4. Using the Internet to my Benefit

• The standard SS.8.G.1 is a social studies standard that has students "understand how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technology to report information." This is an eighth grade geography standard that will help students tremendously later in their studies. 
• I would have my students visit http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ and explore the geography games to better understand where historic events occurred. 
• This tool is a site for educational games. 
• On this website, there are games that have students memorize chosen countries, states, or continents. I can pick which game correlates to my history lesson and have them play the games until they get a 100% on each area of the map. For example, if I wanted them to understand where in Europe the Russian Revolution happened, I would have them play the Europe region games that have them learn the geography around Russia. 

      I believe the Internet is a great way for students to explore other mediums for research. Younger kids should learn early how to navigate the web and learn how to value research. They can use sites like pebble go, and National Geographic for kids to find information for their lesson. Websites and databases are a great way to give students a break from the use of textbooks. Even for just looking up the definition of a word, the Internet is a great tool that can easily solve problems. Sometimes, however, the Internet can be not useful when gathering information. On some sites, like wikipedia, information may be skewed. On that specific site, information is provided by the public. Whoever may contribute. This may not serve as a useful source for children to use. The Internet can have tons of invalid information. This is why .edu and database sites are more useful and safe. 

      I learned a lot from the podcast. I do some of the techniques talked about when searching the web, like; looking for correct spelling, grammar, and ads. I know that if a source is somewhat credible, it will not be swamped with ads. One thing I never thought about was looking at if the content is biased. I never thought about if the content if biased, it may be less credible. A lot of new sources online are biased, but I never thought that would necessarily make them less credible. I also always try and stay on .edu, .gov, and .org sites when I am searching the Internet for actual resources, rather than leisure. 

     I thought the web hunt was a really great way to teach us how to find media for our future students. At first, I thought the assignment was kind of hard. I didn't realize that once you use the correct way to google search, you can find things very easily. Also, I learned a lot of tips and tricks that will help me in the future to find credible and primary sources, and things I have the right to. I was surprised especially about all the sites for teachers out there that can help me later in my career. For example, the site where it helped teachers set up their own website for their students is a great and helpful source. 

1. You are teaching an astronomy lesson and would like your students to play games related to space but still educational. Find a site. 
2. You want your students to research polar bears on a kid friendly site. Find a facts for kids page on polar bears.