The website www.instagrok.com is one of our new favorites for helping kids research. Your students can search a topic and instead of giving them a list of websites, the site creates a semantic map with the search word in the middle. Other words to describe the topic are then linked to the center circle. On the right-hand side of the website, your students can browse facts, websites, images and videos all related to the topic in the center of your semantic map. If students want to find out more about one of the related terms in the semantic map, they can simply click on the new topic and it reconfigures the map placing the new topic in the middle. The facts, websites, images and videos change to represent the new search topic.
And it gets even better…At the top of the page, students can use a scroll bar to adjust the readability of the resources that come up when searching a topic. On the bottom left-hand side of the page, a glossary is provided for students to find definitions of unknown words related to the search topic.
If desired, students can create a free log-in, take notes from the sources provided and save them in a personal account. You have to check out this website! You will be amazed at all that this resource has to offer. As always, the coaches would love to come into your classroom and share this resource with you and your students.
And it gets even better…At the top of the page, students can use a scroll bar to adjust the readability of the resources that come up when searching a topic. On the bottom left-hand side of the page, a glossary is provided for students to find definitions of unknown words related to the search topic.
If desired, students can create a free log-in, take notes from the sources provided and save them in a personal account. You have to check out this website! You will be amazed at all that this resource has to offer. As always, the coaches would love to come into your classroom and share this resource with you and your students.