Internet in the K-12 Classroom -- Week 3

Internet in the K-12 Classroom

Outline Intro Week 1 Week 2
Week 3
Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8

Week 3

Learn about different browsers, plug-ins, and search engines

Find ways to make specialized searches using specific engines and advanced options

Devise a one-day lesson to introduce these Internet features to students

Jump to assignments 1-6

Weekly Reader: Education Development Center

Read Myths and Realities about K-12 Technology

Share your summations and opinions

Taming the Internet

     The Internet has become our collective memory. It is a library on wires, accessible from virtually anywhere. Thus, it is not only improving the way we learn: It is changing the way we learn. The long-standing human need to retrieve memorized facts is being augmented in our new struggle to retrieve them off the Internet. Searching the Internet's billions of pages for exactly the information we need is a daunting task, and one we hope to make easier in this course.

     There are two primary places one looks for useful Web sites:

A. Search Engines -- unfound information

B. Personal favorites or bookmarks -- previously found information

     For many it's a big task just to organize one's own URL collection (previous lesson). Organizing a new search into the Internet's approximately three-billion Web pages and 153 million hosts is is an even bigger challenge. One needs to understand the nature of the search engine, it's strengths, weaknesses, and advanced features. We will look at search engine options and techniques for advanced searches.

Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Opera

     Web browsers are used to surf the World Wide Web. There are dozens of browsers in circulation, but the Top Three found on most computers are Internet Explorer, Netscape navigator, and Opera.
     Internet Explorer gained fame and controversy in the 1990s with its smooth integration into the Windows operating system and other Microsoft programs. Competitors are still yelling foul. However, the advantages of a Web experience fully integrated with an are significant. Internet Explorer is able to read Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. Netscape must open the associated program.
     After several dormant years, Netscape has released a new version that touts a streamlined interface, My Sidebar, and integrated Instant Messaging. Both leaders are on version 6 at this time. However, Netscape skipped a Version 5 release, jumping from Version 4 to Version 6. The jury is still out on whether this was a technological leap or a marketing ploy.

     Opera from Norway weighs in at less than 4 megabytes compressed. It is popular for its surfing speed and simple interface. It lacks the bells and whistles of the big two, but Opera has some unique features, like Zoom.

It is possible to have all three browsers installed on your computer without conflicts.

Browser Definition
Browser Reviews
Browser Wars

     Today's browsers have the ability to open a variety of files. The original browsers opened only HTML files. By integrating browsers with 3rd party software plug ins, this ability is expanded to include a wide variety of proprietary text, audio, graphics, and video. The plug ins help browsers provide us with a colorful multimedia gateway to the Internet.

The links below lead to the free download sites.

Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing PDF ePapers Apple Quicktime Video Player for MOV files Macromedia Flash Player for viewing animation Macromedia Shockwave
Player for viewing animation

Real Media audio video player Make free PC-to-phone calls from your computer Windows Media Player A new addition to the browser experience Browse3d

     Visit at least one or two sites in each category. Trial some search topics that have to do with your Course Project. Collect bookmarks and favorites in a new folder called ik12. Download any useful resources you find. Bring your discoveries and questions to discussion.

General spider search engines that scour the Internet collecting links using keywords:

Google Alta Vista Teoma Hotbot

Directory search engines organized by category:

Google Dirs Alta Vista Dirs InfoGrid DMOZ

Kid search engines:

Yahooligans! Ask Jeeves for Kids Kid Grid All in One

Metacrawlers or Parallel Engines that search other search engines:

Mama MetaCrawler C4 All4One

News search engines:

Google News Alta Vista News Daily Earth MoreOver

Multimedia search engines:

image Google Images Ditto Dogpile Animation City

sound Sound America A1 Free Sounds Event Sounds Midi Finder

movie IMDB Movie Flix Feedroom Vastvideo

File search engines:

Hotfiles Tucows Download DriversHQ

Database search engines:

The Invisible Web.net The Invisible Web.com Lycos Database Search Engine Index

FTP search engines & software:

All The Web FTPlanet Free WS-FTP LE CuteFTP software

Specialized search engines:

people
AnyWho phone numbers Switchboard prices
Pricewatch books
Bibliomania

quotes
Quotations maps
MapQuest jobs
Monster movies
International Movie Database

laws
FindLaw yellow pages
Smart Yellow Pages Usenet groups Google groups stocks
Public Companies

Week 3 Assignments (1-6):

top

Advanced Search Practice

     Regardless of the search engine one uses, most of them are good enough to return hundreds to millions of replies to your query. Advanced searching allows one to narrow the field. Harnessing the Internet for the classroom means learning and teaching methods for distilling only the best information.

1. Results may vary: Search at least Google, Alta Vista, Teoma, MSN, Hotbot and Yahoo! for the same keyword. Pick any word you like. Record the total number of hits you get at each site. Share your results. Which site has the most hits? Which site has the least? Could you gauge a qualitative difference? Remark on the experience and bring up any questions you may have. Why you think there is such a disparity of total pages between leading search engines?

2. Add additional words to your search to narrow results:

In this exercise, you will trim a search from 48 million down to less than 1,000.
Go to Google

Search for the word children

Notice the total number of hits. It should be around 50 million.

One at a time add additional words from the list below. Hit the Search button after each new word is added.

Example: Start with children. Then search for children school. Then search for children school rural. And so on. Watch the number of results shrink.

A challenge! Try and get your hit count below 200 by continuing to add words. Chose from the following or add your own. Post your results.
school   rural   reading   testing   poverty   boys   diet   exercise

3. Use plus and minus symbols + -
(known as Boolean logic) to include and exclude categories in a list of words.

For Example, if you were looking for California hiking trails that are not in Yosemite, you could use this search:

+California +trails -Yosemite

The minus symbol (-) would remove Yosemite from the search. Go to Alta Vista and try some of the options below or create your own. Notice the changes in the type and number of replies

+Shakespeare +sonnets -plays
+crime +poverty -drugs
+panthers +sports -animals
+panthers -sports +animals
+volcanoes +active
+volcanoes -active

4. Use quotation marks to find exact phrases. Go to Mamma, parallel search engine, and type in the phrases below. Try one of your own.

"President Bush on global warming"

"Car games to keep children occupied"

5. Devise a one-class-period lesson plan idea that would teach advanced search techniques to students in your classroom. Share briefly what that lesson might look like. What would students search, and how would you structure the event?

6. (OPTIONAL) Try the advanced search pages at the following search engines. Notice you can filter timeframe, file format, and various other attributes. Experiment.
Share any interesting discoveries or observations.

Google Advanced   Alta Vista Advanced Hotbot Advanced Yahoo Advanced

Try this: Type your street address, city, state and Zip into Google

Anatomy of a URL and Top Domain Names

3

Master Teacher Resource Portal

Outline

Intro

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

people AnyWho	phone numbers Switchboard	prices Pricewatch	books Bibliomania
quotes Quotations	maps MapQuest	jobs Monster	movies International Movie Database
laws FindLaw	yellow pages Smart Yellow Pages	Usenet groups Google groups	stocks Public Companies

	Week 3 Assignments (1-6):	top
	Advanced Search Practice Regardless of the search engine one uses, most of them are good enough to return hundreds to millions of replies to your query. Advanced searching allows one to narrow the field. Harnessing the Internet for the classroom means learning and teaching methods for distilling only the best information.
	1. Results may vary: Search at least Google, Alta Vista, Teoma, MSN, Hotbot and Yahoo! for the same keyword. Pick any word you like. Record the total number of hits you get at each site. Share your results. Which site has the most hits? Which site has the least? Could you gauge a qualitative difference? Remark on the experience and bring up any questions you may have. Why you think there is such a disparity of total pages between leading search engines?
	2. Add additional words to your search to narrow results:
	In this exercise, you will trim a search from 48 million down to less than 1,000. Go to Google Search for the word children Notice the total number of hits. It should be around 50 million. One at a time add additional words from the list below. Hit the Search button after each new word is added. Example: Start with children. Then search for children school. Then search for children school rural. And so on. Watch the number of results shrink.
	A challenge! Try and get your hit count below 200 by continuing to add words. Chose from the following or add your own. Post your results. school rural reading testing poverty boys diet exercise
	3. Use plus and minus symbols + - (known as Boolean logic) to include and exclude categories in a list of words.
	For Example, if you were looking for California hiking trails that are not in Yosemite, you could use this search: +California +trails -Yosemite The minus symbol (-) would remove Yosemite from the search. Go to Alta Vista and try some of the options below or create your own. Notice the changes in the type and number of replies
	+Shakespeare +sonnets -plays +crime +poverty -drugs +panthers +sports -animals +panthers -sports +animals +volcanoes +active +volcanoes -active
	4. Use quotation marks to find exact phrases. Go to Mamma, parallel search engine, and type in the phrases below. Try one of your own.
	"President Bush on global warming" "Car games to keep children occupied"
	5. Devise a one-class-period lesson plan idea that would teach advanced search techniques to students in your classroom. Share briefly what that lesson might look like. What would students search, and how would you structure the event?
	6. (OPTIONAL) Try the advanced search pages at the following search engines. Notice you can filter timeframe, file format, and various other attributes. Experiment. Share any interesting discoveries or observations.
	Google Advanced Alta Vista Advanced Hotbot Advanced Yahoo Advanced


Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing PDF ePapers	Apple Quicktime Video Player for MOV files	Macromedia Flash Player for viewing animation	Macromedia Shockwave Player for viewing animation


Real Media audio video player	Make free PC-to-phone calls from your computer	Windows Media Player	A new addition to the browser experience Browse3d

image	Google Images	Ditto	Dogpile	Animation City
sound	Sound America	A1 Free Sounds	Event Sounds	Midi Finder
movie	IMDB	Movie Flix	Feedroom	Vastvideo