INFOhio Electronic Resources Spotlight #4
Current Events Resources
March 25, 2004INFOhio's Core Collection of
Electronic Resources has a wealth of resources that provide the very latest
in current events news – statewide, national and international – at a variety of
grade levels, and “hot-off-the-press” fresh!
While the term "Current Events" is found only once in the Ohio Academic Content Standards for Social Studies, this type of
study fits well within the ten NCSS (National
Council for the Social Studies) Standards, which are listed on page 20 in the Ohio
Standards. Current Events also provide a great way to teach Guideline 7: Media Literacy
skills, which are currently part of the Ohio
Guidelines for Effective School Library Media Programs.
Elementary resources from INFOhio
 EBSCO TOPICsearch
is an excellent resource for less-experienced researchers at all grade levels. It includes
pull-down menus of selected subject areas under “Current Events“ and
“Topics.” The articles are pre-selected, so the results are not so overwhelming.
While articles are current, they may not be updated daily. In addition to magazine
articles, TOPICsearch includes transcripts form National Public
Radio broadcasts, major network news reports and more. Results are listed in reverse
chronological order, with the most recent items appearing first. Search limiters allow
students to select their appropriate Lexile Reading Level. Just click on the Lexile number
to display a chart with comparable grade levels of reading difficulty. TOPICsearch
is linked from:
 SIRS Discoverer –
In the Reference section, near the bottom left corner of the SIRS
Discoverer home page, is a Current Events icon. In addition to
articles from magazine titles, SIRS Discoverer provides items
from news services. Articles are displayed in reverse chronological order. Individual
articles are rated for difficulty using a color-coding system: purple – all grade
levels, green – grades 1-4, blue – grades 5-7 and red – grades 8+. This is
a non-threatening way to help students select the article that is best suited to their
reading abilities.
Other notable elementary sites
 Yahooligans News – This service of
Yahooligans provides links to articles on several “kid friendly” news topics: Election
2004, World News, Sports, Science & Nature, Around the USA, Entertainment and
Animals. In addition to articles, there are “Slide Shows” for each category
and links to a wealth of other resources. Additional topics may be added for special
holidays or events.
Education Place
– Each month Houghton Mifflin provides in-depth coverage of one topic of current
interest. In addition to a complete story, maps and photographs, there is a quiz that
students can take online and worksheets for grades 1-3 and grades 4-6 which teachers can
print and copy.
Secondary resources from INFOhio
EBSCO TOPICsearch
– See description above.
 EBSCOhost contains over 6,000 periodical titles
in 24 databases. From Secondary Search you can search only MAS Ultra
(550+ general interest titles including Time, Newsweek and U.S. News
& World Report as well as other news-type periodicals) or increase results by
adding additional databases. By checking the box marked Newspaper Source you
will add “selected full text for 23 national (U.S.) and international
newspapers. The database also contains full-text television and radio news transcripts,
and selected full text for more than 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers.” EBSCOhost
databases for K-12 include the Lexile Reading Level to help students and teachers
determine reading levels.
 NewsBank Newspapers – Need
more local or statewide news? Seventeen Ohio and thirteen national newspapers are included
in INFOhio’s NewsBank Newspapers. Blue tabs near the top of
the page indicate which group of titles will be searched. All articles are full text and
updated each day. Some newspaper titles are archived as far back as the early 1980s. An
added value to NewsBank Newspapers is their Special Reports
section. Three current topics are displayed near the top of the screen, and three past
reports are located in the left frame. In addition to articles from the thousands of
NewsBank sources, you will also find images, maps, links to related Web sites, government
documents and much more. Special Reports are also updated daily.
 AccessScience
– Each week AccessScience posts several articles,
complete with graphics, from the latest edition of Science News magazine. The most
recent postings are shown in the box marked Headline News. Past articles can be
accessed through the main search box or by clicking on Headline News Archive.
Articles can be accessed by Topic or by Date and are archived back to March 2000.
Other notable secondary sites
 The popular Google search engine has two sections that provide
up-to-date information. Google Current
Events takes major subjects in current events and divides them into more
specific sub-headings. Google then lists the best Web sites that delve more into
depth on each topic. This is a great resource for doing background study current events
issues. Google News
provides up-to-the-minute coverage on breaking news around the country and around the
world.
Teacher Resources
Twenty-five
Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events! – EducationWorld.Com bring
teachers this list of classroom activities for promoting current events.
Educator’s
Reference Desk – This is the new Web site for what was previously called
AskEric. The database contains 2,000+ lesson plans and 3,000+ links to online
education information. Just type “current events” within quotations in the
search box for a listing of terrific lesson plans.
Sheila Benedum
Librarian, Bay High School
Electronic Resources Spotlight Coordinator
Suggestions
INFOhio participants and visitors to this site are encouraged to submit suggestions to
INFOhio about our Electronic Resources and ER Spotlights. |
