Internet Tour

EDUC275:

Integrating Technology to Support Teaching and Learning

Fall 2001

Introduction:  The following web tour is designed to familiarize you with the many types of educational resources available on the Internet including email, research, virtual fieldtrips, quests, collaborative projects and publishing student work on the Internet.  Many of these categories overlap so don’t think of them as exclusive.  As you peruse these sites, think about how you could use them in your classroom to teach your grade level and subject area.  Use the questions to guide your exploration. 

I.  EMAIL

A. Ask An Expert

1.  Use one of the sites below to locate an expert on a topic you will teach and answer the following questions.

Pitsco: Ask An Expert http://www.askanexpert.com/

Electronic Emissary Project http://emissary.ots.utexas.edu/emissary/index.html

NJNIE Links http://njnie.dl.stevens-tech.edu/askanexpert.html

Ask An Expert Source  http://www.cln.org/int_expert.html

Ask A+ Locator  http://www.vrd.org/locator/index.html

Homework Help  http://www.startribune.com/stonline/html/special/homework/

Scientific American: Ask the Experts  http://www.scientificamerican.com/askexpert/index.html

The Mad Scientist Network  http://www.madsci.org/

2.  Which site did you visit?

3.  Briefly describe the expert you found.

Readings for More Information:

A Guide for Using Electronic Experts in the Classroom www.connectedteacher.com/newsletter/sum99.asp

B.  E-Pals  -

4. Use one of the sites below to locate an email project appropriate to the grade level/subject area you will teach and answer the following questions.

 ePals Classroom Exchange – www.epals.com

Email Around the World – www.kidlink.org

5.  Which site did you choose?

6.  Briefly describe the email project you found.

7.  Why did you choose this project?

Readings for More Information:

More Than Just Pen Pals
by Tammy Payton
One of the easiest activities that a teacher and class can do is to find another class and have students correspond with each other. Tammy's article addresses tips on finding pen pals, safety issues you need to discuss with your class, and activity ideas you can do with a partner class.

II.  Research

A.  Creating your own research activity:

7. Go to Ozline:  Working the Web for Education at - http://www.ozline.com/learning/theory.html .  

8. Scroll until you see this diagram –

9. Browse at least two projects (topic hotlist, multimedia scrapbook, treasure hunt, subject sampler, web quest).

10. Briefly describe two projects you found.

11. Write a definition for two of the following: topic hotlist, multimedia scrapbook, treasure hunt, subject sampler, web quest.  (Preferably the two types you browsed above!)

B.  Locating Sites to Use for Research:

12.  View one site from each category (student search engines, education search engines and directories, online databases, SC related materials, government, multicultural resources) and answer questions 13-14 for each site.

13.  Name the site and briefly describe what you found there.  You may choose to review a site that the main page you chose links to.  That is fine.

14.  Would you use this site in the future?  Why or why not?  If so, would you use it as a teacher resource or student resource?

Student and Education Search Engines

If you are searching for an educational topic, you will usually get better results (meaning you have to sift through less garbage) if you use a student or education related search engine. 

1) Student Search Engines
Ask Jeeves for Kids – www.ajkids.com
Yahooligans – www.yahooligans.com
KidsClick! - sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick! (This site lists the reading level of web sites also.)
Lycos Zone Research Center - versaware.kidsreference.lycos.com

Youth Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/youth/

Teen Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/teen/

2) Education Search Engines and Directories

Blue Web'n – http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/

The Internet Public Library – http://www.ipl.org

Education World – http://www.education-world.com

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators – http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/index.html

3) Online Databases

You can get to the many online databases available to all educational institutions in SC (including K-12 schools) from the Dacus website - http://www.winthrop.edu/dacus/ER/Education.htm.  To get to the databases available in P-12 schools include click on Full-text Resources and then on K-12 Resources.

C.  Examples of Subject Specific Sites 

1) SC Related Materials

SCETV’s Educational Materials – www.knowitall.org
Includes collection of over 20,000 videos and photographs in a variety of subject areas, this history of SC slide collection including, “African Americana", "S.C. Postcards" and "Yesterday's Children" from the South Caroliniana Library, view an update on the Hunley.  Also links to the SC Aquarium, Marco Polo and NotationStation (for music education).

2) Government

South Carolina:

MySCGov.com- http://www.myscgov.com

USA:

FirstGov – your first click to the US government – www.firstgov.gov

The White House - www.whitehouse.gov

The White House for Kids – www.whitehouse.gov/kids

D.  Multicultural Resources

Many resources listed before and after this can be used to help students gain a global perspective.  For example, you can locate an ePal from another country, take a virtual fieldtrip to another country or design a subject sampler about another country.  Additional multicultural resources are listed below:

Multicultural Pavilion – links to awareness activities, a multicultural song index, internet guides and a photo gallery

http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/multicultural/teachers.html

CIA World Factbook  - facts about all countries in the world http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

Readings for More Information:

Big6 Reference Skills – a strategy for teaching students how to do research

http://www.big6.com/overview.htm

The citation for the entire article is

Eisenberg, M. B. & Berkowitz, R. E. (1992). Information problem-solving: The big six skills approach. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 8(5), 27-29,37,42. (EJ 438 023)

III. Virtual Fieldtrips

15. Visit one of the following sites:

Lightspan - http://gsh.lightspan.com/project/fieldtrips/index.html

Eschoolhouse - http://www.eschoolhouse.com/cgi-bin/w2c_activities.cgi

Virtual Fieldtrips - http://www.field-guides.com/trails.htm

16. Locate a fieldtrip appropriate for your grade level/ subject area. 

17. Where did you go from there?

18. Briefly describe the fieldtrip you found.

You can also design your own virtual fieldtrip.  You can guide your students through your fieldtrip by using bookmarks, linking to sites with Word or PowerPoint or writing a web page using a program like FrontPage.

Readings for More Information:

Get Outta Class with Virtual Fieldtrips

 http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech071.shtml - how to use virtual fieldtrips in your classroom and links to many other virtual fieldtrip sites

Using the Internet to Take a Field Trip and Encourage Writing –

http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/miracola3.htm

IV. Quests

19. Choose one of the following quests and answer the questions below.

The Jason Project - http://www.jasonproject.org/

MayaQuest, AfricaQuest, AustraliaQuest - http://quest.classroom.com/ (There is a subscription fee for participating in these quests.)

20. Where is this quest going?

21. Can your class communicate with the explorers?

22. Can your class communicate with other participating classes?

23. What types of activities can you do at the site?

24. What kind of information is available about the quest (descriptions, maps, photos, video, etc.)?

25. Can students post work related to the quest at this site?

V. Collaborative Projects

26. Go to GSN – Global Schoolhouse Net at  www.gsn.org.  Locate two projects appropriate for your grade level/subject area.

27. How did you find the projects (What did you click on to get to the project you picked)?

28. Briefly describe the projects you found.

29.  Did you like this project?  Why or why not?

VI. Publishing On the Internet

Many students take pride in having their work published on the Internet.  Be sure to read your school’s Acceptable Use Policy regarding posting student work online. 

30.  Visit one of the sites listed below

Midlink Magazine - http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/

ZuZu – www.zuzu.org

Poetry Post - http://www.mecca.org/~Egraham/day/poetrypost/

31. Which site did you choose? What type of student work could be published at the site (artwork, stories, poems, etc.)?

32.  How do you submit student work to this site?

You can also post student work on your own class website.  If your school doesn’t have web space for teachers, space is available online for free at sites like www.teacherweb.com.