Challenge #3: SIRS Issues Researcher and Discoverer

SD 1)  I chose to look up groundhogs to find information to prepare for next week's story-time.  I found lots of articles from sources such as Time for Kids, Wild, the Detroit Free Press, and even the Washington Post.  All articles from kid-centered sources contained pictures.  One even provided a really neat pdf file with photos of Puxsatawney Phil, puzzles, groundhog drawings, and fast facts.  I tried numerous times to print it, but was never successful.  I would receive a message saying "sirs.com is not responding."  I even tried mailing it to my e-mail address, but it never showed up.  I'm not sure what I did wrong. 

I did notice all of the articles provided lexile scores.  However, I am not sure how these scores correlate with the actual grade level of a reader.  A number like Accelerated Reader uses  would be more useful to me.  If it said 5.0, I would know the reader would need to be able to comprehend at the level of a student beginning 5th grade.  I'm sure lexile scores mean something to educators, I'm just not familiar with them.

SD 2)  To explore "Database Features" in SIRS Discoverer I clicked on "Country Facts" and looked at information on the Dominican Republic.  A lot of information was provided in text form.  A map and flag of the Dominican Republic was provided.  In my opinion, this section could benefit from more visuals such as graphs and charts. 



Under "Maps of the World," I clicked on "Nations" and searched for a map on Germany.  At first, I made the mistake of clicking on the "G" at the bottom of the page to find Germany faster.  Unfortunately, I was taken to a list that did not just include nations, but also names of individuals.  I had to go back to the original list and page over until I reached Germany.  A pdf map of Germany was provided, which would be useful to print out and provide to patrons or students.  However, if a patron actually wanted to explore a country in more depth, I would direct them to the Interactive Maps found at World Book Online Info Finder, which we looked at during Week 1.  Those maps were a lot more fun.  You could zoom in and out, then click on various cities and read articles about those cities. 

The other feature I chose to check out was "Activities."  From the list of Activities I chose "Editorial Cartoons."  A whole list of articles was brought up.  In order to view each cartoon, I had to click on the camera icon.



SIR 1)  In the SIRS Issues Researcher, I chose to look at "Illegal Immigration" since it was a topic on my mind after last night's Republican debate.  The Topic Overview provides a basic definition and introduction to the issue.  In addition to the Topic Overview, the Research Tools provide a Timeline, Global Impact, Statistics, My Analysis, and a Note Organizer.  The last two are useful tools for determining the purpose of one's paper/speech, etc... and an outline for getting there.  Once the user has decided on the purpose, she can proceed to Statistics if she wants to provide facts to support the logical side of a particular position, or she can search for magazine articles with human interest perspectives to appeal to the emotional side of a position.  I like the section in the center of the page, "Pro/Con Issues and Essential Questions" which presents articles reflecting the basic arguments on each side of the issue.

Various articles are presented and summarized below the search bar.  A quick look at the icon preceding the title helps the user to identify if the article is originally from a websource, a newspaper, or a magazine.  This would be helpful if the researcher needs to provide a certain number of certain types of sources for a research paper. 

SIR 2)   I browsed through the Course Subjects under "Curriculum Pathfinders" and chose to spend a little time on Math.  Under the tools section, I chose "Calculators" and checked out a calculator that  provides the Living Wage for any part of the country.  I found out a family of four living in our area would need to make $21.95/hr. to meet the Living Wage.  There was also a Budget Calculator that was helpful.  I was surprised not to find a calculator to calculate how much home one could afford or how much house payments would be with various principal amounts and interest rates.  Of course, those types of calculators are pretty plentiful on the web just by "googling."  I also checked out some of the courses such as algebra and geometry and found there were some useful websites.   However, if a student were needing help with math skills, I would steer him/her toward the Learning Express Library rather than SIRS.  I think it's more user-friendly for a purpose such as improving one's algebra skills.