A TEACHER'S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET
revised 07/09/02

CONTENTS

  • History of the Internet
  • Vocabulary
  • Transmitting and Receiving Information
  • Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
  • How to Cite Online Documents
  • Bookmarks for Humanities Teachers
  • How to Keep Students Honest

    THE INTERNET

    VOCABULARY
      BOOKMARKS Part of the Internet Browser that allows you to keep track of URLs


      BOOLEAN A Boolean Search allows you to restrict the search. In relation to computer languages it is: On or off true or false + or -.


      BROWSER The interpreter of the file - example: Netscape. It “pulls” information from the net.


      DNS Domain Name Space


      E-MAIL electronic transfer of TEXT files. “Pushing” information out. Example of e-mail address: tisone@worldnet.att.net


      FTP File Transfer Protocol. A service or method by which documents are transferred.


      HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A service or method by which documents are transferred. Often the first part of a URL


      HTML Hyper Text Markup Language - Most web pages are currently written in this language.


      INTERNET It began as a Department of Defense experiment. The purpose was to enable the rapid transfer of text files between linked computers. Universities doing work with the Defense Department were linked up. Access to the net was limited but quickly spread. Now there is no central authority - just phone, satellite or cable links between machines.


      INTERNET PROVIDER a 24 hour server providing individual access via a local phone number to the internet. Example: AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve, AT&T. Available for a monthly, hourly fee.


      SEARCH ENGINE An organizer of pages on the net. Examples: “yahoo.com”, ”dogpile.com”, “mamma.com”. A browser such as Netscape provides these search engines to the individual user. The search engine allows KEYWORD searches.


      URL Uniform Resource Locator: a unique descriptor that can identify any document (plain or hypertext), graphic, gopher, archive, or article anywhere on the internet or your machine. The URL includes the protocol, the location on the net (or web), the address on the individual server, the zone, and the specific file. Examples: http://www.rims.k12.ca.us/SCORE/index.html http:/www.ctap2.bcoe.butte.k12.ca.us/SCORE/problearn.html


      WORLD WIDE WEB A medium of communication built around information delivery through hypertext links (ASCII and HTML codes that connect to other topics or documents.) It is user friendly. You view the web through an interpreter known as a browser (Netscape etc.)


      WEB SERVER A computer which should be accessible 24 hours a day and devoted solely to the purpose of document transfer. http://www.rims


      WEB SITE The location of published hypertext content. When you look at a web page you are visiting a web site.

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    TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING INFORMATION

    How long would it take to transmit the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, including its graphics and photographs over the Internet with CONVENTIONAL PHONE LINES?
    28.8kbps modem 8 days
    56kbps modem 4 days
    T-1 phone line(1.54mbps 3.6 hours
    T-3 phone line(44.7mbps) 7.5 minutes

    How does it take with FIBER OPTIC LINES?
    OC1 (optical line (51.8mbps) 6.4 minutes
    (OC3 (optical line (155.5mbps) 2.1 minutes
    OC48 (optical line (2.48 gigabits per sec) 9 seconds
    OC192 (optical line (9.95 gigabits per sec) 2 seconds

    NOTE: Kbps equals kilobits per second. Mbps equals megabits per second. A gigabit is a thousand megabits
    SOURCE: City of Palo Alto Utilities Department

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    EVALUATING INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET
    BASIC CRITERIA

    Authorship
      Is the author well known and well regarded?
    Publishing body
      Has a manuscript been subject to peer review?
      Is the publishing body well regarded?
      Is there referral to and/or knowledge of other sources?
      What other sources are cited?
    Accuracy or verifiability
      What methods were used to evaluate data?
      What background information is provided?
    Currency
      What is the date of publication?
      Are dates of revisions provided?
      Is there a copyright?

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    HOW TO CITE ONLINE DOCUMENTSfrom MLA

    To cite files available for viewing/downloading via the World Wide Web, give the author’s name (if known), the full title of the work in quotation marks, the title of the complete work (if applicable) in italics, the document date (if known and if different from the date accessed), the full http address, and the date of visit.

    EXAMPLE: Burka, Lauren P. “A Hypertext History of Multiuser Dimensions.” The MUDdex. 1993. http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/lpb/muddex/essay/ (5 Dec. 1994).

    Online Style Guides

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    BOOKMARKS OF INTEREST TO HUMANITIES TEACHERS

     Education General


    Education History Social Studies
     Museums


    Government



    The Newsstand



    Search Engines


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    HOW TO KEEP STUDENTS HONEST

    Design lessons that have fuzzy edges and require students to:
      Clearly define the problem
      Develop alternative hypotheses
      Access, evaluate, and utilize data from a variety of sources
      Alter hypotheses given new information
      Develop clearly stated solutions based on clear reasoning.


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    Copyright © 1997.tisone