Know Your eResources Quiz: Day 4

As part of HCI’s 2011 Library Week and World Book Day celebrations, we are once again conducting our annual Know Your eResources Quiz! Find the answers to each day’s questions by researching the school’s Online Resources, and then email your answers to hcikclibrary@gmail.com.

Day 4 (The Sciences)

1. How do good bacteria affect bad greenhouse gases?

2. What did the president of the World Wildlife Federation say about the United States on climate change? Name two specific things that the United States done about climate change.

3. What is wrong with the popular explanation regarding “How aeroplane wings work”? How do they really work?

4. With regards to the radiation disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, (a) what is a “meltdown”? (b) How is this different from the radiation disaster at Chernobyl?

(Hint: look in Scientific American, Online Ecologist, Physics Education and Education in Chemistry.)

Know Your eResources Quiz: Day 3

As part of HCI’s 2011 Library Week and World Book Day celebrations, we are once again conducting our annual Know Your eResources Quiz! Find the answers to each day’s questions by researching the school’s Online Resources, and then email your answers to hcikclibrary@gmail.com.

Day 3 (All About China)

1. Jack Gray learnt various things from his reading of Mao Zedong and study of Chinese rural economy. What were they?

2. What did Dr Sun Yat Sen contribute to China? Name two ways in which he is commemorated today.

(Hint: look in China Quarterly and Newslink.)

Know Your eResources Quiz: Day 2

As part of HCI’s 2011 Library Week and World Book Day celebrations, we are once again conducting our annual Know Your eResources Quiz! Find the answers to each day’s questions by researching the school’s Online Resources, and then email your answers to hcikclibrary@gmail.com.

Day 2 (History and Perspective)

1. During the United States Civil War, what was the guiding statement of Ulysses S. Grant’s review  about the military and presidential career of a hero?

2. Provide two examples of how laws are passed concerning abortion and reproductive rights.

(Hint: look in World and I and Opposing Viewpoints.)

Know Your eResources Quiz: Day 1

As part of HCI’s 2011 Library Week and World Book Day celebrations, we are once again conducting our annual Know Your eResources Quiz! Find the answers to each day’s questions by researching the school’s Online Resources, and then email your answers to hcikclibrary@gmail.com.

The top three students with the most correct answers will receive prizes to be awarded during flag-raising next week.

Here we go!

Day 1 (General Introduction)

1. How many login IDs are available for The Straits Times Interactive for the High School Section?

2. (a) How many eResources are accessible from home? (b) Name two that are concerned with Current Affairs.

(Hint: look to the site where login and password information can be found for the eResources.)

E-Resource Feature Focus: Chemistry

Each month, the Kong Chian Library Club will feature the online e-resources available to teachers and students at Hwa Chong Institution, grouped by academic subject. The aim of such a feature focus is to shine attention on the variety of resources available in order to increase exposure and usage. This month’s review will pertain specifically to Chemistry e-resources.

Journal of Chemical Education is published by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society and it targets Chemistry educators. It includes practice questions along with explained solutions, demonstrations and interactive 3D models. This website encourages dynamic teaching and may be useful for teachers who want to arouse interest in the topic covered or increase the students’ depth of understanding of content taught in preparation for a test. Contributions are by a wide range of professors from colleges and universities, thus reliability is mostly assured. Another advantage of this e-resource is that it contains a wide range of content in the form of software, papers, articles and journals which cater to those studying in secondary school, even up to university level.

While the general public won’t get to see the demonstrations or published journals, non-subscribers have access to select site content, such as chemistry questions and explained solutions. This e-resource is also rather unique and extremely useful in how it recommends books to educators via Hal’s Picks of the Month. These resources may show teachers how to teach the subject or they may contain additional content which educators may wish to use to supplement lessons.

One downside for this e-resource is that the content is not adequately organized. While there may be numerous pages within the website, they are only classified according to general subject areas and the materials are not specifically categorized for different learning ages or groups. Thus, educators have to be judicious when assessing the website and sieve out content appropriate for the Chemistry standard of the students.

Scientific American covers a wide range of scientific topics (including Chemistry) and it mainly features scientific reports and articles from around the world. One of the major advantages of this e-resource is its excellent organization of content. The latest scientific articles & the most popular ones are featured while other subsections present include “Observations” (articles which use scientific trends to create hypotheses or predictions), “Expeditions” (reports on scientific data collated from trips) and “News.”

Another advantage of this e-resource is that it encompasses multiple features that enhance its appeal. The forum allows for discussion on chemistry findings while podcasts give audio chemistry-related lectures or talks. There are also pictorial slideshows and even videos to complement the website, and an archive is kept to the facilitate retrieval of old articles. This website can be utilized as an excellent project resource.

Thanks to See Wern Hao (3P2) and Gong Wei Jin (2P3) for their write-ups of the two e-resources featured above.

E-Resource Feature Focus: Humanities

Each month, the Kong Chian Library Club will feature the online e-resources available to teachers and students at Hwa Chong Institution, grouped by academic subject. The aim of such a feature focus is to shine attention on the variety of resources available in order to increase exposure and usage. This month features an additional review (the first concerned Biology), and will pertain specifically to Humanities e-resources.

World and I (login required) features four areas of primary interest: Social Studies, Language Arts, Science and the Arts. The site contains articles of a wide variety, ranging from Economics and Education in the Social Studies category to Worldwide Folktales and Poetry in Language Arts. The articles are numerous and rich in information, and reward patient and critical reading; those texts that may be dense in meaning challenge the reader in one’s interpretation, and encourage one to slow down and concentrate to gain understanding. For those hoping to navigate the plentiful number of articles in each topic, the site has kindly organized the articles into different subtopics for relevance.

Opposing Viewpoints deals mainly with current affairs, although several articles do touch on historical topics. The topics covered are diverse and plentiful, including those such as Abortion, Education, Islamic Fundamentalism, and Women’s Rights. The resources, as the name “Opposing Viewpoints” suggests, come in the form of articles and commentaries on societal problems or issues, and most are paired, such as “Religion is Essential to a Moral Society” and “Religion is Not Essential to a Moral Society.” The articles themselves are interesting and comprehensive, and, like other scholarly articles, include references which could be used for further reading on the subject. With comprehensive categorisation into subtopics, degrees of difficulty, article length and others, the website is easy to browse and to search in order to refine one’s scope. Many other options are also available, such as downloading an article as a PDF, which adds that extra convenience for the user that many other services lack. Undoubtedly, Opposing Viewpoints is an intuitive resource that will meet the needs of both academics and casual information-seekers alike.

Mdm Chan May Lun, one of several excellent humanities teachers at HCI, has found World and I very helpful for her teaching, and has the following to say:

World & I Online Magazine is a great site for History and Social Studies teachers. It is well-designed, easy to use and offers great content. It is graphically attractive and the particular appeal of this site is the good balance of Arts, Science and Culture information, which offers a great platform for Interdisciplinary Lessons.

The articles are comprehensive and very useful to develop critical thinking through the use of “Paul’s Wheel Activity” (please see example below) and preparation for class debates.

For example, one of the articles I used was: “Why our Vietnam Strategy Failed,” by Bruce Palmer Jr. Seven dimensions assessed from the article:

1. Identify and summarize the problem at issue (Vietnam war)
2. Identify and present your group’s OWN hypothesis, perspective and position as it is important to the analysis of the article
3. Identify and considers OTHER salient perspectives and positions that are important to the analysis (the American & Vietnamese perspectives)
4. Identify and assess the key assumptions
5. Identify and assess the quality of supporting data/evidence and provide additional data/evidence related to the issue
6. Identify and consider the influence of the context on the issue
7. Identify and assess conclusions, implications and consequences

In conclusion, this is a highly usable and content-rich resource that has no difficulties in staying abreast with latest works/analyses. In my opinion, it is indispensable for students and teachers who are seeking documents for their research.

Thanks to Jeremy Yeo (3P1) and Matthew Lee (3I1) for their write-ups of the two e-resources featured above. And especial thanks go to Mdm Chan May Lun for her testimonial about World and I.

E-Resource Feature Focus: Biology

Each month, the Kong Chian Library Club will feature the online e-resources available to teachers and students at Hwa Chong Institution, grouped by academic subject. The aim of such a feature focus is to shine attention on the variety of resources available in order to increase exposure and usage. This month’s review will pertain specifically to Biology e-resources.

Journal of Biological Education takes the form of a monthly periodical, with many different issues covered. However, as it mainly focuses on biological education rather than the wide spectrum of biology, it is possibly more relevant and useful for teachers interested in research and pedagogical approaches than for students. The site contains interviews with experts, and is thus ideal if a viewer wishes to do advanced research.

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences is the online edition of the eponymous 26-volume print edition published by Wiley-Blackwell. The articles are written by leaders in the field, cover subjects from ecology to neuroscience, and are available to download and print in PDF format. The site hosts many high-quality colour illustrations to accompany the articles, which improves understanding and also gives the reader a clearer understanding of the articles. Appendices and glossary material also provide additional essential information on a given subject.

Although the articles are lengthy (the equivalent of three to ten or more printed pages), they are well-written and richly cross-referenced. Each article begins with a brief abstract and is broken up by helpful subheadings. The search function is also extremely helpful in that allows readers to type keywords into it to find the related subject; the keyword searching method is effective and quick, giving fairly relevant results. With over 4,300 specially commissioned, peer-reviewed articles from leading scientists around the world, this site is a treasure trove of biological information.

Thanks to Yau Chun Shin (3H1), Yeo Jun Hui (3A3), and Leon Tay (2P3) for their write-ups of the two e-resources featured above.

E-Resource Feature Focus: History

As reported previously, each month, the Kong Chian Library Club will feature the online e-resources available to teachers and students at Hwa Chong Institution, grouped by academic subject. The aim of such a feature focus is to shine attention on the variety of resources available in order to increase the exposure and usage of the subscribed eResources. This month’s review will pertain specifically to History e-resources.

Active History is specially targeted for educators teaching history to students between 11 and 18 years old. It presents lesson packages that contain PowerPoint slides, hand-outs, worksheets and teacher help-sheets. As it is a United Kingdom website, the syllabus might not be entirely similar to those used in Singapore. However, it contains useful information on World War I and World War II history, such as the causes of WWI, the peace treaties (Treaty of Versailles) and the League of Nations, which are all covered under the Secondary 2 syllabus. For Secondary 3 students taking IHE History or HP History, there is also worthwhile information on Russian history, such as the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, the causes of these revolutions and insights on the leaders of the period (Lenin, Stalin, etc.).

This eResource is also particularly special as it contains interactive elements, such as games for better understanding of a topic or as a review of a whole topic, and mock interviews of historical figures such as Henry VIII, William the Conqueror, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. Furthermore, the use of interactive web elements like Google Earth and some Google Gadgets might appeal to tech-savvy students.

A predominantly unique element of this eResource is that it has tools such as the Essay Planning Tool and the Essay Marking Tool. The essay planning tool does help in identifying how a student should answer an essay question, which might be useful when students face troubles in organising their essays. The essay marking tool grades the essay based on structure (linking words), data (range of dates and chronological terms) and historiography (use and evaluation of quotes / raw data). Although it does not evaluate the content of the essay itself, the automated response is useful in that it offers some general advice for a good, organised essay.

One downside for this eResource is that the design of the website might not be particularly attractive, with a mundane blue background. However, the resources are fairly well organised and there should be no problem in finding the required information. Another point to note would be that this website often does not cite external sources of information and is single-handedly maintained by Russell Tarr, the Head of History at the International School of Toulouse. Therefore, students are to exercise their good judgment when referring to these resources.

Current History is a United States publication devoted to world affairs. As a periodical that has been published since 1914, subscribers not only have the opportunity to access both recent reviews of events around the globe, but also, commentaries and editorials of historical events dating back to the 1900s.

Although there might not be information that is practically useful in academics (unlike Active History), for interested students, it includes a whole wide range of topics like the Afghanistan Civil War, nuclear crises in a number of countries, and China’s economic power and its leaders. Furthermore, it would be useful for HP students doing the Humanities Research Project as these scholarly articles would be appropriate for the literature review.

The contributing editors of Current History include editors from distinguished US tertiary institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia Law School, Stanford University and Brown University. Therefore, the information is highly trustable, intellectual and analytical.

To use the eResource fully, it must be accessed on school grounds, utilizing either the Wireless@HCI wifi server or the school computer labs, as the eResource is subscribed by the school’s IP address. Full text articles before 2000 are not available online, which might limit the actual use of the eResource.

Many thanks to Keith Low (3H1), Foo Yang Yi (2I4), Koh Jian Way (2A2), and Shawn Wong (4O2) for their write-ups of the two e-resources featured above.

Know Your eResources Online Quiz (Library Week 2010) – Day 5 (Humanities)

Update: To help you guys along, we have provided some clues! The deadline will also be extended till Monday, 5pm.

Hi students!

We have come to the end of our online eResources Quiz! We will be focusing on the Humanities today. For students, especially HP or IH students, you will find that our eResouces provide information that are both broad and deep. For HP students, you might find these eResources particularly useful in doing your HRP or during independent learning.

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(1) Alexander II emancipated the Serfs in 1861. What are the causes that led to such an action? What are the effects that it led to? (There are only 2 History eResources, Current History and Active History. Try finding it in one of them. It shouldn’e be too hard )

(2) What is medical tourism? What are the price difference between medical care in the United Kingdom and in India / Thailand? Please also comment on India’s hospitals. (Try World & I )

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To answer, email your answers to hcikclibrary@yahoo.com.sg .Please also state your class and registration number so as to facilitate the collating of the results.

Don’t wait, attractive prizes awaits you! The exact prizes are revealed in Mr. Lundberg’s SMB message.

The closing date to answer this question is this Sunday, 18th April 2010, 11.59pm.

Thank you and have fun! Do you know your eResources well enough?

Know Your eResources Online Quiz (Library Week 2010) – Day 4 (China)

Update: To help you guys along, we have provided some clues! The deadline will also be extended till Monday, 5pm.

Hi students!

Today’s question will be focusing on China. For CSE students / students who has visited BSC or BSP students, you might find these resources very useful while doing the Literature Review for your 论文. It will also give you many fresh insights and perspectives into what is happening in China curently.

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(1) Why was it said that the 2008 Olympics be a difficult ‘balancing act’ for China? (This is one of the few times China is organising such a large-scale global event. China wanted to impress the world, and she did it. How did she do it? Think along these lines, you will reach your answer).

(2) “Success depends not only on whose army wins, but also on whose story wins”. How does this quote relate to China in terms of the media?

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To answer, email your answers to hcikclibrary@yahoo.com.sg .Please also state your class and registration number so as to facilitate the collating of the results.

Don’t wait, attractive prizes awaits you! The exact prizes are revealed in Mr. Lundberg’s SMB message.

The closing date to answer this question is this Sunday, 18th April 2010, 11.59pm.

Thank you and have fun! Do you know your eResources well enough?