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About this Kit | Using the Resources in this Kit | Creating Units

How to integrate Resource Kit activities into exisiting lessons

About this Kit

Information online is either live or archived. The only way to find live information is by browsing. The best way to find archived information in databases is to use a search engine. Unfortunately, many searchers are unaware of this basic difference and tend to waste time browsing.

A search engine is by far the most efficient way to locate archived information. Until the Internet, the quickest way to retrieve information was to use the index at the back of a book. Search engines have become that index on steroids, able to process endless combinations of words and retrieve them in fractions of a second from millions of sources. It truly is amazing.

This Kit is all about archived information and how best to retrieve it. Topics in this Kit include:

• Telling the difference between live and archived information

• Understanding the relationship between search engines and databases

• Identifying types of databases and their use

• Knowing when to use a search engine

• Browsing information archived in a subject directory

• Searching the Deep Web

In general, browsing live pages is best saved for the end of a search. See the Kit on Browsing for more details.

Using the Resources in this Kit

Resources suited for stand-alone applications

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• Timed Search Challenges

  • Action Zone: Air Race Challenge (Self-guided) -- Tests ability to find a Deep Web database in a limited amount of time

  • Action Zone: Roller Coaster Challenge (Self-guided) -- Similar to the Air Race Challenge

  Tutorials

  • QuickPick: Deep Web (Teacher-facilitated) -- Using Google to locate specialized databases

  Searching the Cache: Three Choices (Teacher-facilitated) -- Three ways to use databases

  • QuickPick: Strategic Choices (Teacher-facilitated) -- Choosing wisely where to search based on what you already know

  • MicroModule: Invisible Web (Self-guided) -- Self-paced video tutorial about the Invisible Web

 

• Action Zone Learning Games

  • Can Google google it? (Self-guided) -- To help students grasp what Google can retrieve and what it can't

  • Can Yahoo! google it? (Self-guided) -- Same objective as above using Yahoo's database

  • Database Match (Self-guided) -- Finding links to database information on Web pages (younger grades)

Resources suited for sequences

When time permits more than one activity, combine activities into sequences for more powerful effects.

The Internet Challenge Model (Challenge - Tutorial - Challenge)

1. Start with the Roller Coaster Challenge to encourage awareness of the difficulty of finding relevant information that Google does not index.	2. Follow this with either the QuickPick: Deep Web tutorial or Invisible Web video.	3. Conclude with the Air Race Challenge to allow students to apply new search techniques to find information that Google does not index. Compare timed search challenge experiences.

A shorter option includes using one of the tutorials either preceded or followed by a timed Search Challenge.

For longer sequences, include one or more learning games with a tutorial activity.

Creating Units

For information on creating larger units in which materials from this Kit are embedded, see Creating Units.