overall, I think that this website can be very useful for older students and teachers who are knowledgeable in how to navigate search engines. Since the site has ads, information for varying age ranges, and information for both teachers and students, it may be too hard for elementary students to use.
I looked at
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
This is a cool website for ragged time (mini-lesson time, indoor recess, etc). It is a simple adaptive vocabulary quiz. If you get an answer wrong, it gives you an easier multiple choice vocabulary question. If you get the answer right, it gets harder. This is great test prep for standardized as the SATs and GREs have become adaptive tests, and others are likely to follow.
In addition to all that, every right answer raises money to feed hungry people... hence the website name: free rice, "For each answer you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger." Perhaps too good to be true... but its a good easy game that will adapt to your students level. (It also will cycle back questions they got wrong to test their memory that they do not use the same incorrect choice again.)
http://www.gliffy.com/
Advantages - It is easy to use and images are 3 dimensional with many color choices so that diagrams and figures look very professional and neat. There are many functions and varieties of usage, so it is not just limited to making flowchart or concept map.
Disadvantage - It is not free so in order to take advantage of this fancy tool, the users have to pay some money.If the users have to pay, teachers may have hard time introducing the tool to students and let them use it for assignments.
I looked at the website called EyeWitness to History at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Advantages: This site provides a great deal of information on major historical events. It covers a large time frame, from the Ancient World through World War II. The content of the site is geared towards older elementary students as it has lots of text with high-level vocabulary. However, the site does provide several historical snapshots, pictures, and film clips.
Disadvantages: This site is probably too advanced for the majority of elementary school students, as the content is overwhelming for younger children. It also does not provide interactive questions that gear children towards the most important information or help the teacher assess knowledge of the content. In addition, the pictures and films can prove to be a distraction rather than a supplement. Lastly, as it is a .com site, it might not have the most reliable or updated information.
I looked at http://www.enature.com/zipguides/
This site allows you to look up wildlife living in your area- plants, animals, endangered species, dangerous species, etc. It is easy to use and kids could pick an animal in their area to focus in on. You can listen to the bird calls and find out about what trees produce poisonous berries. Pictures and descriptions are included.
One disadvantage with this site is that you need to have an email address in order to access the information (though I am not exactly sure why- they haven't sent me anything). One way around this, though, is to have the students just use the teacher/school's email address.
I looked at brain boosters, discover education's website full of puzzles and teasers for students.
Advantages: This website is full of tons of brain teasers and games that students can work on. They're all challenging, and would not be just a simple time-waster. They are organized by categories that include categorization, lateral thinking, reasoning, logic, spatial awareness, numbers and math, and word and letter play. Each category contains these short brain teasers that really do make your kids think outside the box. To solve these puzzles, students have to be able to understand and apply difficult concepts.
Disadvantages: These teasers are probably too advanced for elementary aged children, but would be fun for older children to do. Even then, they might not be applicable to much of what is actually taught in the classroom - I could see them being used as opportunities for extra credit. They do still vary in difficulty, and it would take a long time to sort through all of the puzzles (and there are a lot of them) to find what you were looking for.
I looked at the site http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/iil.htm
Advantages: It has a wealth of links to primary sources. The links are split up by country or state. It's pretty easy to navigate the website. This is great material for older kids.
Disadvantage: There was a problem with the website when I pulled it up on my computer. It only filled up half of the window, which meant that I was constantly having to scroll left and right. This became a real problem when I was looking at the George C. Marshall website and I couldn't scroll all the way to the left. Even when it works, this is not a good site for younger kids.
I checked out http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/iil.htm web page.
Advantages: There is an abundance of resources available. The links are well organized and easy to get around, and provide information relevant to all age groups.
Disadvantages: Much like Greg, I had issues with opening the web page when I first attempted to pull it up. It affected my ability to read through the entire content.
I looked at PB Wiki. An advantage is that it seems very easy to use and monitor. You can find out who puts up each comment so that there is no inappropriate things put up. It is also easy to make folders so that all the information on the blog is organized. A disadvantage is that it is not really appropriate for younger students because an e-mail address is required to make comments and sign-in.
http://www.50states.com/
Advantages: I feel this website is extremely helpful in elementary schools when kids are having to identify each state and capital. It is easy to navigate because the facts are listed by state. Another creative feature is it lists each's state presidents and offers biographies on each.
Disadvantages: Each state has links that elaborate on the subjects. For example, if you want to learn more nursing schools, it takes you to a different website. however, i find this a disadvantage because you can not always trust all websites and where they take you.
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