Web Search Tutorials for Students

Vaughn Memorial Library at Acadia University hosts a series of four free animated tutorials designed to teach students lessons on web research strategies. The 1. Credible Sources Count students learn how to recognize the validity of information on the Internet. It's a good tutorial except for a strong emphasis on using domain names for determining validity. 

2. Research It Right walks students through the process of forming a research question through the actual research steps. 

3. Searching With Success shows students how search engines function. The tutorial gives clear examples and directions for altering search terms. 

4. You Quote It, You Note It shows students what plagiarism is and how to avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone's work.

The Kentucky Virtual Library hosts an interactive map of the research process for students. The map, titled How To Do Research, walks students through the research process from start to finish with every step along the way. One of the things about this map that school librarians will like is that it is not focused solely on web research. How To Do Research includes a good section about using library catalogs, books, and magazines.

Thanks to Rich Byrne at  http://www.freetech4teachers.com

Book Reviews for Kids, By Kids

Scholastic has a great service called Share What You Read that students can use to create and read book reviews online. Scholastic provides a simple form on which students can write and submit their book reviews. Students do not have to create an account to use the book review service.

Scholastic's Share What You Read service is very easy for students to use and for teachers to incorporate into the classroom. The advantage of using the Scholastic service over a creating a wiki for the class is that the Scholastic service saves teachers time. The Scholastic service does not require users to create an account prior to writing a review. In fact, the only information they ever ask for is the student's first name, grade, and state.
This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers

The STHS Library New Tools

Google Certified Teachers, Joyce Valenza and Kristen Swanson, have assembled a good collection of Web 2.0 tools and guides for teachers. The collection is part of STHS Library Guides. Their new tools catalog is organized by function (wikis, podcasting, etc) and topics related to technology use in schools (media literacy, fair use, privacy). The STHS Library New Tools is a good site to refer your colleagues to when they need a quick reference to learn about new tools.