NECC2008 Session: Farmer's Market of Internet Resources

Here are my notes from the second of my top 4 NECC2008 sessions:

A Farmer’s Market of Healthy and Productive Internet Resources, presented by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson
Website: eduscapes.com/sessions/farmer

Students should know the “Classics” websites and “skip the junk food”
get kids into the Zone while they are working – intense involvement

notetaking with google notes
build these sites into staff development and curriculum (instead of Google!)

check publisher websites (Scholastic, etc.)
TV networks (PBS, etc.)
newspapers often have lesson (New York Times Lessons)
state lesson resources (and even other countries)

Google for Educators – get involved with them
on google, you can search within a site – site:URL keyword (site:nationalgeographic.com Mayan)

Match needs and standards with web resources:
1 - what are the essential questions?
2 - how will you excite and motivate young people?
3 - what resources will help young people develop deep understandings?
4 - how will students communicate their understandings and reflect on the experience?

Students need to do more than just copy and paste information!

Think in a different way:
Finished vs. under construction (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore)
Outside vs. inside (body, cross section of boat, candy bar, anything)
Famous people vs. orginary people
Big events vs. smaller events
National impact vs. local impact
The classics vs. the others

Examples:
instead of a picture of the statue of liberty, have them find a picture of it under construction
Mt. Rushmore – what order did the heads go up?
a famous building – look at inside instead of outside
human body – look at inside instead of outside
“The Ultimate Book of Cross-Sections”

Try it – open PPT – create a "think different" image archive
use google images to see unique examples
search a keyword and “cross-section” to find visuals
search line drawings, sillhouettes
on PPT – check size of image, cite source, copy URL into Speaker Notes

Compare: (Journey to the Center of the Earth novel vs graphic novel)
who is the author or sponsor?
what did they include? what did they leave out?

Government websites and resources
many government sites have multiple languages
you can search for images and news on the gov site (usa.gov)
usually a “kids version” of the page
government agencies (NASA, NOAA, CDC, NPS – national parks service, etc.) (email the park people during off-season and get a response, info, etc.
Libraries – library of congress, online archive of California, etc
Interactives – google search with keyword and “interactive”
Pathfinders take websites and add standards, questions, reviews of images, etc.