Lesson 3.3: Researching Ancient Greece


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Prep and Tech

Technology: LCD projector, laptop, speakers, Internet access, and student computers
Other Materials: Index cards

Handout 3.3a: Using Search Engines

Lesson Visuals

Objectives

Students will learn strategies for effective Internet research.
Students will evaluate and select appropriate informational sources (websites) for research.

Focusing Question

How do we conduct Internet research on ancient Greece?

Mini Lesson

Search Engines and Research (15 min.)

Introduce the focusing question that guides this lesson. Connect this question to the previous lesson.
Explain to students what a search engine is. Ask them which search engines they use most often.
Explain to students that there are many different search engines that they can use to find information. Tell them that different search engines will often yield different results. Explain that it is important to use different search engines when conducting research to get a variety of websites.
Go to Step 3: Conduct Research in the student area. Show students the Search Engines area. Identify the different search engines. Show students how to use an Internet search engine by using Google and typing in the word "Parthenon."
Ask students if they know of any ways to narrow the number of results. Refine your search by typing in “Parthenon ancient Greece.”
Introduce the concepts of source and accuracy. Inform students that not everything on the Internet is well-researched or even true.
Introduce students to one of the websites listed in the student area under Search Engines. Discuss where the website gets its information.
Note: You may wish to share with students information on how different search engines work. They can read Using Search Engines in Step 3: Conduct Research in the student area.

Preparing for Student Activity

Direct students to use the computers. Instruct students to go to Step 3: Conduct Research in the student area.
Ask students to select a website from the list of additional research websites.
Ask students to briefly explore one of the research websites provided in the student area. Explain that these websites are good examples of websites that have information about their issues.
Remind students that before they begin to take notes, they should write down the website address as a heading on an index card. Explain that they should summarize the information that is on the website, including one important fact that they learned from it.

The focusing question for this lesson is: How do we conduct Internet research on ancient Greece? In previous lessons we learned about issues facing ancient Athenians by researching the perspectives of vaious people living in ancient Athens. We can use the Internet to find more information about ancient Greece.

A search engine is a computer program that searches for particular keywords on the web and returns a list of websites or documents in which they were found.

1. What search engines do you use when you are looking for something on the Internet?
Sample Response: Google, Ask Jeeves, Yahoo, Alta Vista, etc.

There are many different search engines that you can use to get information. Google is a very popular search engine, but there are other search engines that can provide you with different results. It is important to use more than one search engine because different search engines will give you different websites with varied information.

Google ranks their search results based on the number of websites that link to a particular website. Teoma ranks search results based on the number of websites that a website links to with information on your topic.

Try using more than one search engine when doing research. You will see that you get different results from different search engines.

Let’s look at the student website. On the Conduct Research page, there is a section entitled Search Engines. There are links to several different search engines here. Let’s use Google to find information about ancient Greece. The more specific you are with the words you use, the better your chance of finding the information you seek. If we type in the word Parthenon let’s see how many articles and websites are listed. Notice that a large number of websites are returned.

1. Does anyone know any good ways to refine our search so we get fewer results?
Sample Response: We can put quotes around the words we want. This way Google will give us results that have those words in the same order.

Let’s be more specific and, using quotation marks around the words, type in “Parthenon ancient Greece”. Let’s see how many articles and websites are listed. Notice how we received fewer results. The more words we add to the search, the fewer results we will get.

The Internet is a great place to conduct research. You can get information from all parts of the world. Not everything on the Internet is written by a teacher or scholar. Some people post their opinions on the Internet. In general, when you use the Internet make sure to check the accuracy of a source. Another way you can check the accuracy of a source is to see if the information appears on other websites and in other sources.

Let’s go to the Public Broadcasting Network (PBS). Let’s find out where the information for this website comes from. Let’s go to “The Making of the Greeks” and click on “Paul Cartledge - Series Consultant.” The research for this website was done by Paul Cartledge who is a professor of Greek History at Cambridge University. We can also find out information about the producer of the series, PBS, by going to “PBS Home” at the top of the page and clicking on “About PBS.”

Spend a few minutes looking at the websites in the Search Engines area. These websites are good examples of websites that have useful information about your issues and ancient Greece. Now you will use the Internet to conduct your own historical research on your issue. Use the search engines listed on the student site. Remember to look at where the website gets its information.

Find one good website about ancient Greece that has information relating to your issue. On an index card, as a heading, write the address of the website, the URL. Underneath, summarize the information you found on the website and write one important fact you learned.

Student Activity

Internet Research and Note-taking (25 min.)

Students should use one or more of the websites posted on Step 3 of the Democracy in Ancient Greece website to conduct additional reasearch on their issue. Ask students to consider the perspectives of the Athenians they have read about- poor people, soldiers, women, foreigners- when evaluating information they see on other websites.

Students should take notes using index cards. Remind students to stop at the end of each paragraph and take notes in their own words. Make sure students are labeling their cards correctly and using good note-taking strategies.

Lesson Summary

How do we conduct Internet research on ancient Greece? (5 min.)

Ask students questions about how we conduct Internet research on ancient Greece.
Ask students who found useful information or great websites to share them with the class. Encourage students to look at websites other students used for their issues to help them do additional research.

Assessment

Review students' notes from class and any posts on the discussion board. Assess students' understanding of how to use the Internet to take notes and conduct historical research.