Proquest

Wow, I could still be "playing" with Proquest! This is absolutely the best for research on any subject ever conceived!! First, because I have Type 2 Diabetes, I searched for a few diabetic recipes, and found some very yummy sounding ones. Then, because I am not very familiar with the Library Journal, I researched that periodical. I found it most interesting and wish we could subscribe to it. Proquest is going to be so exciting to show my patrons who come in looking for things. I was very impressed with the Publications section and the amount of information out there. It's going to take me some time to be more comfortable using Proquest, but just need to take the time to play with it. This is awesome!!

SIRS Issues Researcher Grades 6-12
1.) I chose Global Warming (certainly not around here, right?) Wow, I was blown away by all the resources available to discuss; the Pro/Con issues; the fact that one can narrow the result on the subject; one can find the meaning of some of the terms used in the articles and the research tools are great! In short, I can't wait to show this to students when they come to the library to do their homework!
2.) Curriculum Pathfinders is a double wow! Check out Find Arts in the course Subjects- you can learn how to Samba! The Interactive boxes on the right side of each subject were fun and informative. Kids play games while learning, what a concept. The Research Ideas in the center of each subject gives the student ideas to narrow their research. Immigration in the Social Studies Subject was most fascinating.

Lesson 2: SIRS Discoverer for Grades K-9
I looked up Shaun White (aka the flying tomato). As I tried t0 think like a 5Th grader (something quite easy for me to do), I did have to do several searches before actually getting to Shaun White. Once I found the article, ti was quite fascinating. The fact that it provides a few word terms was great; the questions for study purposes would be a way teachers could work up a lesson; the Editorial Cartoon screen is a fun way to kids to interact with the article.
2 a.) Since someday I hope to go to Japan, I chose that country to look up. First, under teacher resources, the fact that one can print out a work sheet with questions for, say, a quiz, is a nice feature. The informaiton provided was not over the head of the child yet did give good facts and to the point.
2 b.) Under maps for Japan, I found not just one big messy map, but 13 maps to choose from with various subjects. The maps themselves showed detail and if a student needed to know where population was distributed, there was just a map for that. Plus, they can print out that particular map.
2 c.) I checked out "activities" under the Database Features and found it jamb-packed with fun things-like learning card tricks. Most kids I know want to learn at least one card trick.
All in all SIRS Discoverer in most fascinating!

Here we are learning about the State ...

Here we are learning about the State Library Electronic Resources, this is going to be quite an educational experience.

 

World Book- School Edition Kids K-5 is absolutely the best! It is easy for the kids to navigate through, simple, short paragraphs are easy for them to understand. Subjects are alphabetized, another great feature. The pictures are actual, not just a drawn figure, which is nice. The articles have other related sites for the kids to check out for more indormation

Student grades 5-9 has a lot more information, more detail, more videos and plenty of subject details. I like the fact that each article can be printed out separately.

Advanded Grades 9-12+ was most interesting. Providing a few current news events will stir their interest in what is going on around the world. The side bar where one can click on  specific information is a wonderful feature.  The videos were great!

I was a little disappointed in the Explore SD page. Some of the facts on SD could not be found, such as the official song; official dessert and other fun and interesting facts on SD. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right spot, but I sure couldn't find them.

Discover for reluctant readers and adult learners was fun to navigate through. The divisions on the side bars was great. I like that articles could be translated into different languages. While around here there is no need for that feature, it can be very useful in the larger areas where there are more foreign people living. It was fun to play around with it.

World Book School Edition is definitely the best resource around here. Can't wait to show it to my patrons :-)