Topic Search for Narrowing Down Topics and Finding Information

Lisa Read from Focused​ Ed was up last week and she showed us the Gale Topic Search. I had forgotten how awesome it is! Do you have students in your class who have a difficult time coming up with research topics for Inquiry projects?  Perhaps you have students who say “I’m going to my project on Hockey”?  Gale Power Search is a wonderful product that you can use to narrow down searches and come up with topics. It also instantly provides you with some articles to read about your newly narrowed down topic.​
 
To find Gale Topic Search:
1. Go to Learn71.ca and click on Library Commons and then​ Research Database or just click on Research Databases.
2.  Click on Database then choose one of the Gale databases (pick the one that is related the closest to the topic you are looking for).
3.  You shouldn’t have to log in when you are at school but you can also use them at home. Log in using your school password (these can be found by logging in to the Destiny library search and then clicking on Passwords).
​4.  Click on ​Advanced Search
5.  Click on Topic Finder
6.  ​​Now comes the cool part!  Type in your topic in the Search spot at the top right and click to search.
Now you will see a wheel with other topics branching out of the original.  Move your mouse around the circle to explore the other topic and click on ideas to see articles on the right.
/by

Links to Specific Spots in Articles and iPhone/iPad Photo Fun

​I can’t believe tomorrow is the beginning of March!  The Minecraft Challenge is coming to a close and I am really looking forward to the “Old Timey Newspapers” session with Lisa Read on Thursday (scroll down to learn more). Today I discovered two really cool little tricks that I am excited to share with you.  The first one enables you to create a link that takes you to a specific section of an article or website in Google Chrome and the other super cool trick is for iPhone/iPad users (Hint: when you are looking at photos did you ever notice a little sparkle by the i underneath?).

​Creating a Link to Specific Text on a Page:

​You can create a link to a specific spot in an online page and share it so the receiver does not have to read an entire article to get to the spot you intend them to see.

Here’s how:

1.  Use Google Chrome

2.  Locate the text that you would like to share

2. Highlight the part of the article that you would like to direct the reader to.

3.  Right click and click on Copy link to Highlight

4. Now you can share that link and the receiver will be able to open it directly to the selection you highlighted (and yes, it is still highlighted)

*This also works on ipads/iPhones and Android devices

Visual Look​ Up on iPhones and iPads: sparkle i.png​

This one is so awesome! I noticed a little sparkle by the i under a  photo of a flower arrangement that I took.  After looking it up I discovered that if you click on the i it will bring up more information about the object of the photo. ​ This works for ​popular landmarks, statues, art, plants, pets, and more!

How it works:

1. Open a photo that is of something that may be identifiable (plant, animal, landmark…)

2. Click on the sparkle i.png​if one appears (not all objects will get this-only ones that can be looked up)

3. Now click on the image that appears on your photo and you will see the information underneath.

/by

Microsoft Search Coach-Learning to Search Better

​Happy Pancake Tuesday/Mardi Gras/​Shrove Tuesday!  Today I am excited to share the new Microsoft Search Coach.​  The Search Coach was designed to help people learn how to ask effective search questions to get the results they desire and to help them arrive at safe accurate results while avoiding fake news.​​ Search coach will give you suggestions to make your search better.  It is basically described as a search engine on training wheels.  To me it looks like a game changer for teaching students how to search (I think I am going to try it out too).

​Right now for your students use it, you need to add it to your class Team for them. It should be in the Edge browser by the end of 2023.  Here’s how to add it to your Team:

1.  Open your class Team

2.  Click on General on the left.

3.  Click on the + sign at the top

4.  In the search space type in Search Coach

5. Click on the Search Coach and then click Save at the bottom. It will now be one of the tabs at the top that your students can access.

Click here for more information about Search Coach.

/by