World Book Kids – I looked up the eagle – was disappointed
that I couldn't compare one species of eagle to another, and then remembered
that this was a lower grade level database. Sara and I had just been talking
about how to tell an immature bald eagle from a golden eagle! The tools are nice. I think this database would be quite useful
for young students.
World Book Student – I played around with several of the special
feature sections – I looked up Alabama in the explore section (I am going there on
vacation this year), then using some of the other tools, looked at behind the headlines and took some of the
trivia quizzes. This looks like a good
database for students to learn from, but also just to have some fun with.
World Book Advanced – I checked out The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This part really doesn't pertain to me as I have no students, but I think it would be a very useful for
students to use the Back in Time feature to know what other things were
happening and people were doing during that time period.
World Book Discover – I don’t know what students would use,
but I had fun playing around with the Timeline builder. The How to Do Research section was quite
thorough and I liked Visual Dictionary was really interesting.
1b
World Book Online (Public Libraries) for Kids – I went into
Maps and more and since I am going to Alabama, I wanted to see what I could find about certain
areas. In Interactive maps I was able to pull up alabamatravel.org and find out
more about the places I am going and places nearby that we might consider
traveling to.
World Book Online Infofinder – Continuing on my travels to
Alabama, I went into Interactive Earth and Explore the USA and checked out
Alabama! I was able to find even more information, on monuments and historic
sites, some of them even on the island I am going to be on, and plant and
animal life, which since we are going to be birding should be helpful. I can imagine using this to plan many trips.
World Book Online Reference Center – I looked at The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn again
and there was no difference between this one and 1a. We do not have students who
come in and do research, but I can see where this might be helpful for students,
especially as you can download to another device.
1c
World Book Foreign Language Edition – I typed the word "bird" into the search box, and
the only thing that came up was a paragraph on Jack Miner who was an activist
who worked to protect the birds. I used the browse box and there was nothing
under bird. I eventually found that the Spanish word for bird is Ave. There
was an article on how birds live, move, eat, etc. It seems to me that the
browse button is better even though it wasn't quite what I was looking for. After all of this, I went back to the home
page and noticed a nice little icon on the side that said “mundo de animals”.
When I clicked on this icon it was easy! You can choose a bird or animal you
want and either listen, or read about it.
I don’t speak Spanish, but I am sure it would be very nice to listen to
the spoken Spanish.
2. It would be better to use the search box if you know the Spanish term for what you are looking for. I am not seeing a translate button for the search box.
