Week 2 Britannica

Sunday, October 7, 2012

This lesson focuses on the Britannica editions available in MARVEL. All the resources are linked on the State Library homepage and can be accessed via this alphabetical list. Scroll down to the Britannica edition you are interested in. (Check out the FAQ if you have access questions.)

Britannica offers different interfaces for varying age levels and library types, making it a resource that can be successfully used by kids and adults. Britannica Online also helps make research fun by providing additional features, such as videos and sounds. Even better, great features support all kinds of learning styles, such as a read aloud option for all articles and e-books in the English and Spanish language versions.

Britannica has four online editions—the online learning zone for preK to grade 2, school edition (K-12), public library and academic. Spend some time exploring the edition that you would find useful for your library or classroom.  Pick just one of the lessons below and have fun.

Lesson 2a — Britannica School Edition
Britannica School Edition offers four different sections.

Learning Zone – PreK-2
Elementary
Middle School
High School

Britannica Learning Zone and Britannica Elementary offer a kid-friendly interface that encourages pointing and clicking to find information. It contains pictures, videos and short, easy-to-read articles. Other features include games and teacher resources. An online guide is available for Learning Zone.
Britannica Middle School contains longer articles and more features, such as a citation creator, and timelines. Another online guide that covers all the sections is available.
Britannica High School provides high school and college aged researchers access to encyclopedia content plus primary source documents and e-books. Users can create accounts to save research. Use the online guide above for more information on this resource.

Each section offers teacher resources, learning materials, a workspace for students to save their work, access to the dictionary and a guided tour.

Discovery Exercise:

Create a blog posting discussing the following questions and any other observations you have about Britannica School Edition.

1. Using Britannica Elementary, search for information on a mammal of your choice. Find a picture and information about its habitat.

2. Using Britannica Middle School, search for information on the same mammal you searched in Britannica Elementary and compare the amount of information.

3. Using Britannica High School, search for a country. Notice the types of information available on the right side bar of the results screen. What types of information will be most valuable to your patrons?

4. Using either the Middle or School level, click on Help (top right).  In the index which is on the left side, click on “Working with Articles” and then on “Workspace”.  How useful will this feature be for your students and teachers?

Lesson 2b – Britannica Public Library Edition

Britannica Public Library Edition

Created for public libraries, Britannica Public Library edition contains timelines, quotations, articles, videos and more.  Explore the online guide for more information or watch the short video on the Maine State Library  homepage.

Discovery Exercise:
Create a blog posting discussing the following questions and other observations you have about Britannica Public Library Edition.

1. Using Britannica Public Library Edition, search for information about a current event, such as the Arab Spring.  Notice the 3 sections of the result screen.  Click on any of the articles and read a little about the topic you chose.  Notice the Google Translator at the bottom of the article.  Would this be helpful for any of your patrons?
2. Using Britannica Public Library Edition, click on any one of the Research Tools on the left side of the homepage.  To get back to the homepage, just click on the Britannic Public Library Edition logo at the very top of the page.

3. Now, just explore the other features available on the main page such as the Biography of the Day or This Day in History.  What types of information will be most valuable to your patrons?

Lesson 2c- Britannica Academic Edition

Britannica Academic is very similar to the public library edition.  It contains the same types of research tools and materials as the other interfaces.

Discovery Exercise:
Create a blog posting discussing the following questions and other observations you have about Britannica Academic Edition.

1. Using Britannica Academic Edition, search for information about a current event.  Notice that the result screen is divided into 3 sections.  The middle section contains the list of articles that met your search criteria.  When you scroll over any of the titles, a short overview of the articles appears on the right side of the screen.  Click on any of the articles and read a little about the topic you chose.  Notice the citation style choices at the bottom of the screen.
2. Using Britannica Academic Edition, click on any one of the Research Tools on the left side of the homepage.  To get back to the homepage, just click on the Britannic Academic Edition logo at the very top of the page.

3. Now, explore creating a workspace by clicking on the logo and returning to the homepage.  Tell us briefly how you might use the workspace at your institution.

Explore posts in the same categories: Britannica