Lesson 3

I looked up the armadillo in SIRS Discoverer and was pretty impressed with the icons showing what the reading level of the articles is as well as whether the article contains pictures/graphics.  The first article I clicked on was the one titled, "BOINNGG! HERE COME THE ARMADILLOS" which was taken from an issue of "Ranger Rick" magazine.  The article itself does not display any graphics but has a footnote stating, "Pictures referred to in this article are not available in this format but can be found in the original publication."  Not seeing the pictures in the actual article was a bit disappointing.

I again chose the country of Myanmar when looking at "Country Facts."  There is quite a wealth of information in this article which could be very useful for students doing reports, etc.  It would be a nice addition or alternative to World Book information.

The "Maps of the World" are a nice feature in that they are printable PDFs so could be used in reports.

I looked at the "Activities" in the "Database Features."  There are a lot of really cool ideas for experiments, puzzles, projects, etc.  These could be used in schools, home-school activities, or just done for fun.  In addition, the "Current Events" link gives kid-friendly articles about current world events.  These articles are tagged with icons to show reading levels, graphics, etc.

There is a wide variety of topics to choose from in the SIRS Researcher, and the Pros/Cons and Essential Questions give food for thought about the issues.  Helpful articles are linked below.  These would be helpful resources for someone doing a report or perhaps a persuasive speech.  Under the Curriculum Pathfinders, I chose "English as a Second Language" and found some very useful tools, quizzes, activities, etc. for students  learning English.  There are several languages available on the activities, and these are also quizzes that would be helpful for English speakers who are trying to learn vocabulary of another language.

Lesson 2

I did the test for Culinary Arts and then went back to see the correct/incorrect answers.  I like that the program tells what the correct answer is.  It also gave a section name and a subsection name for where the answer/information would be found.  However, I was not able to figure out where that "section" and "subsection" are--I did not find them in the e-book that is part of the Culinary Arts "course" in the Learning Express Library.

Under the "Job Search and Workplace Skills" learning center, I looked at the course titled, "Interview Tips to Get the Job You Want."  There are some very helpful hints, suggestions, and practice exercises in this course.

I looked at the e-book, "Word Power in 15 Minutes a Day."  This looks like a very useful tool for anyone wishing to increase his vocabulary.  I should try to go through it myself!

The Learning Express Library has a lot of very helpful resources for a wide range of users!

Lesson 1c

For this exercise we are to use the Spanish or French language versions to look up information on an animal.  I have to admit I know very little of either of these languages, so it's a good thing there are pictures!  For someone who is learning either of these languages, the picture/word combinations would be helpful in learning vocabulary.  After looking at this site, I can understand the frustration one who knew very little English would have if trying to research in the Kids World Book English version.  This would be of help in finding it in your language (provided that was Spanish or French) and then being able to translate it into English.  I found it interesting that the French Visual Dictionary gives the option to translate words into both Spanish and English, but the Spanish Visual Dictionary gives the option to translate only into English (not French).  The option of having an article read aloud in Spanish could be a great asset to those whose native language is Spanish.

Lesson 1b

When using the Online Kids section of the Public Library Edition, I clicked to enter the "World of Animals" section.  A number of pages of animal pictures are available to choose from to look up information about those animals.  I  looked at the echidna and brought up the "exhibit" page.

Then I wanted to compare the echidna to the porcupine, so I clicked on the "Compare" button below the picture of the echidna.  A display came up on the right saying "Choose an animal 2" but there was nowhere for me to click to choose the second animal.  Through trial and error I found that I needed to first close the "exhibit" page, and that would take me back to the pages with the animal pictures to choose from.  It was frustrating that the "Compare" option was displayed but there was no indication given that I needed to close out of the exhibit to get back to be able to choose my second animal.

When I finally did figure out how to do a comparison, I learned that the echidna is considerably smaller and lives longer than the porcupine and is a carnivore (as opposed to the porcupine being a herbivore).  The echidna, like the platypus, is a mammal that lays eggs.   I also looked up the platypus on this edition, and the article appears to be identical with that on the "Kid's Page."

After looking at the Info Finder article about porcupines,  it became obvious that the Kids' version information is done in a "generally speaking" sort of style.  Some of the information differs a good bit between the two regarding specifics about porcupines (different species, where they live, their sizes, etc.).

It appears that the Online Reference Center article on Myanmar is identical to the one in World Book Advanced.  The breakdown of article sections on the left would make it easy for someone to quickly go to the specific information.  The "Related Information" section on the right would be a good source of additional information for doing a report, etc.  Helpful "Study Skills Information" could be a great asset to someone preparing a report as well.

Lesson 1a

This is my first time to do any sort of blogging, so it's been a learning experience.  We'll see how it goes!

I love the Kid's Page and could easily spend too much time playing there!  For the first lesson, I looked up the platypus.  Although this critter does lay eggs, it is a mammal because the young are fed milk from the mother.  I liked the links on the Kid's page that take you to associated articles.  I also like the video clips available on some articles and the simple sentences and paragraphs in larger fonts.  It was very easy to switch between different editions using the links at the bottom.  The Student edition gives much more detail and has a better picture of the platypus (as opposed to a drawing on the Kid's page).  For the search for a country, I chose Myanmar.  I didn't realize that the US and UK still refer to this country as Burma in opposition to the regime which instituted the name switch. (Englehart, Neil A. "Myanmar." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2012. Web.  12 Jan. 2012.)   I thought there was a nice variety of links on the left that would be very helpful for students doing reports and papers.  The "Read Aloud" feature would be very helpful for students with visual disabilities as well as just learning how to pronounce words.  However, the voice does seem a bit "canned."  On the Discover page, the ability to translate to other languages would be very helpful for non-English speakers.  A nice feature is that the translation opens in a separate window, so it can easily be compared to the English (a helpful tool for those who are learning another language).