1. Free and Fee-Based Online SCIENCE Resources for the K-12 Community Presentation By: Robert J. Lackie & Robert J. Congleton, Rider University Libraries

2. Searching? Question: What is a more efficient, viable alternative to keyword searching in a general purpose search engine? Answer: Searching combinations of superb free Web directories/portals and free/fee- based vendor resources, with an emphasis on quality over quantity.

3. Which Direction….. Search Via General Search Engine Search Via Specialty Directories & Portal Sites

4. General Search Engine -Versus - Specialty Directory & Portals General Search Requires a lot of patience and time Difficulty in recognizing a good site from a bad or mediocre one Don’t evaluate or annotate their content Specialty/Portal Allows access to selected, evaluated, and annotated collections Emphasizes quality over quantity

5. Guide for Evaluating Web Sites 1. Who is responsible for the site’s material? 1. Who is responsible for the site’s material? 2. What is the scope of the site's material? 2. What is the scope of the site's material? 3. What are the sources of the site's material? 3. What are the sources of the site's material? 4. Is copyright information for the material given? 4. Is copyright information for the material given? 5. How easy is it to search & retrieve material? 5. How easy is it to search & retrieve material? 6. How old is the information on the Web site? 6. How old is the information on the Web site?

6. SCIENCE Resources Specialty Science Directories, Portals, and Sites

7. General and Specialty Science Directories, Portals, and Sites BUBL Information Service http://bubl.ac.uk Educator’s Reference Desk http://www.eduref.org/ ENC Online: Science Topics http://www.enc.org/weblinks/science/ Eric Weisstein’s World Of Science http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/ Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu/

8. General and Specialty Science Directories, Portals, and Sites FirstGov for Kids: Science & Math http://www.kids.gov/k_science.htm Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/ PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fegi SciCentral http://www.scicentral.com/ Science Teacher’s Resource Center http://chem.lapeer.org/

9. Interactive Web Sites Covering Specific Branches of Science Automotive Learning On-line http://www.innerauto.com/default.htm Chemistry.org http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/l/home.html Constellations and Their Stars http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ HealthyNJ http.//www.healthynj.org/ Howard Hughes Medical Institute: BioInteractive http://www.biointeractive.org/

10. Interactive Web Sites Covering Specific Branches of Science Human Genome Project http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_ Genome/home.shtml http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_ Genome/home.shtml NatureServe Explorer http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/ Internet Plasma: Physics Education Experience http://ippex.pppl.gov/ Neuroscience for Kids http://faculty.washington.edu/chundler/neurok. html http://faculty.washington.edu/chundler/neurok. html Virtual Courseware for Earth & Environmental Sci. http://sciencecourseware.com/

11. Commercial Database Vendors EBSCO: http://www.epnet.com/ http://www.epnet.com/ Health Source: Consumer Edition Encyclopedia of Animals Marshall Cavendish Science Reference Center Marshall Cavendish Wildlife Reference Center General Science Collection Auto Repair Reference Center Also offers combo packages: such as Primary Online Package, Middle Online Package, and MAS Ultra (School Edition), and free databases.

12. Commercial Database Vendors (Continued) ElsevierScirus: http://www.scirus.com/ ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, and BioMed Central University sites, author home pages, company home pages, government sites, etc.

13. Commercial Database Vendors (Continued) ProQuest: http://www.proquest.com http://www.proquest.com Wilson General Science Abstracts ProQuest K-12 ProQuest AP Science Professional Education Library SIRSeLibrary

14. Commercial Database Vendors (Continued) Thomson Corporation BasicBIOSIS http://www.biosis.com/ BiologyBrowser http://www.biologybrowser.org/ Science Resource http://www.gale.com/ Find-Law http://www.findlaw.com/

15. Conclusion Lackie, Robert J. and Robert J. Congleton. 2004. “Free and Fee-based Online Science Resources for the K-12 Community.” MultiMedia and Internet @ Schools 11.6 (Nov./Dec. 2004): 10-16. Lackie, Robert J. 2003. “Science and Math Web Resources for the Higher Education Community.” ONLINE: The Leading Magazine for Information Professionals 27.6 (Nov./Dec. 2003): 35-39. Lackie, Robert J. 2005. “Sci-Math World.” Rider University. Retrieved 4 March 2005. http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/rlackie/sci/