Imagine that the Wooden Rollercoaster drops you off at the amazing "House of Candy!" You land at the front door of this huge structure and see that it stretches thousands of stories high into the sky–so high that you can’t see the top floor! Learn what happens next.
The Internet can be compared to the imaginary "House of Candy." Many times, when you connect to the Internet you need to find the answer to only one question, but you soon discover that the amount of information is so huge that you don’t know where to start or how to find it. Furthermore, you know that information on the Internet continues to grow and change every minute of every day! And as you learned a few weeks ago, you can’t believe everything you see on the Internet. What’s a cool fifth grader like you to do in a situation like this?
Well, your worries are over! Get ready to master the world of Internet searching and become an expert at finding and using information that you need and want.
There are a few things you need to know before diving into all that candy, woops, information, that is! There are tools called search engines and subject directories that can help you find exactly what you need on the Internet. Let’s compare search engines to subject directories and look at an example of each.
- There is another way to search for information that is fairly new to the Web called natural language searching. An example of a tool that allows you to do this type of search is "Ask Jeeves for Kids." Instead of typing in keywords or clicking on categories, you key your entire question and then select from a database of other questions like yours. What question would you like to ask?
- Grab a partner and discuss "Stupendous Searching Secrets." It is up to you and your partner to decide which secret is the MOST valuable to know. Print the list and keep it in your notebook or post it in the classroom.
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Over the next few weeks, you will begin to use the Internet to gather information about a topic that truly interests you, with opportunities to find answers to ALL the questions you’ve ever had about it. The purpose of the next four adventures is to equip you with a few more "tricks of the trade" to help develop your information-seeking skills. Don’t forget to bookmark the ones that are your favorites.
- Print a copy of the "Curiously Clever Web Search Planner" to use with Kaleidoscope and other projects.Ask your teacher and Media/Technology Specialist how to use the school’s Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) to conduct searches. Don’t automatically rush to the Internet for every information need. There are many times when you can quickly find the best information in your local media center and the community. Books, CD-ROMs, school-owned software and human experts are just a few examples of other rich sources of information right under your nose.Connect to Noodle Quest and answer a few questions about a topic of your very own choosing.Pretend that you need to locate pictures, images and sounds for a cool Web page you're creating at home. Go to the TK Multimedia Diner to uncover the links to copyright-friendly clip art, sounds, video, animations and more!
- Check out Pics for Learning. Their copyright-friendly image library consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers and amateur photographers. While you’re there, find out about the ImageBlender and other fun downloadable tools!
Wow! You have learned a lot about Internet search tools today. Now that you know which tools to use, let’s stop and think about searching for the topics that interest you most.
What do you like to do? What are your hobbies? Have you ever dreamed of learning to do something new, like snowboarding or canoeing? Well, now is your chance to start conducting real research on a topic of your very own choosing–and catch The Knowledge Rush!
Open your favorite word processor and create a new file. Save the file under your full name. Brainstorm a list of all the things you love and all the things you have ever wanted to learn. Nothing is too ridiculous or too difficult to add to your list! Press return after each item on your list. (Here’s a quick tip: You can learn how to create a new document by viewing this free online 48-second Quicktime video by LearningElectric.com.)Having trouble thinking today? Visit Yahoo!kids and browse through the categories that truly interest you. Another great place to plunder for ideas is The World Almanac for Kids.
Don’t forget to save your file. You will open it again next week for more fun!
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