Week 3 SIRS Discoverer

I used the keyword search for dolphin.  The first thing I found that I think is fantastic is the reading levels / source & summary. What a great way to help you use your time efficiently. Having activities, graphics, PDF, and etc. on the summary is wonderful and I would think very effective. This way user can see what articles are good for them by reading level at first glance and they don’t have to click on each article to get an idea. Other things that are great are the tabs along the top so if the users know they need magazine articles they can narrow their search.

With the country facts it’s great that they have the teacher’s resources right at the top and have different levels for all age groups to use. This would be great students to use to get information over countries. I like how they have a map and picture of the flag but I wish they would have more pictures, video, or sound to help other types of learners have a better understanding of the countries.

Wow, the maps have so much potential! Once you click on a map, like I did South Dakota, I like the link to “show all articles related to this picture.” This would be great if a user was researching a state. The only thing I can think of that would help is if the US was split up in regions, for example Midwest and east. The historical maps are very interesting; I could stay and look at them all day! Great for visual learners and could be used for many classes and assignments. The outline would be great for geography class or at home practice tests for states, capitals, and countries.

Science Fair is big in our community so the feature of Science Fair Explorer can be very useful. I enjoyed how it was very visual the program is. Instead of giving a big long list of ideas it help the user choose something that interests them. In the section explore a topic it was great that they made the subject into areas, like rooms around the house, which students would understand or relate to more. Over another great tool to use when students come in thinking of ideas for science fair projects.

SIRS Issues Researcher

From the top ten issues I selected cell phones in school. First having the audio MP3 player was great way to have the page read out loud for users and they can follow along. The video would not work but that would have been a great feature also. The summary was general, to the point, and gave both sides of the issue. This is great to allow users gain their own opinion.  The links on the pros and cons with the top three but having an opinion for more viewpoints if users wanting to go deeper in depth is not as overwhelming as a huge list of articles. Perspective quotes by educated sources on the topic are so much nicer than the ones you could find using other search engines. Having questions at the end are great ways to have users gaining their opinion on the issues.  Last thing that I think will help users and should be required more by students are citations. Having it located at the bottom of the web page is very helpful.

With the curriculum Path finders I enjoyed as soon as you picked the course subject they give you research ideas. My choice was current events in social studies. On the page you had some great choices between newspapers, magazines, government documents, graphics/media, and what I thought was the most helpful on this topic webselect site. I think having links to great websites with current events is one of the most up to date ways to get the information. I found the web site CNN Student News which I never heard of but I think would be a great tool that could be used in the class room for current events. I really enjoyed finding that web site.