LibGuides: Grade 10 Design: Robotics and Coding

Research Databases for HS Science

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Britannica School This link opens in a new window
Welcome to Britannica School, a safe, up-to-date, and age-appropriate information resource for Elementary, Middle, and High School. Discover encyclopedia articles, multimedia, primary sources, games, and other learning resources that support student research and reinforce curriculum standards.
Ebscohost This link opens in a new window EBSCOhost is an intuitive online research platform used by thousands of institutions and millions of users worldwide. With quality databases and search features, EBSCOhost helps researchers of all kinds find the information they need fast.
Users outside of China please use this link: http://search.ebscohost.com/
Global Issues This link opens in a new window Gale In Context: Global Issues supports awareness and provides perspective on global issues, while tying together a wealth of authoritative content: empowering learners to critically analyse and understand the most important issues of the modern world.
Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Find overviews, news, and opinions on hundreds of today's important social issues.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
World Book Online This link opens in a new window World Book Online is a suite of online research tools that includes encyclopedia articles, primary source collections, educator tools, student activities, educational games, pictures, audio, and video, complemented by current periodicals and related Web sites.

Data Resources

Pew Research Center July 16, 2013 The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools BY KRISTEN PURCELL, JUDY BUCHANAN AND LINDA FRIEDRICH
A survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers finds that digital technologies are shaping student writing in myriad ways and have also become helpful tools for teaching writing to middle and high school students.

Example article

Unahalekhaka, Apittha, and Marina Umaschi Bers. “Taking Coding Home: Analysis of ScratchJr Usage in Home and School Settings.” Educational Technology Research & Development, vol. 69, no. 3, June 2021, pp. 1579–98. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423
With a growing number of ScratchJr usage, over 19 million users worldwide, we examined the use in the United States of the free ScratchJr programming language, explicitly designed for young children ages 5-7, to learn how to code. Our objective was to explore children's usage of the ScratchJr tablet app at home and school settings. We analyzed usage data from Google Analytics in 1.5 years, comparing Scratchsr usage in the two different settings. Our dataset comprised a total of 4,352,802 coding sessions, generated by a daily average of 2525 home users and 9969 school users. The results suggested that, although children in both settings on average spent an equal duration with ScratchJr, children in home settings spent more time exploring advanced coding blocks and the paint editor compared to children at school. Further, children at school tended to use similar types of coding blocks across several days. In contrast, children at home were more likely to use a diversity of block categories and difficulty levels. The implications of this research are, first, that usage patterns may help us understand how children across settings learn to program differently. Second, based on these findings, it may be essential for parents at home and educators at school to consider using different approaches and strategies.

Useful Websites

BBC News Science
One of the best places for news on the environment.
Biographic
bioGraphic is powered by the California Academy of Sciences, a renowned scientific and educational institution dedicated to exploring, explaining, and sustaining life on Earth.
Center for Climate & Energy Solutions (C2ES)
Think tank providing information, analysis, policy and solution development for addressing climate change and energy issues (formerly known as the: "Pew Center on Global Climate Change").
NASA Global Climate Change
The mission of “Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet” is to provide the public with accurate and timely news and information about Earth’s changing climate, along with current data and visualizations, presented from the unique perspective of NASA, one of the world’s leading climate research agencies.
National Center for Atmospheric Research (National Science Foundation)
Find useful reports, program information and other documents resulting from federally funded research and development into the behavior of the atmosphere and related physical, biological and social systems.
Our Climate Our Future
Our Climate Our Future is a project of Action for the Climate Emergency. ACE has a mission to educate, inspire and support young people to lead the fight for their future.
United Nations Climate Action
Scientific reports, programs, action movements and events related to climate change.
US Environmental Protection Agency
Comprehensive information from U.S. EPA on issues of climate change.

Finding a credible journal article

1. Search in a database or Google Scholar

2. When you find a paper, look up the journal. Is it reputable? Is it peer-reviewed? Look at the impact factor. The higher the factor, the more regarded the journal.

3. Look at the main author or authors – are they from a well-known school or organization?

4. Scan the methods. Do they make sense? Are they sound?

5. References should be included in the article so you can look up the data yourself.

6. Contrary information is included.

7. What is not known is included.

Investigate a Web Source in Four Moves

STOP - before you click it, read it, share it, or react, just stop. Ask yourself "Do I know this website?" "Does it have a good reputation?" If you're not sure, move on to the next steps.

INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE - do an internet search on the domain you just found. Look it up in Wikipedia. Read about the source. Are they legit? Are they biased? Do they have an agenda? Was that video on the benefits of milk consumption put out by the dairy industry? You need to know the answers to these questions before you consume the content. Can't find anything about the site? Don't read it.

FIND BETTER COVERAGE - don't just go to the websites that found you. Look for trusted reporting. Look for experts in the field. Ask a librarian or a teacher for advice or trusted sources.

TRACE CLAIMS TO ORIGINAL CONTEXT - if a website quotes another article or website, find the original quote or claim or article. Are you watching the complete video? Are you seeing the entire photo?

From Mike Caulfield