Week 2
I find myself unsure which of the assignments I should respond to. I chose Lesson 2a Britannica School edition for Middle School. In discovery, I found that indeed the articles for elementary were very simplistic and unfortunately could easily be copied instead of utilized for research in the traditional sense. One (the teacher) needs to be clever in requiring research skills to be used other than just read, copy and present as own at any level. I've realized that at all levels, the research question needs to be specific as was our question to 'find a picture and information on the mammal's habitat' at both elementary and middle school level. Middle School changed to Compton's by Britannica, I noticed. I've found that to be very simplistic, but given our students' reading levels it is adequate for most. I liked creating and using work space for the notes, but was limited in total characters I could include... a very good lesson for all of us to relay to the students. I was able to modify and include all I needed.
The help button/section was one I should spend more time with. It is full of ways to use Britannica that I can initiate with my students once research begins. I fully understand why Britannica and MARVEL will be essential for research in my classroom as they provide soooo much valuable skill development activities pertinent to the task!
To be continued......
I liked the simplistic information on the elementary and middle school editions of Britannica. When I had used Britannica in the past with students, many could not understand the information due to vocabulary used in the information. I think the levels we checked out this week are more "user friendly" for the majority of my students in seventh grade.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you...I see the Britannica editions as a useful tool for any research my students will do.