Introduction

The Internet is the best research and learning tool that has come along in your lifetime and almost everything about learning and reseach will change because of it.

One of the important characteristics of the Internet is that it is democractic. What does that mean? It means anybody can use it! (Well, anybody with enough resources to have access to a computer.) The democracy of the Internet is both good and bad. Good because it is harder for governments or people with a lot of money to control what we learn. Can you think about why that is so? Bad because anybody can put any old garbage up on the Net, and no one can stop them. Can you think of an example?

This website is an activity to help you learn how to sort through garbage to find the jewels you want for your research projects. This is how to become the Queens of the Internet!

The Quest

What exactly do we do with our brains while trying to learn from the Internet?

The Process and Resources

Read each of the sections below. Take a look at the websites for each section and write the answers to the questions in your notebooks.

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Just ignore this section.

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

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Currency

Remind each other what currency is in this context. Then see if you can agree on the answers to these three questions. (You don't need to write the answers down.) Would currency matter if you were trying to find out when the first rocket was launched into outer space? Would currency matter if you were trying to find out who were the candidates running for president from the Democratic Party? What about if you wanted to learn how wolves communicate? (Stop here to discuss the three questions.)

Now use the links below to answer this question:
How current is the information on these three sites and does it matter?

• The US Constitution
• Earthquakes Hazards Program
• Streets: Write out of the margins

Authority and accuracy

Remind each other what the word authority means.

Now use the links below to answer these questions:
Which site would be the safest to rely on if you wanted to know about how to deal with poison ivy? What makes the one you chose more reliable than the other?

• Outsmarting Poison Ivy and Its Cousins
• What Poison Ivy Looks Like

Point of view

Remind each other what point of view means.

Now write down a sentence or two about the point of view for each of the websites below. List two to four things for each website that helped you figure out its point of view.

• Greater Things
• NAACP

Relevancy

Remind each other what relevancy means.

If you were researching the question, 'When did humans first take flight?' which of the sites below would be the most relevant? For each site write down what words, symbols, or pictures helped you decide?

• Personal Flight History
• Science Museum of London

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus

Ignore this section.

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback

Now think of a question you have about one of our research topics (or something else if a question happens to be bugging you right now). Find three websites on that topic and think about whether they are 1) current, 2)authoritative and accurate, 3) have a point of view that won't hurt your search, and 4) are relevant to your question. Send me an email with the urls for each site and write a short paragraph about each stating what you think. I will forward the email on to your father or mother after I've seen it. They will be excited to share what you have learned and to see your hard work.

Your Contact is: the designated contact

Conclusion

So now with all that thinking and searching, have you developed the skills you need to be Queens of the Internet? Why not write about that in your journals at the end of the day?