Web sites for Teachers

Start with the research site that will help you and your students navigate the web and get what you are looking for fast. This site has a step by step process that you can teach your students –either on line or by making a hard copy:

Meta Search engines are search engines that search multiple search engines and deletes duplicate results. This approach yields a more thorough search.

This is a new search engine that hunts through 200 million pages to find a request, often in less than a second. The entry “engaged student learning” found 124,880 sites in .34 seconds. : www.alltheweb.com

Developing Depth of Research: The Invisible Web Databases

Information need	Specialized resources
authoritative information, often from academic sources	Google indexes Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) documents
pointers to "invisible web" databases	Direct Search links to sites not retrieved by standard engines Search Engines and News provides categorized database lists
magazine articles	ProQuest, UnCover
data	Statistical Resources, Nueva's Statistical Information Help Page
curriculum for K-12 teachers	PacBell's Blue Web'n, Kathy Schrock's Guide
kids' sites for k-12 subjects	StudyWeb, Homework Central
primary source "digital libraries"	Perseus Project, California Heritage, American Memory
world and regional maps	Map Machine (National Geographic), Excite Maps , Mapquest
Usenet, e-mail & Web forums	Deja.Com: Power Search
virtual librarians	KidsConnect, Internet Public Library Reference staff, Debbie , Marilyn, Infobrokers
online mentors	Ask the Experts
global or local businesses	Switchboard, HotBot , Yahoo,
interviews	Debbie
biographies, autobiographies	Lives, Biographical Dictionary, Biography.com,
people	AltaVista, Infospace, Yahoo People Search,, Usenet-addresses @MIT, Internet Address Finder, Phone Book Server (universities)

Choose the best search for your information need.

Information need	Search strategy
I need a few good hits fast.	Google returns important, relevant hits quickly with bold terms; pages cached in case the site's down. Weighs "collective judgement"¹ of links in highly ranked pages. Meta search engines ² 1. Vivismo can phrase or boolean search major engines, then clusters documents into a hierarchy. No paid listings. 2. Ixquick uses refined searching (phrases, boolean, wildcards, capitals) and returns results ranked in the engines' top ten. About 10% paid listings.
I have a general broad academic subject and need to focus it.	Infomine high-quality directory; librarian-selected with flexible search options Librarians' Index to the Internet - "thinking person's Yahoo"³frequently updated Teoma organizes results by grouping into topic folders at the top, as well as listings of relevant authoritative sites and expert or "hub" links. Northern Light ⁴an engine that catagorizes results into folders by concept, document and site type. Encyclopaedia Britannica has a topic article and selectiveWeb links, as does the more concise Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
I have a general popular or commercial topic and need to focus it.	Yahoo a "tree" of unreviewed user submissions, thus has a commercial focus dmoz "tree" maintained by volunteer editors (AOL owns) GO focuses on entertainment, recreation, leisure and lifestyle (Disney owns)
I have general keyword(s) and need help refining my search strategy.	HotBot SuperSearch's template helps you create a Boolean or phrase search, or limit by media type, date, domain, etc. FAST Search Advance Search ² template casts a fast, wide net. Surf Wax "Focus" to refines term before you search; "SiteSnap" abstract to review content before you go Excite suggests word lists to refine your first search term; identify a successful hit to bring up other on-target results. Altavista suggests phrase search terms on your results page.
I need a better idea of what is available.	Start by searching a term in Researchville. The results page, which looks just like the previous page, pre-configures the search for each link. Click on a link to perform the search, then return to the page to repeat the process.
I bet this search has been done before.	Ask Jeeves! database of answers to natural language questions Direct Hit a "popularity engine" which ranks your hits based on other searchers' behaviors.
I need quality, evaluated pathfinders prepared by a subject expert.	About.com popular/commercial subject guides AlphaSearch points to gateways for a subject, discipline or idea WWW Virtual Library search or browse subject-organized full-text documents, databases and gateways Argus Clearinghouse librarian/academic subject guides BUBL LINK- organized by Dewey number (European focus) Scirus is a specialized Science search engine
I need balanced information from verified sources for a school research project to take home.	Nueva's Library catalog is geared to the school's curriculum
I want to search on often-ignored words in a phrase (e.g. "Vitamin A" or "to be or not to be").	Infoseek and AltaVista includes little words (such as a, to, be, not )in the search
I need a pinpoint search using a unique phrase or word.	AltaVista works best for needle-in-the-haystack search for unique word or phrase (Himalayan cat not cat)
I need information on a proper name (a place, person, or object).	AltaVista and Infoseek search with capital letters to force an exact case match on the entire word (e.g. Al Gore and NeXT) A person search on HotBot SuperSearch will retrieve the name in both reversed and normal order (e.g. Picasso, Pablo and Pablo Picasso)
I need biographical information.	Biographical Dictionary - quick identification of a name Biography.com - paragraph-length biographies Lives links to biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives and oral histories
I need US government information.	First Gov is the portal for the U.S. Government, with links to state and local government.
I need hard-to-find or late-breaking news.	1st Headlines searches current news headlines and can be refined by topic, country, breaking news. YahooNews updates continuously from newswires Moreover gathers headlines from 1,800 online news sources Northern Light Current News updates headlines, weather, and sports continuously; can search two weeks archive News Index refreshes hourly
I need fuller coverage of news from magazine or newspaper articles.	Yahoo Full Coverage gains you expertise through selection and organization by editors AJR NewsLink links to US/Canada newspapers and magazines News Directory links to worldwide English language media BBC Advanced Search Archive PBS Online NewsHour TotalNEWS and Northern Light search current news UnCover free search of large current multidisciplinary journal index, but full-text delivery is fee-based
I need accurate, objective information on hot topics.	Social Issues - Multnomah County Library's Homework Center BIOTN compiled by Catholic university librarians about controversial current events issues (e.g. gun control, human rights, censorship)
I want perspectives from other countries and regions.	Regional and local search engines and country-specific Web directories located around the world.
I need statistical data.	Statistical Information help page at Nueva
I need almanac-type information.	Information Please (almanac facts) CIA World Factbook (country facts)
I need a short reference information.	xrefer searches and interlinks encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations and reference works.
I need primary sources.	Online Digital Library links US focus: American Memory, U.S. History, California Heritage Ancient Greece: Perseus Project,
I need images and sounds (photos, art, designs, logos, videos, music, noises), media types (Java, VRML) or file extensions (.gif)	Google Image Search over 150 million digital images. Amazing Picture Machine (NCREL) ClassroomClipart suitable for K-12 American Memory US historical images and sounds; search by formats (maps, motion pictures, photos and prints, sound recordings) Fine arts: ADAM, FAMSF, SILS Lycos MultiMedia or AltaVista images, audio, video FindSounds locates sound effects and sample sounds HotBot SuperSearch template for media types and technologies WebSEEk at Columbia catalogues images and videos Jacob Richman has compiled an list of quality picture/art sites.
I need free or inexpensive software.	SoftCrawler is a metasearch of shareware sites.
I need a map.	TIGER Map Service maps for Web pages from U.S.Census National Geographic Map Machine - printable country, physical and political maps, star charts MapQuest interactive service for driving directions Cartography Links
I need a quotation.	The Quotations Page Quoteland Quotations Archive, Search Creative Quotations, Bartlett (1901)
I want to get advice and opinions from others.	Opinion-Pages editorials and columnists from newspapers and magazines Ask Kids' Connect question answering and referral by librarians AskA+ authoritative, non-commercial experts, suitable for K-12 Pitsco's Ask an Expert volunteers with varying levels of expertise Liszt catalogs discussion groups by topics Google Usenet Advanced Search searches newsgroups
I need a virtual librarian.	KidsConnect, Internet Public Library Reference, Debbie, Marilyn
I want notice of new sites as they're announced.	Scout Report Signpost reviews of new sites not yet listed on expert sites
I've got a good search to rerun automatically.	Informant repeats your search, sends e-mail when hits change. Excite's NewsTracker tracks your news topic, refining search based on results Northern Light Search Alert Service runs your search on large database
I want to see sites just for kids.	KidsClick! Yahooligans! Ithaki metasearches Dmoz Kids, Yahooligans, and others.

By far the most popular choice among the readers of eSchool magazine was Artemis Digital Library, an online collection specifically designed for middle and high school students.

At the site: http://cu.classroom.com/logon.asp you will be asked for your login name : _________and your password: ___________. ( See Dave for the name and password) Use this and it will open up a world of resources you won’t believe. You can take courses on line, get a huge resource library on any subject as well as lesson plan ideas, etc… Hit the library button to discover the search for whatever you are looking for, the recipes4success section has a number of self – instructed lessons on using technology in your lessons. Make sure you check out the project gallery- it is loaded with interactive websites on all kinds of topics from Shakespeare to earth science! This is a site that would cost hundreds of dollars that we are getting free through NHEEP… use it!

A Huge Educational Web Site with a great Search Engine!

This is your gateway to the Internet. You can check out your free software downloads, search the 5000 reviewed education web sites (to your left), discover our resources, learn to search the web, add 3000 education bookmarks to your browser, and sign on to have our newsletter and 100 web site reviews delivered to your e-mail address each month and much, much more. Thank you for being a part of our community and enjoy your time here. Last Updated January 11 2001

Busy teachers looking for curriculum links will find that Teachers@Work has done the research for them. This site is a rich resource with more than 5,000 educational Web sites that have been reviewed and meet the 23 criteria for quality. All the links are annotated, categorized by curriculum area, and assigned an appropriate grade level. Other freebies at the site include acceptable use policies, recommendations for server software and hardware, descriptions of network architecture, recommendations for connecting to the Internet and publishing your own Web pages, and links to agencies filling teaching vacancies in several countries. The Teacher's Toolkit links to a variety of free and inexpensive tools for teachers.

The Discovery School.com site provides innovative teaching materials, useful and enjoyable resources, and smart advice about learning. It is constantly being updated- a must see site!

use the name: lakegeorge and the password: teacher to practice and then make your own page if you like it. The homepage, http://school.discovery.com/ has puzzle-makers, lesson plans and ed links for you as well.

Here are some of the more extensive portals to begin a search in a particular area :

Art	Business	English	Foreign Language
Math Sites	Science Sites	Music Sites
GED Prep	Health	Social Studies	Technology
Miscellanious Websites for Teachers & Differentiation		The Brain and Learning

	CONTENT: The Flashcard Exchange offers teachers and students a tool for creating flashcards and sharing them with their class or friends. A free account allows users to create and study flashcards but a small, one-time fee is charged for printing, downloading, and advanced study options.
	SITE DESIGN: The site is simply designed and intuitive to use. Visitors should be able to jump right in creating and using the flashcards. The main page directory groups the available flashcards into ten broad categories with subcategories listed. An online search tool is also available. The flashcards are also available in four languages; English, Spanish, German, and Chinese.
	REVIEW: Teachers, students, parents, and homeschoolers will find this site to be a useful tool. There are currently more than three million flashcards stored and catalogued at the site. Categories include early education, elementary school, high school, higher education, science, medicine, trades and occupations, information technology, more than thirty languages, and miscellaneous. The wide range of topics includes math, vocabulary, social studies, SAT and GED practice, music, economics, and many more. Users can create their own flashcards, test themselves online, and share the flashcards with the Internet community if desired. By paying a small fee, they also have the option of printing the flashcards in a variety of formats, exporting the cards to Word or Excel, placing images on the cards, and advanced study options.