Using the Internet in
the Classroom
INDIANA WEB ACADEMY
101 WEST OHIO, SUITE 500
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46204
317.234.1002 TEL
317.234.1328 FAX
VERSION 1.1
EFFECTIVE USE OF THE INTERNET IN THE CLASSROOM:
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Classroom benefits
o Benefits: Diverse resources and content
o Facilitate collaborative learning
o Exchange of information around the world
o Access real world databases not otherwise available
o Experience success in learning to do research
o Covert your classroom into an information resource center in which
you collect and share data with each other
o Finding latest up-to-date information
o Contacting experts in the field

Maximizing online experiences
o Combine online and offline experiences
o Set up several activities so that if server is down you have alternate
activities related to project
o Give students a written response sheet to indicate how they spent
their time online
o Keep students focused by having student ask: Is this information
helpful in achieving our goal? What can we do with the information
we have found on this site?

Internet tips
o Bookmark sites or save as Favorites
o Scroll down to read text while graphics load
o Make students aware of copyright issues
LOCATING STANDARDS-BASED TECHNOLOGY LESSON PLANS
Lesson Locator; Standardized Lesson Plans for Indiana Teachers:
http://www.lessonlocator.org
Indiana Academic Standards Resources:
http://www.indianastandardsresources.org
EXPLORING THE WORLD OF MARCO POLO:
The Marco Polo program provides no-cost, standards based, quality Internet
content for the K-12 classroom: http://www.marcopolo-education.org
SAILING ALONG WITH TEACHER TOOLS:
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Technology integration and teacher tools: http://www.4teachers.org
Rubrics for all grades and subjects:
http://www.odyssey.on.ca/~elaine.coxon/rubrics.htm
Bernie Dodge WebQuest Page: http://webquest.sdsu.edu
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Online storage: E-Locker
Teacher resources:
o http://www.indianawebacademy.org/resources.asp
USEFUL TIPS AND SEARCHING TECHNIQUES:
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Plan your search before you go online
Evaluate Web Resources: http://www2.widener.edu/WolfgramMemorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm
Use Boolean logic to search
“Bookmark” or add sites to “Favorites”
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GUIDING YOUR STUDENTS ON THE INTERNET
Many teachers are not comfortable with allowing elementary students search
the Internet alone. This is understandable considering how many sites are
not suitable for children or simply don’t include reliable information. Thus,
as an elementary educator, your main function in teaching your students to
use the Internet is that of a guide. If you can find sites that would be useful
for your students, you can eliminate the possibilities of your students finding
undesirable sites or your students getting on lost on the Internet.
This guide contains links to some helpful sites for you, parents, and your
students. The end of the guide is devoted to WebQuests, a very popular and
effective method to get your students on the Internet in a productive
manner.
SEARCHING
The first key to finding quality sites for your students is the knowledge of
how to search the Internet. In most search engines you can use symbols,
words, and punctuation, known as search operators, to help narrow your
searches. Here are some suggestions to narrow your searches.
 A group of words inside quotation marks is treated as a phrase (“Mona
Lisa”)
 Use the + symbol to specify that a word or phrase must be included in
the search result (+pumpkin pie)
 Use the – symbol to specify that a word or phrase not be included in
the search results (-people magazine)
For
help
with
search
operators,
http://kathyschrock.net/rbs3k/
boolean/ .
Another way to narrow a
search is to use the categories
that various search engines
supply. To the right you see
Yahoo’s
home
page
(www.yahoo.com). Near the
top of the page you’ll find the
search field. Enter keywords
in that box to search Yahoo’s
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visit
The
Boolean
Machine:
directory of sites. You will also see several links scattered throughout the
page. These are to help you move around the Internet quickly and easily.
The bottom half of the page is filled with category links (below left). When
you click on a category on the home page you will be taken to a page with
links that are more specific. You will continue through this process until you
have found the desired topic. Once you’ve selected a category you will see a
search box. Yahoo is a little different. You can choose to search in just the
category you’re in or in all of Yahoo (below right). Many search engines
contain the category feature. Below is some information about various
search engines that will assist you in choosing the right one for your
students.
Search Engine Features and URLs
ALTAVISTA (WWW.ALTAVISTA.COM)
General info
 Family Filter feature
 Rated best for finding scientific information on the Internet
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
Search results
 Sites are listed in order of relevancy to search topic
 First few lines of text from site
 Title of page
 URL
 Date the page was last modified
 Related search topics
 Direct link to the home page (if applicable) for the search topic
 Sponsored listings—direct links to products and services related to
your search topic
EXCITE (WWW.EXCITE.COM)
General info
 Very busy home page, lots of stuff on it
 250 million items in search index
 Free e-mail
 Specialty areas—shop, tools (address book, calendar, etc.), news,
bookmarks
 Can personalize home page
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
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 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
 Advanced search option available
 Provides news search, photo search, and audio search
Search results
 Brief description of page
 Title of page
 URL
 Web directory option takes you to screens with matches separated into
categories
GOOGLE (WWW.GOOGLE.COM)
General info
 Safesearch feature
 No advertising
 Large searchable database (approximately 1,326,900,000 pages)
 View Google in a foreign language
 I’m feeling luckyTM option takes you directly to the first page matching
your search
Searching
 Allows keyword searches, with a link to directory searching
 Use of “ “ and + - signs enabled
 Don’t need to include AND in search, Google automatically looks for all
search terms
 Advanced search option available
Search results
 Brief description of page
 Title of page
 URL
 Category that search topic fits in with a link to look at other sites that
fit in this category
 Related similar pages
 The option to view Google’s cached version of the page (allows you to
preview the page without waiting for your browser to load it)
GO.COM (WWW.GO.COM)
General info
 Go Guardian feature
 Rated best for finding scientific information on the Internet
Searching
 Allows keyword searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
 Advanced search option available (Power Search)
 Provides audio and video search
 Database contains message board entries
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 GoExpress Search: searches 10 search engines (has to be
downloaded)
Search results
 Proven picks: sites matching your search topic that have been rated
by Go.com users
 Search result entries contain the title of page, brief description, and
the URL
 Links pertaining to your search topic (shopping, travel, other search
suggestions)
LYCOS (WWW.LYCOS.COM)
General info
 Lycos Search Guard feature
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
 Database includes news articles
Search results
 List of similar searches
 Reviewed sites (reviewed by Lycos editors)
 Option to do a new search on items found during the previous search
 Popular sites are listed separately
 Search result entries contain the title of page, the first line or two of
text from the page, the URL, categories that the sites fit in and links to
those
METACRAWLER (WWW.METACRAWLER.COM)
General info
 Neat home page with advertising at the bottom of the page
 Customize option to personalize home page
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
 Can choose to search for any or all of the words entered or for the
entire phrase
 Provides web, directory, audio/mp3, images, newsgroups, and
auctions searching
 Advanced search option available (Power Search)
 Metacrawler searches Altavista, Excite, Google, GoTo, Infoseek,
LookSmart, Lycos, Thunderstone, Webcrawler, and others
Search results
 Sites are listed in order of relevancy to search topic
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 Search result entries contain the title of page, brief description of the
page, the URL, names of the search engine(s) that found the site and
links to them
 Search results often contain recent news articles
WEBCRAWLER (WWW.WEBCRAWLER.COM)
General info
 Customize option to personalize home page
 E-mail available (through Excite)
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
Search results
 On search results page you can choose to view only the titles of the
sites or the summaries
 Search result entries include directory matches, but these are very
general topics
 Sites are listed in order of relevancy to search topic
 Summary search result entries contain the title of page, first few lines
of text from page, and the URL
 Webcrawler is sponsored by Barnes and Noble—on the search results
page there is a link to shop for books about the search topic
YAHOO! (WWW.YAHOO.COM)
General info
 Home page contains quite a bit of information: links to many services
(travel, clubs, people search, games, etc.), news headlines, local
Yahoo!s (states and other countries)
 Free e-mail
 Free web hosting with GeoCities
 Customize option to personalize home page
Searching
 Allows keyword and directory searches
 Use of “ “, + - signs, and Boolean operators enabled
 Advanced search option available
 When Yahoo! finds no matches for your search it sends it on to Google
Search results
 Search results contain category, web page, and web site matches
 Category matches help to find the right context for your search term
 Web site matches are divided into categories and include the name of
the site and a brief description of it
 Web page results include the name of the site, a brief description of it,
and the URL
 Search results page includes a link to recent news articles
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EVALUATING A WEB SITE
When searching a topic on the Internet, several (maybe even millions!!!)
sites may match a topic. Some of these sites will contain the information
you need, some will not. Also, some of these sites may be more reliable
than others. So, having a set of criteria to determine a site’s validity and
pertinence in a short amount of time is helpful.
Student Project: The class’s assignment is to create a list of evaluation
criteria for sites. Each student should do several searches and review
several sites to help decide what criteria s/he thinks determines a site’s
validity. Some things for the students to examine are:
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WHO created the site? If you are looking for information on national
current events, the New York Times or Washington Post sites may be
more reliable than someone’s personal site in Nebraska, for example.
WHAT is the topic of the site? If you search for George Washington,
you will most likely be directed to sites devoted completely to
Washington, as well as sites that have only a short paragraph about
him.
WHEN was the site last updated? If you want to know the latest
basketball scores, you will not find them from a site that has not been
updated in two weeks!
Then, the class as a whole will compile evaluation criteria to create one
evaluation sheet to use the rest of the semester. For examples of evaluation
criteria, see the next page of this packet or visit the following sites:
http://www.classroom.com/edsoasis/guide2.html
http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/criteria.html
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/credibility/page2.htm
http://www.thelearningsite.net/cyberlibrarian/elibraries/eval.html
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
Then have students work individually or in groups to evaluate 3-5 sites of
their choosing using the evaluation criteria sheet. The students should
include what topic or type of information for which they were searching.
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Sample Web Site Evaluation Form
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Are there grammatical or spelling mistakes?
Who is the author of the page? Do you think that this
person/organization is reliable? Does the author of the page give you
information about him/herself to give them credibility? Is there a link
to the sponsoring company/organization? Is there a link to e-mail the
author of the page?
Is the information on the page current? When was the page created?
When was it updated?
Do you think the information on the page is true? Why or why not?
By looking at the title of the web site and other information on the
home page, will this site give you the information that you need?
Is the site easy to move around in?
Are sources cited?
Is there advertising on the page? If so, is it clearly separated from the
information on the page?
Is the purpose of the web site clearly stated?
Is the information fact or opinion?
Does the site contain information or just links?
Is there a tilde (~) in the URL? This often means that it is a personal
web directory rather than a part of an organization’s site.
Does the site require you to “register” before you can access it?
Is this information relevant to my needs?
After answering all of these questions, do you think the site you’re looking at
would be a good resource?
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SEARCH EXERCISE AND SHORT SEARCHES
Students should practice search techniques with the teacher’s assistance,
including modifying searches and documenting the search. The following
exercises can be done in groups or individually. Also, students should be
encouraged to search topics on their own in order to practice. Some
suggested topics are listed below.
When a student documents a search, the following information should be
included:
 What search engine(s) was (were) used
 What type of search(es) the student used (category or keyword)
 A step-by-step detail of the search, including any changes that needed
to be made or any words that were added to a keyword search
 The number of sites that were found with each search, as well as a
brief synopsis of the quality of the top few sites the engine found
TOPICS TO SEARCH
1. Indiana weather conditions
2. Top news stories
3. Favorite television show
4. Origins of favorite sport
5. Lyrics to a song
6. Biographical information on Picasso
7. The Pythagorean Theorem
This should be good practice for the following search exercises. Remember
that your students should not just be retrieving this information from the
Internet, but they should also indicate to you what types of searches they
used, how many times the search was modified, and what search engines
were used.
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SEARCH EXERCISE
1. Let’s say you need to find paintings of the 12th president of the United
States. In Yahoo, do a keyword search for “presidents.” How many
categories and sites did Yahoo return?
2. Take a look at the categories and sites. You’ll notice that the
categories range from “President's Choice Triathlon Series” to the
band The Presidents of the United States of America!!! Narrow the
keyword search by searching for “presidents +history.” Now how
many categories and sites do you have? Are all these categories and
sites pertinent to your topic? If not, what is another component you
can add to modify the search?
3. Modify your search. Now how many categories and sites do you
have? Are all of these pertinent to your topic? Are MOST of them
pertinent to the topic?
Modify your search until most of the
categories match your topic (it would be quite unreasonable to expect
the search to ONLY yield categories and sites pertinent to your
topic!). How did you modify it (hint: if you’ve added the word
“painting” to your search and you’re getting too many sites, try using
the word “portrait” instead)?
4. Pick two categories, sites, or pages to evaluate. Use the evaluation
form to determine if these sites are good for this particular search.
(Attach the evaluation forms.)
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SHORT SEARCHES
1. Choose an engine and use it to find the top grossing movies of the
past weekend. Use both a category and keyword search, detailing
each search, including the number of steps in each search and the
quality of the site you chose for your information.
2. Using at least two different engines, search for a good website
devoted to your favorite celebrity.
Document and compare the
searches, as well as evaluate the site you chose.
3. Choose a U.S. state to research. Answer the following questions:
What year did it become a state? What number state is it? What are
the name of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of
State? List the web site(s) you used to find this information and
evaluate one of the sites.
4. Find out the current price of a share of AT&T stock on the New York
Stock Exchange. Again, evaluate the site you used as a source (and
include the date and time you checked the stock).
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Answers
Search Exercise
1. 26,904
2. 11,312, still have different countries, add the keyword “american”, for
example
3. Answers may vary
4. Answers may vary
Short Searches
1. For the category search, most engines have a “Movies” or
“Entertainment” category (for example, the top 10 movies can be
found on Netscape by choosing the “Entertainment News” category,
then “Movies.” The category “Top Ten Box Office” is located on the
left. For the keyword search, students can try different combinations
of “top movies” or “top grossing.” One good search is “weekend’s top
movies.”
2. The student can do a keyword search for the person or a magazine
they think will contain information about the person, but this may
require sifting through several sites. Doing a category search will
bring up official and fan sites for the person.
3. The answers to these questions will vary depending on the state
chosen. A good way to find this information will be to do a category
search through any search engine. A site that a majority of the
students may use will be the state’s home page (www.state.**.us).
4. Answers may vary, but acceptable sites include any reputable
newspaper or financial magazine such as Fortune 500 or Forbes.
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SCAVENGER HUNT!!!
Find the answers to the following questions by using any search engine(s)
you’d like. Don’t forget to do category searches, if the search engines
allows. Along with the answer to the question include the name of the
search engine you used, the URL of the site where you found each answer,
and a brief explanation of the steps you took in finding the site.
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How much does it cost a student to get into the Benjamin Harrison
home/museum?
What is the name of the President of Hawaii Pacific University?
What year did Idaho become a state?
Who was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
In what year did the nuclear power disaster at Chernobyl occur?
How many presidential electors does Indiana have?
What is the life expectancy of the African Elephant?
Who wrote the Beatles song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”?
Who designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York?
What is the drug Lipitor used to treat?
What three cities did Southwest Airlines originally service?
What Indiana state tax form must full-year residents complete?
How many penalty points is the queen of spades worth in the game of
Hearts?
In what year was the novel “This Side of Paradise” written?
Who is the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea?
In what year was the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche born?
What is the name of the student newspaper at DePaul University in
Illinois?
What 2 sports teams play in the American Airlines Arena?
What was the first movie in which Tom Hanks appeared?
The holiday Boxing Day is celebrated in four countries. Name three of
them.
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Scavenger Hunt Answers (search engine used and search methods
will vary)
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$2.00
Chatt G. Wright
1890
John Jay
1986
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65 – 70 years
George Harrison
Frank Lloyd Wright
High cholesterol
Houston, Dallas, San Antonio
IT-40
13
1920
Sir Mekere Morauta
1844
The DePaulia
The Miami Heat, the Miami Sol
“He Knows You’re Alone”
Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand
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RESEARCH LINKS
Here are some quality sites that you may want to examine or to which you
can guide your students:
General Links
Marco Polo
This not-for-profit site includes
thousands of lesson plans and
http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/
Internet resources for all grade
levels in five different subjects.
The site is kid-safe three links
deep, so teachers can feel safe
allowing students to browse the
site as well.
DiscoverySchool.com
Part of the Discovery Channel’s
site, DiscoverySchool.com is
http://school.discovery.com/
categorized for teachers,
students, and parents. The site
includes a homework helper and
a quiz maker for teachers.
Kathy Schrock’s Guide for
Kathy Schrock is an educator
Educators
whose site includes some of the
best resources out there for
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ teachers and students. Her site
includes her famous Puzzlemaker
and Brain Booster features.
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Elementary Links
Yahooligans
This is Yahoo’s web guide for
kids. It searches only amongst
http://www.yahooligans.com/
kid-safe sites and even includes
games and lessons, as well as a
teacher’s guide to site evaluation,
teaching with the Internet, and
using Yahooligans with students.
FunBrain.com
This site has been rated the #1
K-8 site on the Internet. It is fun
http://www.funbrain.com/
of great educational games in all
subjects. FunBrain.com also has
Parent-Kid Challenges!
Bill Nye the Science Guy
Everyone’s favorite scientist has
lots of science experiments for
http://www.nyelabs.com/
kids on his site. The site does
use Flash, so it may be slow to
load at home.
Ask Dr. Math
Dr. Math includes classic math
problems at all levels. However,
http://www.mathforum.com/dr.math/
Dr. Math will also answer any
math question your students
might have, so beware if you
assign a stumper!
Scholastic Books
Kids can learn about their
favorite books and authors,
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/index.htm create online cards, and even
find out when T.V. versions of
their favorite books are on.
Ask Jeeves for Kids
Ask Jeeves is an Internet
favorite, but it is not kid safe.
http://www.AJKids.com
However, this version for kids
works in the same manner as the
original.
Fact Monster
Fact Monster is a great research
tool for kids. The site includes an
http://www.factmonster.com
atlas, dictionary, encyclopedia,
and almanac, as well as
categories in subjects of interest
to kids.
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Secondary Links
Encarta
http://encarta.msn.com
Modern Language Association (MLA)
http://www.mla.org/
USA Today
http://usatoday.com/
Study Guides and Strategies
http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/
TravLang
http://dictionaries.travlang.com/
Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com
A&E Biography
http://www.biography.com
CIA Facts for Students
http://www.odci.gov/cia/ciakids/
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More than just a homework
reference, Encarta includes
information for students on
college preparation and current
events. The site also includes a
question search.
The MLA Style is included on
this page and instructs
students on how to cite various
resources in research, including
Internet resources
USA Today is a leading source
of national current events. The
site also includes an archive of
past articles.
This site from University of St.
Thomas in Minnesota has
general strategies for studying
and test taking as well as study
guides for the high school level.
This site has translating
dictionaries for most
international languages.
Scientific American’s site
includes many of the
interesting scientific articles
and topics contained within the
magazine. There is also an
“Ask the Experts” section.
Like the television show and
magazine, this web site
contains authorized information
about some of the most
prominent figures of history, as
well as current times.
The CIA has information on this
site specifically for kids, such
as descriptions of the different
CIA programs and information
about various countries.
Secondary Links (continued)
Atlapedia
Atlapedia Online has an A-Z
listing of country maps, as well
as full-color world maps. It
also includes a listing of online
resources for teachers and
students.
News Directory is a searchable
and browsable database of
magazines and newspapers
from around the country and
world.
http://www.atlapedia.com/
News Directory
http://www.newsdirectory.com/
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