I spent a good chunk of November working with both seventh and eighth graders on the use of online resources. I demoed many databases for them, including Gale Infotrac, Ebsco, Historical Newspapers (ProQuest). Although I would rather do the teaching in such a manner that they get to do some sample searching along with my showing, we are running short on computer space. Even my standing up and showing them is more than what we've had in the past. I was able to talk with them about sorting by relevancy rather than recency.
One of the things I love best about recommending databases is that I can tell kids that they don't have to check the source the way they do with a random web search. The fact that an article was included in the database means that someone has already selected it as a reliable resource.
Another thing that I'm really proud of is the fact that Minnesota has such a great statewide agreement to provide so many databases for free for all citizens. ELM is truly amazing - I can see why some people are working so hard to communicate it to a broader audience. I hope we don't lose this in the upcoming rounds of financial tightening.
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