222 information-literacy-research results | sort by:
return to subject listingOolone Visual Search Engine - Oolone
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
This site is perfect for your visual learners or weaker readers. Use this site on an interactive whiteboard to show students how to search for information. Use the page counter to show students how different search terms provide different results. Place on your class webpage for students to access at school and home. Be sure to check out their education page where you can find lesson ideas. Learning support and ESL/ELL students will appreciate being able to search without as much reading. Even very young students can LOOK for a site using this search tool, assuming they can type just a little bit.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Million Short - Exponential Labs Inc
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Teach your students the value of being inclusive in research and not using just the first results. Lessons about validity of web site information, well rounded viewpoints, and depth of information can automatically come from this site. Use on your interactive whiteboard or projector and screen to model searches, key words, and advanced searches. Use this tool yourself to add extra enrichment or reinforcement of lesson topics using lesser-known sites.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ottobib - Jonathan Otto
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use Ottobib.com as a lesson on citing sources and bibliography on your interactive whiteboard. Include Ottobib.com as a saved favorite on all student computers as well as a link on your webpage. Use as a springboard to discuss styles of documentation including MLA, APA, Chicago, and Bibtex. Be sure to use in writing your own professional articles, books, or classes, as well as a reference for your students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Privacy Pirates: An Interactive Unit on Online Privacy - Media Smarts
Grades
2 to 4In the Classroom
This site would be perfect to use during an Internet safety unit. Using an interactive whiteboard (or projector) have your students work their way through the tutorial. Allow groups of students to discuss the answers before submitting them on the game. Once the tutorial is complete put the link to the game on your classroom computers and let the students try the interactive during center time. Have students create their own Internet treasure hunt using the information learned on the site. Use one of the multimedia tools reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Zotero - Center for History and New Media at George Mason University
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Depending on school computer settings, you may need to have tech support install the program for you. Use Zotero to collect and organize classroom resources. Share with older students as a resource for gathering and citing information. Demonstrate how to use the site on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector, including showing the quick-start video. One of the advanced features of the site is the creation of groups. Share this with students who may be capable of using the feature to collaborate with others.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Dib Dab Doo and Dilly too... A smarter safer way to search the Internet - Dibdabdoo.com
Grades
K to 7In the Classroom
Help students learn about narrowing and refining research by demonstrating this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard. As you start a project, take the time to SHOW how to use this tool to save time and find appropriate resources. Allow students to explore this site on their own finding relevant information from the various topics. If time permits, have students research a specific topic and create a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Duck Duck Go - ddg.gg
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Provide a link to Duck Duck Go on your class website or as a start page on a classroom computer. Use Duck Duck Go to teach about search strategies and help students think of search terms. When discussing searching in class, compare Duck Duck Go to other search engines, noticing the differences between the search experience and results between the various search engines. Be sure to discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and reliability of the search results with each of the various search engines. Be sure to point out the additional search terms and how these terms can provide more targeted search results. Try a game where students predict what other terms might show up from a given starting search. This will teach the mental flexibility to realize what else the search engine might "think" you mean. For example, if we enter "apple," what other terms might we see?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Embracing Research - Identifying Reference Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
1 to 8In the Classroom
Mark this Help! guide in your Favorites for use and review when planning your next research project or whenever students need to "lookup" something. The resources and ideas will help every student be successful. Adapt for weaker readers by using resources or ideas from lower grades. Don't forget to look at other resources "tagged" research here on TeachersFirst.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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YouTube Copyright School - YouTube
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of plagiarism on writing projects or copyright in general. Use it in art or music classes when discussing the use of "derivative works" or performance rights on music. Include this site on your class webpage for students and parents to access as a reference. To show what they have learned from this site, enhance or transform (depending on teacher requirements) class room technology use by challenging students to create an online infographic about copyright to share using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Comments
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Yippy - Yippy, Inc.
Grades
2 to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use for any topic in any subject area. For example, a search for evolution revealed the following clusters: Texas Board, Biology, Human, and Theory. View more options by clicking on all clouds at the bottom of the list. Discuss with your class what kind of information about the topic that you are looking for before choosing a cloud. Have a broad concept to discuss in class? Assign a specific cloud to each group of students and have them report their findings back to the class. Have a class discussion about how all of the pieces of information fit together. Create a class concept map that ties all the information together. Use a tool such as bubbl.us (reviewed here) to create and share the concept maps.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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KidRex - Kid Safe Search Engine - KidRex.org
Grades
K to 7This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create a link to KidRex on classroom computers for students to use as a default search engine. Use this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to demonstrate how to search for items or when searching with your students.Comments
A similar site that uses Google SafeSearch, but may be more appropriate for older kids is http://www.KidzSearch.comDaniel, CA, Grades: 0 - 12
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Research Building Blocks - Read, Write, Think - International Reading Association
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
View the Hints About Print interactive with your class on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to demonstrate different concepts on choosing appropriate resources for research. If you don't have an interactive whiteboard, create a link on your classroom computers for students to view as a center. This site is perfect to use with older students who may have already done research projects as a review for choosing materials. ESL and Special Education teachers may want to use materials included in this lesson as an aid for students who have been assigned research projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TinEye - Idee Inc.
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This tool is best used by a teacher to determine whether class pictures have been used elsewhere or determine the origin of pictures students have used in projects. Check the origin of student-used pictures to determine source. Determine whether pictures (yours or others) have been used without permission. Easily determine whether pictures have also been altered.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CyberWise - CyberWise
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector with students to discuss media tools and how they are using them, or show before assigning projects using current media tools. Challenge students to create an online "scrapbook" on cyber safety using Smilebox, reviewed here, or ask them to create a simple infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here. Share videos with parents to help them understand current media tools and how to use them.Comments
Great tool- always need all we can find to help teach this with students.Charlotte, AL, Grades: 0 - 12
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Memonic - Nektoon AG
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this site to collect your thoughts and information for class projects, research, and idea/data gathering. Create a group for others to share information with for a subject area, class, or a common interest. Use with classes to allow students to comment to any page you assign for discussion. Students can find pages of interest about a specific content topic and comment their likes and dislikes. Look at various political, environmental, or ethical viewpoints by adding URL's for both sides of the argument and allow time for commenting and voicing of opinion. Learning support teachers may want to create notes together with students, annotating assigned text to show understanding and learn target vocabulary.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Paper Rater - paperrater.com
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Users must be able to find their document and copy and paste into the correct fields. Follow the easy directions to determine grammar errors and create a better document. Use without a login or sign up.Have students use Paper Rater to check their rough drafts. Have students work in pairs, as a peer review, to help each other improve their papers using the suggestions given by Paper Rater. Provide this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom.
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Science Direct - Elsevier
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use as a teacher or professional resource to expand understanding and knowledge of current research so that you can share the information with your students. Have older students search for information on research topics. Have students compare the Scirus with a regular search engine such as Google with the same search word before having them use the tool. It will show them the advantage of using a more science specific tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wolfram Alpha - Wolfram Alpha LLC
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Experiment together with your students to understand how Wolfphram Alpha works. For example, type in two cities (such as New York and Melbourne Australia.) Results from the search can include: distance between in various units, flight path on a map of the world, time to travel (as a person, light beam, or sound wave), portion of circumference of the Earth, population, elevation, and time zones. Use this site to not only get numerical answers but the computations behind them. Compare this to Google which provides great search results, but sends you mostly to another site for the math. Use Wolfram Alpha to uncover and connect a vast amount of factual scientific, mathematical, socio-economic, biographical, cultural, and linguistic data. View National Mortality Rates and follow these numbers down to view chances at specific heights and weights. Use to examine DNA sequences, various biochemical reactions and equations, and investigate particle physics. Wolfram Alpha can handle tough advanced math problems, not only providing the answer but walking step by step through the solution. Practice different queries for students to learn how to be more exact in searching. Be sure to compare Wolfram Alpha and Google side by side to determine the advantages for each.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sweet Search - Dulcinea Media, Inc.
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Provide Sweet Search for your students to find some of the best student friendly material on the web. For older students, evaluate Sweet Search with other search engines to determine which provides the best information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Symbaloo EDU - Symbaloo BV
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Be sure to know the URL's of the resources you are planning to share or have them open in other tabs to copy/paste. To share you must be able to copy/paste URLs (web addresses). Have older students create their own webmixes, but this resource is best used as a teacher sharing tool for sharing links, RSS feeds, and other resources for students to use in specific projects or as general course links. If shared with the world, the webmix can be viewed by others and is public.Create a webmix of the most used sites for your class and first demonstrate how the webmix works on a projector or interactive whiteboard if you have special instructions or color coding for its use. Some examples include links to copyright free images, online textbooks, or online tools such as Google Drive/Docs, Google Drawings, Prezi, and more. Link to teacher web pages, webquests, resource sites for your subject, and any other resource that is helpful for students. Consider creating a login for the whole class to update with suggestions from class members. Use this AS your class website. Color code the tiles on a webmix for younger, non-reader, or ESL/ELL students. For example, color each subject differently from the others. Differentiate by color coding varying levels of skills practice at a classroom computer center or to distinguish homework practice sites from in-class sites. Differentiate difficulty levels using the various colors enabling you to list resources for both your learning support students and gifted students and all in between. Use color to organize tools for different projects or individual students. You may want to share Symbaloo EDU with parents at Back to School Night and the color-coding system for differentiation. This will help parents (and students) find what sites are ideal for their levels. Be sure to link or embed your webmix on a computer center in your room for easy access. Share a review site webmix for parents and students to access at home before tests, as well. Team up with other teachers in your subject/grade to create chapter by chapter webmixes for all your students. If you are just starting with Symbaloo, this is a simple way to differentiate, however, Symbaloo now has a Lesson Plans tool (also called Learning Paths), reviewed here, to help you differentiate for individual or groups of students.
Challenge your gifted students to curate and collaborate on their own webmixes as a curriculum extension activity on topics such as climate change or pros and cons of genetically engineered food. They can use color coding to sort sites by bias (or neutrality) as well as to group subtopics under the overall theme. Use the student-made webmixes with other students to raise the overall level of discussion in your class or as an extra credit challenge. If you embed the webmix in a class wiki, all students can respond with questions and comments for the gifted students to moderate and reply, creating a student-led community of learners.
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