Thing 13: databases

I spent some time playing around with InfoTrac Junior Edition and Kids Infobits. The first thing I noticed is that when I entered the databases through my school's web page they looked a lot more userfriendly than using elm4you. I wonder why they have different looks depending on how a person enters the database. Since I am in the middle of the World Religions unit that I teach, I decided to search for Buddhism to see what would happen. I really liked InfoTrac Junior edition. It pulled up a variety of helpful sources. I also liked that it had the "see also" button. It opens up more options for kids to look at. It might really help a student narrow down a research topic that is too broad. I also really liked the tool box. I would like to use the following tools with my students: how to judge information, how to write a conclusion, and how to write a thesis statement. I need to collaborate with the LA teacher on my team and figure out how we can do this together.

Even though it was obviously meant for elementary kids, I liked the Kids Infobits a lot. I liked the way that they provided subject areas and narrowed that down into topic areas. I found that they had a topic on "religions" which I am sure will come in very handy.