Lesson 4 2015

Advanced Challenge
SIRS Discoverer
1. A third grader who reads below grade level needs articles on the solar system for a school project. How would you find appropriate materials for this student, and what are your results? (Hint: Advanced Search is useful here.)  Thanks for the hint. I went to the advanced search and put in solar system, then I marked only easy (green) and arranged it by Lexile scores. I came up with 47 results with Lexiles between 510L and 1290L, because this student reads below grade level I would probably stick with the top four that have have reading lexiles below 700L.

2. What are two ways you can use SIRS Discoverer to find maps/images of volcanoes? How many results did you get with each? The first way was to do a keyword search for volcanoes and then I clicked on the graphics tab which showed 151 graphics of volcanoes. The next search I did was for the words map and volcanoes. I got back 16 specific graphic maps for volcanoes. There were also over 200 articles in which I could also find maps. The second way was to use the subject tree search for science. Then I clicked on geography and geology. Then the subtopic of volcanoes. Through this process I found 184 graphics. What this showed me was not to just rely on one way to find information.

SIRS Issues Researcher1. A committee of teachers needs good websites about suicide prevention for teens. How do you help them using SIRS Issues Researcher? I would show them the A-List and the search engine, then after they find suicide, prevention I would have them click on the 5 websites in the left hand box so they could check out the websites. Is this a better way to search for web sites than using a search engine such as Google? Why or why not? This is a better way to search because they are vetted by educators and are safe. This is important when you're working with schools.

2. Recent drought is causing your town to consider restrictions on water use. Citizens disagree about the need for restrictions. What subjects would you search in SIRS Issues Researcher to provide information for civic discussion? This was a fun one to figure out. I went to leading issues. There I found a topic of water use which led me to a great page which had the pro/con issues and essential questions. Exactly what I was looking for. There was also an interactive USGS Groundwater Data for the Nation link. I went to South Dakota just to see what was there and you can really find a lot of information. How neat.
I think a lot of people would be amazed by how much information our libraries have available to them. The public can go in and access this information for free. There is no better bargain than our libraries.