Social Studies, Geography

Grade 4- 8

Objective

understanding search engines
becoming familiar with Web site addresses
learning how to find valuable facts from the Internet
improving general Internet browsing skills

Directions

Students will launch the Internet and a search engine. A search engine is similar to a card catalog in the library. One can type their subject matter and find Internet sites about their topic. There are several search engines, such as Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com) or Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com).
Once the students have launched their search engines, have them type the country they are researching in the search box.
You will then see how many sites met the search (often times the number will be well over 1,000). Usually the best sites are in the first 25 or 30.
Students will find information on a city or country in Europe. To find flight prices, your students may want to go directly to an airline Web site such as http://www.usair.com.
Students will continue to find information about their city or country, such as popular foods, currency, weather, and fun facts. Students may want to go to the Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com/) to find the weather for their European Country.
Students should write the address of each website next to any fact included on the activity page. Explain how important it is to cite where they found their information
Extension Ideas
European Internet research is great to do in conjunction with designing travel brochures. One can also research almost any city or country around the world. If students are doing state or country reports, require them to use at least two Internet sites as sources.

Resources

• copies of Internet Research on Europe sheet
• Internet browswer and access