THE TOP FIVE of the TOP TEN
| Lesson Plans | Rubrics | Content Areas | Collaborative Projects | Virtual Excursions |
| WebQuests | Search Engines | Educational Updates | Reference Information | Just For Fun! |
Lesson Plans
One of the best lesson plan sites!
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/
Absolutely my favorites—the lessons themselves are always solid.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/index.html
Includes a searchable database of lesson plans plus the “Lesson Plan of the Day”—always relevant, always very good with all supporting materials at your fingertip.
If you only see one, this is it!
Rubrics
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
RubiStar is a tool to help the teacher who wants to use rubrics, but does not have the time to develop them from scratch.
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/trubrics.htm
Excellent collection of rubrics—tried and tested.
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/
The generators on this site allow you to make grading rubrics by filling out a simple form. The materials are made instantly and can be printed directly from your computer. Your creations are exclusive to you. If you would like to keep your creations, save them when you make them.
http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/Education/Rubrics/
Comprehensive list of information about rubrics!
http://www.kathimitchell.com/rubric.html
Content Areas
http://www.marcopolo-education.org/home.aspx
Thanks to the folks at Emerging Technologies, you will be here for hours!
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/
Wow, just a great site from a great librarian!
Easily searchable, from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
From the famous “Kathy Schrock”
http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/amazing.html
700 great teacher sites!
http://techtraining.dpsk12.org/newtchr/5-Content_Sites.htm
Collaborative Projects
Don't miss this opportunity to connect your students with peers around the world. From Kuwait to China, this easy-to-use format brings cultural connections to your students in a personal, real-time environment.
http://www.k12science.org/currichome.html
Fabulous projects focused on math and science!
Here's a hotlist of Internet projects that you can join. Another resource on this website is a list of mentors who are available to help you with the integration and application of technological resources into the school curriculum.
http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/
The “mother” page of global projects!
Global School Net's Project Registry: The place to go to find collaborative projects
Virtual Excursions
Tour
of Countries and Cities of the World
Go anywhere, see anything—the trip is on us!
The Smithsonian Institute.
An exhaustive collection of museums and exhibits.
Franklin Institute Museums Hotlist
This hotlist links to science museums, natural history museums, and other cultural
institutions.
Virtual Field Trips and Tours
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/virtual.html
http://www.field-guides.com/trips.htm
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Travel/Virtual_Field_Trips/
http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/trips.html
http://sesd.sk.ca/teacherresource/virtualtour/virtualtours.htm
Web Cams
http://www.rt66.com/~ozone/cam2.htm
EarthCams
This site has more cams than there is tea in China: People cams, restaurant
cams, traffic cams, weird cams... you name it, they've got it.
A complete list of North American Live weather cams
Control the web cam at various insect zoo exhibits
Web cams in African game preserves.
http://biology.about.com/science/biology/cs/animalcams/index.htm - Wild Kingdoms – here’s a site that maintains a ready index of thematically related links for animal cams.
http://www.steveweb.com/80clicks - or, for a more extensive, preplanned tour, Around The World In 80 Clicks moves you from midtown Manhattan and lets you move around the globe through 80 stops, culminating your whirlwind trip in New York. This site keeps track of where you’ve been so you can take the tour on your planning period and resume wherever you left off.
WebQuests
From San Diego State University, a matrix of selections, broken down by K-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12, and adult. Appropriately named The WebQuest Page. This site, developed by Bernie Dodge, is the perfect starting point for learning about WebQuest. The WebQuest model was developed in 1995 by Bernie Dodge and Tom March of San Diego State University. The site features training resources, templates, rubrics, and WebQuest collections.
http://www.edhelper.com/cat311.htm
From the EdHelper, extensive collection of good webquests.
http://www.spa3.k12.sc.us/WebQuests.html
See what other teachers create!
http://www.emtech.net/webquests.html
Huge collection of lists from EmTech.
http://infusion.allconet.org/webquest/hswebquests.html
http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/wqmatrix.html
http://www.manteno.k12.il.us/webquest/
http://techtraining.dpsk12.org/tie/tie-wq/
Search Engines
AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com
AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the web, in
terms of pages indexed. Its comprehensive coverage and wide range of power
searching commands makes it a particular favorite among researchers. In addition
to crawler-based web page matches, it also offers news search, shopping search,
multimedia search and human-powered directory results from LookSmart. AltaVista
opened in December 1995. It was owned by Digital, then run by Compaq (which
purchased Digital in 1998), then spun off into a separate company that is now
controlled by CMGI.
Google
http://www.google.com
Google is a search engine that makes heavy use of link popularity as a primary
way to rank web sites. This can be especially helpful in finding good sites
in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel," because
users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking to them.
The system works so well that Google has gained widespread praise for its high
relevancy. Google also has a huge index of the web and provides some results
to Yahoo and Netscape Search.
Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com
Yahoo is the web's most popular search service and has a well-deserved reputation
for helping people find information easily. The secret to Yahoo's success is
human beings. It is the largest human-compiled guide to the web, employing
about 150 editors in an effort to categorize the web. Yahoo has well over 1
million sites listed. Yahoo also supplements its results with those from Google
(beginning in July 2000, when Google takes over from Inktomi). If a search
fails to find a match within Yahoo's own listings, then matches from Google
are displayed. Google matches also appear after all Yahoo matches have first
been shown. Yahoo is the oldest major web site directory, having launched in
late 1994.
AllTheWeb.com (FAST)
http://www.alltheweb.com
An excellent crawler-based search engine, All The Web provides both comprehensive coverage of the web and outstanding relevancy. If you tried Google and didn't find it, All The Web should probably be next on your list. Indeed, it's a first stop search engine, for some.
In addition to web page results, AllTheWeb.com provides the ability to search for news stories, pictures, video clips, MP3s and FTP files. The site is operated by FAST and used as a showcase for FAST's search technology. AllTheWeb.com/FAST results are also provided to other search sites around the world, with its strongest partnership being with Terra Lycos. AllTheWeb.com launched in May 1999.
MSN Search
http://search.msn.com
Microsoft is known for constantly reworking its software products until they get them right, and MSN Search is a shining example of the company putting that same effort into an online product. In particular, the company has its own team of editors that monitors the most popular searches being performed and then hand-picks sites that are believed to be the most relevant. After performing a search, "Popular Topics" shown below the search box on the results page are also suggestions built largely by editors to guide you into making a more refined search. When appropriate, search results may also feature links to encyclopedia content from Microsoft Encarta or news headlines, at the top of the page.
Of course, humans editors can't do everything, so MSN Search also relies on search providers for answers to many of its queries. Usually, it will be human-powered results from the LookSmart directory that dominate the page. Unlike when MSN editors are involved, these human-powered results are not hand-picked to match a query. Instead, MSN uses its own search algorithm to sift through all the listings from LookSmart to automatically find answers that are believed to be best.
For more obscure queries, crawler-based results from Inktomi are provided. By the way, if you'd prefer to get "pure" Inktomi results via MSN Search, you'll need to use the MSN Search Advanced Search page.
Overall, MSN Search provides a blend of human-powered directory information and crawler coverage different from any of the other top choices listed above. It's a high quality resource that provides its own unique view of the web and one worth checking.
AOL Search
http://aolsearch.aol.com (internal)
http://search.aol.com/ (external)
AOL Search provides users with editorial listings that come Google's crawler-based index. Indeed, the same search on Google and AOL Search will come up with very similar matches. So, why would you use AOL Search? Primarily because you are an AOL user. The "internal" version of AOL Search provides links to content only available within the AOL online service. In this way, you can search AOL and the entire web at the same time. The "external" version lacks these links. Why wouldn't you use AOL Search? If you like Google, many of Google's features such as "cached" pages are not offered by AOL Search.
HotBot provides easy access to the web's four major crawler-based search engines: AllTheWeb.com/FAST, Google, Inktomi and Teoma, all of which are described elsewhere on this page. Unlike a meta search engine, it cannot blend the results from all of these crawlers together. Nevertheless, it's a fast, easy way to get different web search "opinions" in one place.
The "4-in-1" option at HotBot was introduced in December 2002. However, HotBot has a long history as a search brand before this date.
HotBot debuted in May 1996, it gained a strong following among serious searchers for the quality and comprehensiveness of its crawler-based results, which were provided by Inktomi, at the time. It also caught the attention of experienced web users and techies, especially for the unusual colors and interface it continues to sport today.
HotBot gained more notoriety when it switched over to using Direct Hit's "clickthrough" results for its main listings in 1999. Direct Hit was then one of the "hot" search engines that had recently appeared. Unfortunately, the quality of Direct Hit's results couldn't match those of another "hot" player that had debuted at the same time, Google. HotBot's popularity began to drop.
Even worse, HotBot also suffered by being owned by Lycos (now Terra Lycos). Lycos had acquired HotBot when it purchased Wired Digital in October 1998. Lycos failed to make search a priority on its flagship Lycos site as well as HotBot through much of 1999 and 2000, as it focused instead on adding "portal" features. The company refocused on search in late 2001, making significant improvements to the Lycos site and, as noted, reworked the HotBot site at the end of 2002.
Teoma is a crawler-based search engine owned by Ask Jeeves. It has a smaller index of the web than its rival crawler-competitors Google, AllTheWeb.com, Inktomi and AltaVista. However, being large doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to popular queries, and Teoma's won praise for its relevancy since it appeared in 2000. Some people also like its "Refine" feature, which offers suggested topics to explore after you do a search. The "Resources" section of results is also unique, pointing users to page that specifically serve as link resources about various topics. Teoma was purchased by Ask Jeeves in September 2001 and also provides some results to that web site.
LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com
LookSmart is primarily a human-compiled directory of web sites. The cool feature of LookSmart can be found via its Articles tab. That provides access to content from thousands of periodicals.
Lycos
http://www.lycos.com
Lycos is one of the oldest search engines on the web, launched in 1994. It provides access to human-powered results from LookSmart for popular queries and crawler-based results from Yahoo for others. The “Fast Forward” feature lets you see search results in one side of your screen and the actual pages listed in another. Relevant categories of human-compiled information from the Open Directory appear at the bottom of the search results page.
Big Search Engine Index
http://www.search-engine-index.co.uk/
Hundreds of search engines organized into categories.
DirectoryGuide
http://www.siteowner.com/dgdefault.cfm
Hundreds of search engines and directories, organized into categories. Use the guide to find a likely service for your search, or follow links to post information about your web site.
SearchBug.com
http://www.searchbug.com
Collection of search and reference sites, ranging from reverse phone number searches to package tracking, as well as covering the major search engines. Formerly called Search-It-All.
Search Engine Colossus
http://www.searchenginecolossus.com
Lists search engines worldwide.
Educational Updates
T.H.E. journal is a comprehensive on-line magazine designed to give information to teachers, from the National Associations of Educational Technology Specialists.
http://www.electronic-school.com/
One of the best – completely available on-line, monthly publication.
http://www.techlearning.com/content/about/tl_current.html
From the Technology Learning Network, a must see each month.
Reference Information
http://www.itools.com/research-it/
If you were going to give your students JUST ONE SITE for reference materials, this is it. Complete with dictionary, thesaurus, biographical dictionary, Bartlett's quotations, maps, CIA factbook on countries, and a currency converter.
http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/reference/
From Purdue University, this reference page is a broad and comprehensive list of links taking you just where you want to go.
Their motto: "Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it," this site gives vital information for any student or teacher-headline news, today in history, today's fact, today's science question, ask the experts, dictionary, picture of the day, crosswords-WOW, this one is great!
Used extensively, this site offers almanacs, archives, bibliographies, books, flags, libraries, maps, museums, writing style guides, and even parliamentary procedures!
http://highschoolace.com/ace/ace.cfm
http://www.infoplease.com/homework
Reference and Research
Copyright Tips and Issues http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/online/copy.htm
The Cyberlibrarians’ Rest Stop http://www.angelfire.com/in/virtuallibrarian/
Electronic Reference Desk Tons of research tools http://scholes.alfred.edu/ref_desk/ref.html
The Exploding Dictionary http://www.hyperdictionary.com/
General Reference Hotlist http://www.educationindex.com/genref/
Internet Public Library Read online books, magazines and newspapers; do research and browse Web links. http://www.ipl.org/
Librarian's Guide to the Internet A subject directory of more than 10,000 resources http://www.lii.org/
Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus Graphically shows words with similar meanings. http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/index.html
A Research Guide for Students Lots of sites students can go to to get specific help in a lot of areas. http://geocities.com/researchguide/
So you have to do a Research Project? http://www.ri.net/schools/East_Greenwich/research.html
Just For Fun!
http://www.geocities.com/uselessinfocentral/
Very fun, very ridiculous!
http://www.urban75.com/Mag/bubble.html
Oh, you have to try this!
http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/
The Falling Sand Game!
http://www.uselessfacts.net/
Very fun, very ridiculous, a little more academic!
http://laughternet.nzpages.net.nz