Thing 10: Search Strategies

Thing 10 is all about web searching strategies and finding good resources for your
students work.
Thing 10 instructed us to find some databases from MEL that we would find
useful for our students. I found Kids Infobits and Infotrack: Student Edition.
Kids Infobits: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=ITKE&u=lom_accessmich
Infotrack:
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=STOM&u=lom_accessmich&authCount=1
I listed them on my websites resources pages along with other helpful sites I have
found and used before myself.

Screenshotted above is the artwork page from the Kids Infobits page. This site is
easy to navigate and well organized, so students of any age could use this for any
art report or project they had. It even has sound ques for people who would
rather listen.

The screenshot above is of the other database I found from MEL. This one is
Infotrack: Student Edition. I liked this one because not only can you search for
what you want and find things easily, on the cover page screenshotted above it
lists relevant social topics for students such as bullying.
Critical Evaluation:
I used BASIC system for my critical evaluation.
1. All About Explorers
a. Content This sites content is easy to navigate and understand. The
search results yield as close as they are able, but since the site is
focused on explorers, I would use it as a research tool for anything
else.
b. Credibility / Authority This website has an entire page dedicated to
the Authors and what they are all about. It lists all the authors, their
roles in maintaining the website, and a little about them. However
you only find the real information if you read the whole authors page
and then click a link at the bottom. While that is a clever idea, it can
be a tad confusing for some, especially young children.

c. Purpose The site was created to give information on explorer

across different eras. It is a personal site maintained by three
authors. The only thing hidden was that I noticed was the link under
the joking author page. There didnt seem to be any bias, just
information on explores.
d. Usability/ Design The site is very user friendly, kids could navigate it
no problem. Well labeled, great design elements, I didnt spot any
grammar errors, the links work.
Overall, this website is a nicely designed, easy to navigate, and informational. I
would recommend this site for my students if they ever needed information on
explorers, but beyond explorers the site doesnt give information on anything
else.
2. NASA
a. Content This site covers it topic very comprehensively and
accurately. I think that most elementary school kids would be able to
understand and navigate this site easily. The site shows when it was
last updated at the bottom of the page and it was updated recently.
This site has good up to date resource that you could not find in a
book.
b. Authority / Credibility At the bottom of the site where it shows
when the page is last updated it has the name of the editor of the
site. There is no other information about his author though. The site
ends in .gov so in my experience .gov sites are usually reliable.
c. Bias/ Purpose This site was created to teach people about NASA
and their missions. There does not seem to be any bias or opinion,
just information on NASA. This site is also geared towards students
and educators by listing exhibits, speakers and educational benefits.
d. Usability / Design This site is very user- friendly and easy to
navigate. The design elements are great; all the content areas are
well labeled. Pages are clean and uncluttered and all the links work.

Overall, this website has a great design with headings and pictures too that makes
it easy for younger student navigation. This a great science tool for students and
teachers.
The better website is definitely the NASA website. It was easier to navigate,
accurate information, and more accessible for both students and teachers.

Citation
For my citation I chose to use BibMe to create a citation for my Art through the
Ages book. The citation is below along with a screenshot of creating the citation.

Gardner, Helen, Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner's Art
through the Ages. Thirteenth ed. Vol. 2. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College, 2001. Print. The
Western Perspective.