Lesson 2 SIRS

PART I SIRS Discoverer
I had never gone to this site online and am amazed at all the resources I discovered! I could easily spend a day looking at all the features!
#1 I looked up Shaun White and did not put quotation marks around his name. Without the quotation marks there were articles that were not related but contained the word "white." The quotation marks did help narrow the search. The reading levels of easy, challenging and regular will also narrow the choices. This is a great resource for current information.
#2 The Database Features are wonderful! I researched the country of Mali. The key information of government, history, weather and current facts such as population are all included in a very short and condensed form. A flag and map were included.
The Maps of the World has so many resources. I found maps of several countries and then noticed that there were map activities. I noticed a map for the 2006 Iditarod trail race. That would be a helpful tool if you had a unit on Alaska or the Iditarod Race.
I then decided to look at the Educator's Resources. I would definitely like to print the guide to online research that is provided. What a great source for a teacher to use to help a student discover how to do research with the SIRS Discoverer. I would like to introduce this resource to our staff and find out if they are familiar with SIRS.
The other Database Feature that I chose was the fiction section. I have some ideas of how the teachers could use this or maybe even our students. They come to the libray to check out books but having them read a story on line might be fun for them to do once in awhile.
PART II SIRS Issues Researcher
#1 I chose the topic "Holocaust Denial." It was encouraging to see lists of topics. Some students get bogged down when choosing a topic for a report or paper. The list could be very beneficial.
The question posed for this topic was "Should holocaust denial be punishable by law?" There were several topics under the Yes section as well as several topics under the No section. This would make the researcher look at both sides of the issue. There were 18 articles listed that could be used for information. There were links under the articles. A majority of the articles were written in 2009 and the oldest was 2007. The SIRS Issue Researcher just seems to be a very valuable help that is very conclusive and easy to manage. I would like to suggest this to our high school students.
#2 The Curricululm Pathfinders had so many things that seemed beneficial for educators. The subjects included math, science, social studies, language arts, fine arts, and health. I took a quick look at each of them but took more time with the language arts section. I came across a short video of how to chose a book for a report or research project. This was an excellent resource. A teacher could prepare the same resource but I often think students prefer to see the power point presentations. The biggest problem I see is that you might find something you thought useful but need to organize a method in how to retrieve what you find so you can use it in the future..