January 24th, 2013

Basic Challenge

Questions 1 and 2: I looked for information on koalas. Both World Book Kids and World Book Students had photos and a video clip. World Book Students had more information at a higher level as well as more media (there was a map and more pictures). I also discovered that when you use the “tiles” in Kids, students can access a “quick facts” sheet and an article. If you search in Kids using the search function, students only get the article. Both Kids and Students allow students to hear the article read aloud and also both have translation features for non-English speakers. World Book Kids also has a “compare animals” feature which puts two animals side by side. This is a wonderful feature. Lastly, I like the feature in World Book Students where you can pull up results from World Kids and World Book Students and see results side by side.

Question 3: I searched for information on Germany. On the left side, results were listed by specific category, and showed many categories including Encyclopedia articles, court cases, e-books, etc. The right side separated the results into two large categories, primary sources and e-books. I think the left side makes it easier for users to find exactly what they are looking for.

Because I am a K-5 teacher, World Book Advanced is too high level for my students. Anything elementary kids need to access can likely be found in World Book Students or World Book Kids.

Question 4: World Book Discoverer has a translation feature which allows text to be translated into virtually any language using the drop down menu. This makes the text accessible to learners who speak a variety of languages.  

Common Core Connections

I have been using World Book Kids with my second grade students to explore the 5 classes of vertebrate animals. Students are reading and listening to articles about each type of animal (mammal, fish, reptile, bird, and amphibian), recording two facts learned about each animal, and drawing a sketch of each animal. This activity covers the speaking and listening standard SL2.2 “Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media”.