http://support.ebsco.com/training/flash_videos/KidsSearchInterface.html
Click here Kids Search tutorial on EBSCOhost to take a look at KidsSearch database on EBSCOhost.
Learning to use databases is an invaluable and critical research tool for students and teachers. Students need to be turning in research obtained from databases frequently. Databases are designed for the youngest age users (Ex: KidsSearch and Searchasaurus on EBSCOhost) up through the highest levels of academia. They are growing increasingly user-friendly and usually have excellent tutorials. The school librarian can collaborate with teachers on units to teach and reinforce database searching skills. Students adapt to these quickly when asked to use them!
In order to try out a few academic databases and different search strategies, I decided to conduct 4 different type searches on 4 different databases. Some of these databases are available through your school district or local public library.
MY TOPIC: As a school librarian, I desire to find useful Web 2.0 technology for teachers to utilize to enhance student achievement in meeting content area standards.
SEARCH #1: ERIC/EBSCOhost STRATEGY: Building Block
Search Terms: I narrowed my query down to the following search terms and entered each term or string:
s1=School librarian or school librar* or school media specialist Results: 8477 hits
s2=teacher or educator Results: 405, 032 hits
s3=Web 2.0 Results: 348 hits
Search: When I combined each of these search terms or strings together with the Boolean connecter AND, the end result was 8 hits. s1 AND s2 AND s3 =8 hits
The second article looked particularly useful for my topic: Student Inquiry and Web 2.0 By: Berger, Pam. School Library Monthly, v26 n5 p14-17 Jan 2010. (EJ874143)
Feeling I may need to broaden my search topic a bit, I decided that Web 2.0 may be too specific. I broadened the search by adding “social network*” which expanded the results to 20 hits. Several of these looked like very useful sources.
