Web Sites for an Introduction to the Internet


The following is a list of web sites that will allow you to explore some of the features and possible applications of the Internet. To open a site, simply click the mouse on its name, which acts as a direct link to the URL address. For your reference, the exact site address is also included.

Check out our school district's webpage, The East Penn Home Page at http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/

Find a list of the servers who are Internet Providers in your area at http://thelist.internet.com

Classroom Connect at http://www.classroomconnect.com is a web site dedicated to helping teachers learn how to use the Internet to enhance their curriculum and promote professional development.

An excellent example of how teachers can us the Internet to share their expertise is Kathy Schrock's Internet Guide for Educators  at http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/

Not all web sites are suitable for classroom use. As educators, we need to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of Internet resources. Some guidelines for critical analysis of web sites are provided by Ester Grassian's Guide to Critically Thinking about World Wide Web Resources at http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/instruct/web/critical.htm
 

Finding a Topic Using Search Engines

There are several search engines that can be used to find sites pertaining to a particular topic. It is important to be as specific as possible in your search request to narrow the focus and limit the number of matching sites. Any phrase should be enclosed in quotation marks to indicate the desired grouping. For example, if you wanted to find sites discussing the pros and cons of block scheduling for classes, you must enter your request as "block scheduling". Otherwise, the search engine might include a "Lego Building Block" site or a "time management" site as possible matches to your request.

Yahoo  at http://www.yahoo.com This search engine is designed to find topics by pre-organized categories, that begin with the most general topics and become more specific as you dig deeper.

The following search engines are designed to search for key words or phrases.

Infoseek  at http://guide.infoseek.com/

Excite  at http://www.excite.com/

Altavista  at http://altavista.digital.com/

Webcrawler  at http://Webcrawler.com/

Lycos  at http://www.lycos.com/

Hotbot  at http://www.hotbot.com/

Suggestions for conducting more efficient Internet searches are described by Engine Tips  at http://www.monash.com/spidap.html
 

Meta-search Engines(simultaneous multiple searches) are designed to scan several search engines and list all sites that contain the key word(s). Try either of the following meta-search engines to see how they work.

Ask Jeeves  at http://www.askgeves.com/

All-In-One Search  at http://www.albany.net/allinone/

Dogpile  at http://www.dogpile.com/
 

Communicating Through the Internet

Electronic mail (e-mail) is a tool used to send and receive text messages over the Internet. It features near instant delivery, and you can also attach pictures, sounds, video, and even software. There are no long distance costs, and it enables individual teachers to share classroom strategies, trade success stories, locate other curricula, and develop truly global learning circles.
 

How to Use E-mail

Search for E-mail addresses at http://www.classmates.com/p.tf/registration/?s=5401 to
find out who is connected to the web.

Learn the general practices used when communicating through the Internet with  E-mail netiquette  at http://www.albion.com/netiquette/

Find ideas for classroom e-mail projects at either of the following two sites:

stolaf site for e-mail classroom connections/projects  at http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/

School Worl e-mail classroom connections/projects at http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/
 

Listserv - e-mail Mailing Lists

A listserv is an online discussion group that allows a forum for project collaborations and
feedback on a specific topic. The following sites can be used to find a listserv that will fit
your particular interests:

Specific Lists for every subject area at http://tile.net/lists

Teaching Resources  at http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/edu/listman.htm
 

Searching Archives of FTP Sites

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites are used to upload webpages to the Internet. Usually a
password is required to have full access to edit an FTP site. These sites contain all the text,
picture, video and sound files that are used to create the webpages you have been examining
during this class. A behind the scenes look at a few of these sites can be found at the
following:

Accessing FTP sites  at http://www.Webteacher.org/
 

K-12 FTP resources

Macintosh & IBM PC Archives at Ftp://mirrors.aol.com

Windows FTP Archive at Ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu

Classroom Connect K-12 Archive at Ftp://ftp.classroom.net
 

Newsgroups for Schools

Newsgroups are the mechanism where mail messages are made available to large groups of
people through specific online bulletin or message boards.

Webteacher newsgroups at http://www.Webteacher.org/winnet/newsgroups/newsgroups.html

Searchable Usenet Newsgroups  at http://www.Dejanews.com/
 

Creating Internet Lessons

There are many sites that contain lesson plans for various subject areas. As you examine
some of the lessons available at the sites below, evaluate them by asking the question, "Does
it really require using the Internet?"

An Education Virtual Library  at http://www.byu.edu/ipt/vlibrary/index.html

Using Technology in Education at http://www.algonquinc.on.ca/edtech/index.html#main1

Ask an Expert about dozens of topics at http://www.cln.org/int_expert.html/
 

Data Collection and Interactivity

There are also sites that provide live data which can be incorporated into classroom lessons.
Students can examine primary data to evaluate the effects of acid rain or global warming.
They can monitor changing weather conditions / air quality or collect their own data and share it with others through the Internet. The addresses of a few of these sites are listed below:

Data contrasting experimental and control watersheds, primary data, scientists to e-mail at
http://www.hubbardbrook.org/
Save as a text file, Open Excel, Open a New file, click next repeatedly until you get to
"finish" as an option, Click on Finish. The data is ready to analyze!

Atmospheric Chemistry  links at http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/ATM_CHEM/

Conduct a Home Energy Audit  at http://www.ase.org/checkup/home/

Source for all types of data and a chance for students to share data at http://www.globe.gov/

Air Quality Monitoring at
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/aq/aqm/airmon.html

A World Popukation Clock at http://metalab.unc.edu/lunarbin/worldpop

Real Audio Player clips from around the world at http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/sciencelink/environmental.html

Some Cool Science Resources at http://home.unicorm.net/~warnerr/
 

Web Page Design - Create your own Web page

The computer code language used to write most documents is called HTML - Hyper-Text Markup Language. To display the HTML code for this page, go to the View pull down menu and select the SOURCE option. Follow the directions found on this template to create a simple HTML document to use in your own classroom.

Explore the following sites for more information on creating your own HTML documents:

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Writing HTML Documents at http://www.rcc.ryerson.ca/research//

Totally Free Stuff - Web Page Design Utilities at http://adhere.on.ca/free/web.html provides
tools to create awesome web pages!

Microsoft Word 97 and newer has the capability of saving any Word document as an HTML
file. If you have this version of Word on your computer, trying converting any Word document to HTML code, then open it with Internet Explorer.  Also, Netscape Communicator 4.06 has a Composer feature that automatically formats the text document with HMTL coding.  This is much more convenient than having to learn how to write your own HTML code.
 

Samples of Teacher Created Lessons

Here are some examples of interactive Internet lessons created by fellow teachers that you can explore.  These lessons were created in one day (about 5 hours) during an Internet workshop.  Click on the links to access the various sites:
  Congratulations! You made it! Wasn't that fun?