Blog Post 4

 SS.912.G.1:Understand how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technology to report information. The tool I will use to help my students understand this standard is http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps. This tool will enable me to pull up various types maps of the world that represent specific information that the students must report. After practicing with this online tool for some time, my students will come to the mastery of ss.912.G.1. 

The Internet is extremely useful when it supporting student research. It allows students to access information from times past to present from all over the world. However, information found on the Internet is only useful if it is coming from a credible source. Using information from sources that have no established credibility is dangerous because their information could be totally incorrect or overwhelmingly biased. Therefore, it is important to look for the writers of your potential sources to be sure they are experts in their field. 

In past, I typically just typed in the topic I was writing on in the Google search engine, and simply clicked the first result I got and used it as a source. Furthermore, I rarely evaluated the validity of the source, because I was never taught to do so. Now, I aware that I can use Google Scholar to search for scholarly articles that tend to be more credible. From the Podcast, I learned that I should make sure the site I plan to use as a source is visually pleasing, easy to navigate, and current. These are things I never previously did, however, now I will.

After completing the Web Hunt assignment I feel I am better equipped to search the web more effectively. Learning the roles of (-) and (+) really helps in finding exactly what I am looking for using Google. The most surprising aspect of the assignment was probably how easy it was to find an article using Google Scholar.  Navigating the Internet with all the shortcuts and precision tools I have learned will make my Google searches even faster than they already are.