SquirrelNet

American Librarian Association's list of great websites for kids

Here is the American Librarian Association's list of great websites for kids.  You'll find great links about animals, the arts, history & biography, literature & languages, sciences, mathematics & computers, social sciences and reference desk.  Enjoy!

Musicians: directory of free sheet music sites

Any musicians out there?  If so, you might be interested in this directory of free sheet music sites.

Educational game that uses Google Earth

Brewster Jennings Protects America is an educational game played using a "mashup" of Google Earth, where you become CIA agent Brewster Jennings who has to save the world from bad people by locating clues on a map.  The game would likely be more appealing to adults, since the clues are a bit advanced - even at the "easy" level.  Also, the 2 stories you can play deal with nuclear and biological terrorism.  I recommend searching on Google while playing the game, so that you can search for maps of the locations of the various clues offered.

Spoiler/tip:  In the easy setting in the nuclear terrorism game, the first clue is the Washington Monument in Washington DC.  Thus, you'll need to zoom out, move over to the DC area, then zoom in again.  You may find that the resolution of the close zoom-in leaves a lot to be desired, so I don't think this is a perfect mashup.

SquirrelNet's 3 Step Guide to Conducting Better Searches

We've just modernized our 3 Step Guide to Searching tutorial, which provides you with a simple and concise 3 step guide on how to conduct better searches.   Step one is "Finding quality in your search".  Step two is "The idiot's guide to difficult searches".  Finally, step three is "What to do if all else fails?"

Our original tutorial was written 5 years ago.  Since then, Google has been crowned king of search so an update was definitely in order.  This 3 Step Guide to Searching tutorial will help you make better use of Google and suggests other search engines for the few times when Google fails you.

Search engine sites recommended by Stanford University

Just wanted to send a quick thanks out to Stanford University's Libraries and Academic Information Resources department for linking to SquirrelNet's Top 20 Search Engines list from their Subject Guides Prepared by the Swain Library.  You may also want to check out some of the other sites the recommend.

Thanks Lamar County High School (Vernon, Alabama)

Just wanted to thank Lamar County High School in Vernon, Alabama, for linking to SquirrelNet.com and for sending us visitors over the past many months.  SquirrelNet is listed on their Research Links page near the top (the Search Engines link takes you to SquirrelNet).

The need for internet training among teachers, parents and students

A couple of recent articles in the press shed light on the need for better instructing children on how to use the internet.  This includes both parents and teachers.  Says Sonia Livingstone, a professor at the London School of Economics, as published on CNET ("Internet-illiterate parents hold back kids"):

Now that many young people rely on the Internet for information, homework help and careers guidance, the more it matters that some of them are getting left behind.  Not knowing how to best use the Internet may have a negative impact on their education and employment opportunities.

Professor Livingstone conducted research that shows that 18% of parents don't know how enough about the internet to help their children use it safely.  67% of parents desired more information to help them teach their kids while 75% wanted more internet training in schools.  But she also says:

Fearful parents may take too rigorous an approach to restricting online access completely and thereby leave their children less aware of online risks, such as chat room dangers, when they do use the internet.

This corresponds to a recent MSNBC article ("Kids, blogs and too much information"), which makes some valid points about child safety.  However, the article is too sweeping in term of its recommendations.  For instance, blogging can be quite safe since blogging is typically a one-way medium.  As Professor Livingstone points out, shutting down all use of the internet for children can put them on the wrong side of the "digital divide".

As we've previously stated, SquirrelNet will focus on education for the 2005-06 school year, including teachers, parents and students.  So please come back and visit to learn more.  Or join our Yahoo Group to receive a free newsletter and stay up-to-date that way.

SquirrelNet to increase focus on education during 2005-06 schoolyear

For students, parents and teachers who will soon be going on Summer break, I wanted to let you know that SquirrelNet.com will be increasing our focus on education during the 2005-06 schoolyear.  We plan on being an information house for search engine tips for students (and parents) as well as a place where teachers can download lesson plans and find other relevant internet info.

All age groups will be covered, so everyone is welcome to visit us again in the fall.  If you'd like to be informed of updates prior to then, please join our Yahoo Group to receive a free email newsletter.