SEARCHING INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNET AND WEB PAGES

Introduction

 

Taken from: http://dis-lb.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/internet-006.jpg

Welcome!

This web quest was created to provide information about safety and accurate Internet search using boolean operators.  It was applied during the third term of 2017 to seventh grade students having in mind the need detected during the previous year regarding the use of internet to request information at San Bartolomé La Merced School.  

Throughout this website students will know step by step other ways to find information using not only "Wikipedia", but also specialized websites like:  encyclopedias, libraries, magazines, tutorials, academic documents, among others;  all of them are focused on the same topic:  The Internet (history, basic structure, services, and website creation).

But before to start searching for information, it is important to know that there are other ways to develop this task.  There are other sources of information besides the web to find information, such as subject matter experts, or physical places where students can also make consultations like the library for example, where they can go directly to the book, newspaper, magazine, video, etc.  Another place they could visit to consult information could be historical places where specific information can be found here that is not so easy to find using others resources.

Now let`s start with the aim of this page, which is to find information using Internet sources.

Let´s go!

 

Task

1.  SEARCHING INFORMATION USING BOOLEAN OPERATORS AND SYMBOLS

Boolean operators and symbols facilitate and establish search limits to reduce the number of results you can find and avoid topics different to the one required;  some of them are:

  • Quotation marks "":  This symbol will help you to search exactly the word or phrase that you need to find, avoiding diverting attention in other subjects you are not interested in.  That is how when writing "what is Internet?", the search will be reduced to only definitions of Internet, making your request precise.
  • AND:  This is a boolean operator that links two definitions or sentences in a search;  for instance, if the consultation is about web sites and web pages one way to write it would be:  "What is a web page?" and "what is a website?".  In this case the results obtained will include pages with both terms:  definition for web page and web sites.
  • OR:  This is another boolean operator that helps you to search in pages that have any of the terms written.  For example, if the expressions for the consultation are as follow:  "What is a web page?" or "What is a web site?" it will show pages where one of these two terms appear.
  • NOT:  Is an operator that exclude terms from your search results.  In consequence, if you write "Internet services" NOT "Internet company", it will avoid companies to provide Internet services.

1.1.  TASK 1.  After reading the information above, use boolean operators as it is shown in the following table and write your own conclusions (two paragraphs) in a word document about searching information this way.

  • “¿What is Internet?” AND “history of internet”
  • “internet structure” or “internet services”
  • “what is a webpage?” and “what is a website?”
  • “how to create a webpage?” and “how to create a website?”
  • "types of websites" OR "websites classification"
  • "how to make a website?" or “What do you need to create a website?”
  • “What is HTML?”

1. 2  TASK 2.  According to the information found in the previous task about the history of Internet, design a mind map using one of the following websites:  www.bubbl.us, www.mindomo.com, or cmaptools.  Explain the main facts about Internet history and dates.

Remember:  a mind map must include the following elements shown in the image:

  

Taken from:  

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/be/0a/d9/be0ad944fd6b796…

 

2.  SEARCHING FOR ACADEMIC INFORMATION

There is a way to find academic information, that is by using https://scholar.google.es/.  This is part of google, but was created to supply pdf documents with public domain and has an academic purpose.

 

2.1 TASK 3:  Using academic google and an application like Power Point, Powtoon, Prezi or Cincopa, create a presentation explainning:  

     -  The structure of an IP address in Internet

     -  Internet services

     -  Difference between a web site and a web page

     -  The meaning of HTML

 

3.  SEARCHING IN ENCYCLOPEDIAS, MAGAZINES, AND DICTIONARIES

Another resource used to limit your search and find accurate information is the use of websites with information that can not be modified by other users in an informal way, which is the case of wikis like Wikipedia.  Information placed in encyclopedias, dictionaries, magazines, newspapers needs to be verified before to be part of these kind of publications.

 

3.1 TASK 4. In groups of 4 people use the following encyclopedias and dictionaries to find information about Internet services.  After that, write your answers in Padlet.com.

-  TECHTERM.COM

-  TECHTARGET.COM

-  http://www.internetglosario.com/

-  WEBOPEDIA.COM

-  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/computer-science

 

3.2  TASK 5.  Using one of the following magazines, select a new concerned to Internet and create a poster to explain it in Photoshop.

-  http://www.computerworld.com/

-  http://latam.pcmag.com/

-  https://www.wired.com/

-  http://www.pcworld.com/

 

4.  SEARCHING IN A SPECIALIZED WEBSITE:

4.1  TASK 6:  Enter to www.echoecho.com and and create a glossary in word explainning the function of the following codes: 

<HTML>, <HEAD>, <BODY>, <IMG>, <FONT>, <BG-COLOR>, <BACKGROUND>, <A-HREF>, <I-FRAME>, <BR>, <P>, <B>

 

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated during the process when solving each activity.  In addition, they will have a quiz to assess the comprehension of concepts in thatquiz.org and a virtual forum to reflect and discuss topics  regarding the ethic use of technology.

Conclusion

Students developed activities according to the planning proposed at the beginning of the third term.  Most of the activities were uploaded to one drive where each class have a group to share information.

For some students it was difficult to read instructions and follow them.  They used to ask questions to the teacher constantly, but the teacher forced them to read and try to understand instructions again, until they found the answers. 

After some exercises it was easier for them to follow instructions promoting autonomy, developing reading comprehension and writing skills, enhancing cooperative learning, solving problems, and accuracy when manipulating computer technology tools.

Providing technology resources and strategies to search for information in a certain way to students, is relevant to guide them and have other ways to search the appropriate information.

Teacher Page

Creado por:  Cira Lucheta R.

Docente Informática

Colegio San Bartolomé La Merced

Bogotá - Colombia

Marzo 6 de 2017