INTERNET RESOURCE DIRECTORIES

Internet Scout Project
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/index.html
The Internet Scout Project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation to provide timely information to the education community about valuable Internet resources. Daily and weekly updates are offered for K-12 and higher education faculty, staff, and students, as well as interested members of the general public. In addition, the Internet Scout Project researches new methods of discovering quality resources on the Internet.

Blue Web'N
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/
Teachers, parents, librarians, and students may want to bookmark this spectacular Internet resource, the brainchild of Pacific Bell's Education First Initiative. It features a searchable and browsable database of select K-12 educational sites; these sites are prominently rated on a five star scale, and they are annotated and organized for optimal user access. Browsers can consult either a list of content categories that includes such areas as "Chemistry," "Literature," and "Current Event/News," among many others, or they can select from a hyperlinked table that provides both content and format information. Tutorials, Projects, Activities, Lessons, and Other Sites comprise some of the format options. In addition, educators can elect to be guided through the process of creating their own learning site using Internet resources in a process called "filamentality." Finally, users can subscribe at the site to a weekly email update that offers new sites and the Hot Site of the Week.

PARENTING INFORMATION

Parent Soup
http://www.parentsoup.com/
Parent Soup is an online community for parents. It dubs itself the "neighborhood's favorite kitchen table" where parents can exchange views in discussion groups or talk with one another in the chat room. The concept of a virtual community can be seen in the Parents' Pick area where parents share their opinions on books, baby products, toys, computers, web sites and movies. Parent Soup members can find other Parent Soupers who share their interests, hobbies and concerns through personal profiles posted on "cyberfridges." The site also features a parenting library with information in sixteen major topics and a Baby Name Finder with information on more than 5,000 names.

APARENT--Adoptive parent list
APARENT is a meeting place for adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, and their families to discus the everyday life experiences and challenges of adoptive parents and their families. To subscribe send email to:
listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu
In the body of the message type:
subscribe aparent firstname lastname

National PTA Common Sense
http://www.pta.org/commonsense/
The US National Parents and Teachers Association, in conjunction with GTE Corporation, furnishes this site, an information hub for the promotion of drug- and alcohol-free children. Presently, the site is divided into three sections of both serious and fun activities. The Parent's Center consists of interactive quizzes and tip sheets related to developing drug awareness, being a role model, and getting involved in your kids' activities. Visitors to the Family Room will find activities to help kids with their self-esteem, as well as teach them drug-awareness. Family games, quizzes, and cartoons are also available. Help and Hotlines points to organizations that can provide further support and information (links are provided), as well as books and videos. Finally, the site includes an interactive poll, several bulletin boards (registration required), and information for PTA leaders, highlighted by a library of resources to help spread the common sense message.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE

Kidsource Online
http://www.kidsource.com
Kidsource Online is an extensive collection of information about raising children from newborns to adolescents. A sampling of the publications they've pulled together at the site includes "Children and Bilingualism" from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; "Testing Your Child's Hearing" by Carol Knightly, Pediatric Audiologist; and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) Provides Tips to Help Parents and Kids Cope with Allergy Season. Resources are organized under top-level categories of Newborns, Toddlers, Preschoolers, K-12, Education, Health, Recreation, Forums, Organizations, and Guide to Best Software, among others.

Points of Pediatric Interest
http://www.med.jhu.edu/peds/neonatology/poi.html
The Points of Pediatric Interest page at Johns Hopkins University is a comprehensive and well-designed collection of links to information on all aspects of children's health care and related issues. Parents, teachers, care-givers, and professionals will find the site useful. Examples include BabyWeb, The Doctor's Guide to the Internet, Rural Health Village Children's Center, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Computers and Other Technologies. Collections of links to hospitals, humor and art in medicine, parenting resources, and patient education material are also offered, as well as "Fun Stuff for Kids on the Web."

EDUCATIONAL SITES

CBC Online--Children's Book Council [Frames]
http://www.cbcbooks.org/
This week (November 17-23, 1997) marks the 78th anniversary of National Children's Book Week. The CBC, administrator of this event since 1945, offers suggestions for ways to celebrate National Children's Book Week to teachers, parents and librarians. Year round this site provides a rich source of information and links related to children's literature. Within one of the five general user catagories, visitors can take a sneak preview at new children's books in the Hot Off the Presses section, consult an extensive bibliography of established children's books, learn about the 75 children's authors and illustrators that everyone should know, or browse the bi-monthly topical bibliography section.

ARTSEDGE: Linking the Arts Through Technology
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
ARTSEDGE, provided by the John F. Kennedy Center, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education, is a great K-12 art meta-resource. In addition to an excellent set of links, it is highlighted by a curriculum studio that deals with curriculum frameworks and standards, lesson plans, and a showcase of curriculum projects that incorporate the arts.

Science Friday [Requires RealAudio]
http://www.sciencefriday.com/
Science Friday is the web site for the science talk show of the same name that airs on public radio, Friday afternoons. Users can obtain descriptions of programs, browse archived Science Friday shows (available in RealAudio format), or participate in chat room discussions on Science Friday topics. The Kids Connection includes links to the show, a special room where students, teachers, or parents can post comments and questions, and a mentor page where kids can ask scientists, professors, and researchers for an answer to a science question. Behind the Scenes introduces the individuals who produce Science Friday.

Education Place--Houghton Mifflin
http://www.eduplace.com/
Text-only index is available at:
http://www.hmco.com/hmco/school/main.html
For teachers looking for new ideas, for parents trying to rescue children from summer boredom, and for kids who would like to try some new activities (and learn something along the way) Houghton Mifflin offers the Education Place. This web site includes a Math Center, a Reading/Language Arts Center, and a Social Studies Center. Each Center has activities, links to related web resources, suggestions for reading, and resources for teachers. Throughout the site are ideas for parents and kids, as well as resources that specifically instruct teachers on how to enrich their curricula.

UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET

Exploring the Internet--a Beginner's Guide
http://www.screen.com/start/guide/
The "starting out" section of this site offers a basic overview of the Internet, a guide to subject indexes and search tools, and links to resources on "netiquette." In addition to covering the most commonly used Internet technologies, the "applications" section covers creating homepages, finding Internet software, and getting connected. Each page of resources is large, but the annotations will help the beginner find needed information quickly. Users may also participate in a forum on the Internet.

Parent's Guide to the Internet--Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/internet/
The U.S. Department of Education has released this 24 page pamphlet--a simple and concise guide to the Internet for parents. Its thirteen sections include a brief discussion of what the Internet is, how to get started using the Internet even if you don't have a computer, basic computer terminology, pointers to give young children when dealing with communicating on the Internet, and a brief but excellent list of annotated family sites and meta-sites.

Internet Tutorials--University at Albany Libraries
http://www.albany.edu/library/internet/
Laura Cohen, a network librarian at the University at Albany, maintains this effective collection of beginners' tutorials for Internet users. Under the five major categories of Basic Internet, Research Guides, Search Engines, Netscape, and Software Training, there are a total of nineteen tutorials at present. They contain easily understandable advice on how to use and search the Internet. Some central elements include an excellent discussion of Boolean Searching (Venn diagrams included); a useful, concise discussion of evaluation of Internet information; and four informative tutorials on search engines and subject directories.

REFERENCE

The Movie Mom's Guide to Family Movies and Videos
http://pages.prodigy.com/moviemom/moviemom.html
Author, film critic, and mother Nell Minow maintains this clear, selective guide to films and videos of interest to families and children. Reviews of current features now showing in theaters include Ever After,Armageddon, and Gone with the Windamong many others. Minow also reviews videos, offers links to movie sites and databases, advises parents with movie and video watching tips, and lists her "All-Time Best Family Movies." The Movie of the Month section spotlights movies based on a theme; The current theme is baseball and features such films as Ken Burns's Baseball documentary, and Daniel Stern's Rookie of the Year.

Food Finder
http://www.olen.com/food/
Before grabbing a quick bite at a fast food eatery, curious diners may want to check this site, provided by Olen Publishing, and based on the Fast Food Factshandbook, which is published by the Minnesota Attorney General's Office. Food Finder allows users to search any of nineteen fast food restaurants from Arby's to White Castle. Any or all restaurants can be searched on food names, maximum calories, percent calories from fat, and maximum sodium, fat, and cholesterol. Then simply "fire up the deep fryer." To browse all products of all restaurants, simply fire up the deep fryer without entering any search terms. This fun and informative (if slightly frightening) site tallies the cost of that next fast food meal to your health.

Best Places to Live in America 1998--Money Magazine
http://pathfinder.com/money/bestplaces/
Money magazine has added a new wrinkle to its annual Best Places to Live rankings. The controversial, yet fascinating, rankings no longer provide one single list. Lists are now broken out by size within geographical area, ending the possibility for any one city to create billboards claiming itself the best place to live. In this way, the rankings hope to "narrow the scope and rank each place within its own region and population group," while also guaranteeing that no city can finish lower than 50th. Each city ranking is accompanied by a statistical snapshot, and there is an explanatory paragraph for the winners. The site also allows users to compare costs of living between any two cities and find the best city for them based on 63 factors in nine categories. Rankings for 1997 and 1996 are still available.

Critical Comparisons of American Colleges and Universities
http://www.memex-press.com/cc/index.html
Critical Comparisons is an independent college assessment service created by Dr. William B. Busa and MEMEX Press. It's primary intended users are prospective college students and their parents. Reports on institutions are indexed alphabetically and provide a number of comparative statistics, including tuition, quality of faculty, library and student services, campus crime rate, and scholarships. The site also offers a search engine which allows users to identify colleges based on a lengthy list of select criteria.

© 1998 Internet Scout Project
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