Title: Explore Countries and Cultures

Grade Level(s): 5

Subject Area(s): Social Studies, Language Arts

Pathfinders will help you find information on Internet and in the media center about your topic. Search as many places as necessary in order to gather information for your research. To help you with this process see the Search Engine Strategy Plan.

• Step 1: Choosing key words
• Step 2: Using specialized Internet sources - online services
• Step 3: Using Internet links
• Step 4: Using search engines
• Step 5: Using Media Center resources
• Step 6: Citing electronic sources

Key Words

Country name
Geography
Government
Economy
Language
History
Holidays
Food
Clothing
Sports
Structures
Buildings
Flag
Musical instrument

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Online Services Available in the Media Center.

World Book Encyclopedia
Ask Media specialist for assistance in logging on. This online encyclopedia has Internet links to other sources of information on your country as well as related World Book articles.

SIRS Discoverer
Use this to find magazine articles and up-to-date graphics about your country.

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Internet Links

These links have information that will help you successfully complete this project.

Country at a Glance
A United Nations database of facts about countries

Nations of the World
National Anthems, Flags, Maps, Weather, News

Lonely Planet - Destinations
Information, maps, and pictures about countries of the world

Atlapedia Online
The **Countries A to Z** section, provides facts, figures and statistical data on geography, climate, people, religion, language, history, economy & more... for each individual country.
The **World Maps** section, provides full color physical and political maps for regions of the world.

The Worldwide Holiday and Festival Site
Lists public holidays in each country.

Multi-Cultural Calendar - Index by Country
Information on holidays provided by students around the world.

Flags of the World
Includes information on the significance of the colors in each flag.

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Internet Search Engines

Ask Jeeves for Kids
Ask Jeeves a question about your country. Use keywords to narrow search.

Kids Click
Choose a keyword on Kids Click Geography/History/Biography page.

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Media Center Resources

Patron's Catalog: This is an electronic catalog of media center print and nonprint resources.

• Find out if the media center has a book about your country.
• Use the print World Book Encyclopedia and/or The New Book of Knowledge.
• The Enchantment of the World, Lands and Peoples, The Taste of... and Celebrate in ... series will be very useful for this project.
• Check the index in these books to see if they have information on your country: Reader's Digest Children's World Atlas, Nystrom World Atlas, Children Just Like Me (clothing), and Children Just Like Me Celebrations (holidays).

CD-ROMS:

World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia
National Geographic Picture Atlas of the World
Map 'N Facts
Microsoft Musical Instruments

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Citing Electronic Sources

Citing your sources is an important part of research. Use Works Cited to keep a record of the resources you use for this activity.

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