Encyclopedia Britannica - High School Edition
The Encyclopedia Britannica – High School Online Edition
Grades: 9-12 | Subject(s): All | Overall rating: 10
When you say the word “encyclopedia,” the name Britannica immediately comes to mind. So, I know that when I begin this review, I’m examining one of the most reputable encyclopedias on the market. My expectations were set really high, and the Encyclopedia Britannica – High School Online Edition did not disappoint. I would also like to note that the Encyclopedia Britannica offered a version of the online encyclopedia tailored for Elementary students and a different version for Middle School students.
I began my review by perusing the home page. The home page featured a featured article, a brief description of a historical event of the day, a list of new and revised articles, a featured video, a word cloud to identify the most popular searches, links for news from the New York Times, and menu options available to browse articles, media, biographies, the world atlas, compare countries, tour the United States, or view interactive resources. The featured video and article were eye-catching, and the site seemed easy to navigate.
Then, I decided to conduct a simple search using the search bar along the top of the site. Because we recently passed September 11th, I elected to use “9/11” as the subject for my search. The search produced a quick list of articles and multimedia items related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I clicked the first article in the search and was pleasantly surprised by both the depth of information provided and the graphics and multimedia options made available for the user. Additionally, one feature proved to be very helpful from a teaching prospective. Three tabs were labeled at the top of the screen – Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. After further review, I realized the images and multimedia options were the same; however, the text complexity ranged from Level 1 (lower level for struggling readers) to Level 3 (advanced vocabulary and text suited for the gifted learner). This would be very helpful for a teacher attempting to differentiate instructional resources. Every student would see (for the most part) the same screen, the same images, the same videos, and read the same ideas but on a more individualized reading level.
After reviewing the articles presented on 9/11, I decided to explore the different views of the Encyclopedia Britannica – High School Online Edition. I navigated back to the home page, and clicked the word “Student” at the top right of the screen. The user interfaced divided into three sections: Browse (you could select articles or media), Explore (with options for Biographies, the World Atlas, Compare Countries, Tour the U.S.A. and Interactive Resources), and Tools and Resources (with features to save your own content, join the Britannica Community for additional resources, and Research and How To tips for students). I thought the Research and How To items would be particularly helpful to high school students because it provided detailed instructions on how to conduct a book review, prepare a presentation, plan and write a research paper, and conduct a report for science. These resources would also help teachers or library media center specialists with guiding students preparing to create a research-guided assignment.
The Educator section of the online encyclopedia had incredible resources for teachers to be able to browse and/or build lesson plans, save content, customize search results by standard type (US State Standards, Common Core State Standards, Canadian Standards, and/or other Standards), and several tutorials, guides, and online training features.
I assign an overall rating of 10 for this incredible resource. It is an amazing tool that can be used with confidence by both teachers and students for reputable academic research.
Source article:
Bergen, P. (2014). September 11 Attacks. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved September 14, 2014
from http://school.eb.com.proxygsu-scar.galileo.usg.edu/levels/high/article/394915.
Grades: 9-12 | Subject(s): All | Overall rating: 10
When you say the word “encyclopedia,” the name Britannica immediately comes to mind. So, I know that when I begin this review, I’m examining one of the most reputable encyclopedias on the market. My expectations were set really high, and the Encyclopedia Britannica – High School Online Edition did not disappoint. I would also like to note that the Encyclopedia Britannica offered a version of the online encyclopedia tailored for Elementary students and a different version for Middle School students.
I began my review by perusing the home page. The home page featured a featured article, a brief description of a historical event of the day, a list of new and revised articles, a featured video, a word cloud to identify the most popular searches, links for news from the New York Times, and menu options available to browse articles, media, biographies, the world atlas, compare countries, tour the United States, or view interactive resources. The featured video and article were eye-catching, and the site seemed easy to navigate.
Then, I decided to conduct a simple search using the search bar along the top of the site. Because we recently passed September 11th, I elected to use “9/11” as the subject for my search. The search produced a quick list of articles and multimedia items related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I clicked the first article in the search and was pleasantly surprised by both the depth of information provided and the graphics and multimedia options made available for the user. Additionally, one feature proved to be very helpful from a teaching prospective. Three tabs were labeled at the top of the screen – Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. After further review, I realized the images and multimedia options were the same; however, the text complexity ranged from Level 1 (lower level for struggling readers) to Level 3 (advanced vocabulary and text suited for the gifted learner). This would be very helpful for a teacher attempting to differentiate instructional resources. Every student would see (for the most part) the same screen, the same images, the same videos, and read the same ideas but on a more individualized reading level.
After reviewing the articles presented on 9/11, I decided to explore the different views of the Encyclopedia Britannica – High School Online Edition. I navigated back to the home page, and clicked the word “Student” at the top right of the screen. The user interfaced divided into three sections: Browse (you could select articles or media), Explore (with options for Biographies, the World Atlas, Compare Countries, Tour the U.S.A. and Interactive Resources), and Tools and Resources (with features to save your own content, join the Britannica Community for additional resources, and Research and How To tips for students). I thought the Research and How To items would be particularly helpful to high school students because it provided detailed instructions on how to conduct a book review, prepare a presentation, plan and write a research paper, and conduct a report for science. These resources would also help teachers or library media center specialists with guiding students preparing to create a research-guided assignment.
The Educator section of the online encyclopedia had incredible resources for teachers to be able to browse and/or build lesson plans, save content, customize search results by standard type (US State Standards, Common Core State Standards, Canadian Standards, and/or other Standards), and several tutorials, guides, and online training features.
I assign an overall rating of 10 for this incredible resource. It is an amazing tool that can be used with confidence by both teachers and students for reputable academic research.
Source article:
Bergen, P. (2014). September 11 Attacks. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved September 14, 2014
from http://school.eb.com.proxygsu-scar.galileo.usg.edu/levels/high/article/394915.