Academic Kids is a free online encyclopedia for elementary students and small children.

This online platform covers dozens of topics, from maps and flags to history and ancient civilizations.

Scroll down to find the menu on the left side.

This site offers 5,390+ robust, original stories based on primary sources and presented in various media formats: written, dramatized narrations, videos, images, maps, and more!
Free stories each day are available for access - see the home page and the What Matters Now tabs

Students in Grades 4-8 activate prior knowledge and research information about a historic event through fiction and nonfiction literature and exploration of relevant websites.

In this lesson students explore a number of sources to create a biographical timeline about a selected person. Students collaboratively research and resolve conflicting information they find during their investigation.

The core idea of this lesson occurs in the unplugged activity that kicks off the lesson, in which students try to keep track of IP addresses that had been randomly assigned to each student in the class, while at the same time the teacher occasionally changes students' addresses. This leads to identifying the need for an authoritative system for name-to-address mappings, known as the Domain Name System or [v DNS].

Students then briefly experiment with a DNS protocol in the Internet Simulator. The activity is similar, in that students will have to grapple with IP addresses changing in real time and use the built in DNS protocol to resolve the issues.

The lesson ends with students doing some rapid research about DNS and some of its vulnerabilities, particularly what are known as Denial of Service Attacks.

This lesson is a capstone to the Internet unit. Students will research and prepare a flash talk about an issue facing society: either **[v Net Neutrality]** or **Internet Censorship**. Developing an informed opinion about these issues hinges on an understanding of how the Internet functions as a system. Students will prepare and deliver a flash talk that should combine forming an opinion about the issue and an exhibition of their knowledge of the internet.

This lesson is good *practice* for certain elements of the AP Explore Performance Task.1 The primary things practiced here are: doing a bit of research about impacts of computing (though here it’s specifically about the Internet), explaining some technical details related to ideas in computer science, and connecting these ideas to global and social impacts. Students will practice synthesizing information, and presenting their learning in a flash talk.

1**Note:** This is NOT the official AP® Performance Task that will be submitted as part of the Advanced Placement exam; it is a practice activity intended to prepare students for some portions of their individual performance at a later time.

This lesson sets the the stage for why we want to learn about how the Internet works. First students share what they currently know about how the Internet works through a KWL activity.

Then students watch a short video the introduces Vint Cerf and the Internet at high level. Students then skim a memo written to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) by Vint Cerf in 2002 entitled “The Internet is for Everyone,” which calls out a series of threats to the prospect that the Internet should be an open, easily and cheaply accessible resource for everyone on the planet.

Finally we foreshadow the practice PT at the end of the unit. Many of the questions and challenges raised by Vint Cerf still apply today, and students will be asked to research and present on one for the Practice PT.

Students learn the difference between lossy and lossless compression by experimenting with a simple lossy compression widget for compressing text. Students then research three real-world compressed file formats to fill in a research guide. Throughout the process they review the skills and strategies used to research computer science topics online, in particular to cope with situations when they don't have the background to fully understand everything they're reading (a common situation even for experienced CS students).

In this lesson students will conduct a small amount of research to explore a file format either currently in use or from history. Students will conduct research in order to complete a "one-pager" that summarizes their findings. They will also design a computational artifact (video, audio, graphic, etc.) that succinctly summarizes the advantages of their format over other similar ones.

This lesson is intended to be a quick, short version of a performance task in which students rapidly do some research and respond in writing. It might take 2 class days but should not take more. The goal is to develop skills that students will use when they complete the actual Explore PT later in the year.

Students learn about various types of cybercrimes and the cybersecurity measures that can help prevent them. Then students perform a Rapid Research project investigating a particular cybercrime event with a particular focus on the data that was lost or stolen and the concerns that arise as a result. The Rapid Research activity features vocabulary, concepts, and skills that should help prepare them for the AP Explore PT, and also serves as a capstone for the sequence of lessons on encryption and security.

This lesson asks students to consider carefully the assumptions they make when interpreting data and data visualizations. The class begins by examining how the Google Flu Trends project tried and failed to use search trends to predict flu outbreaks. They will then read a report on the Digital Divide which highlights how access to technology differs widely by personal characteristics like race and income. This report challenges a widespread assumption that data collected online is representative of the population at large. To practice identifying assumptions in data analysis, students are provided a series of scenarios in which data-driven decisions are made based on flawed assumptions. They will need to identify the assumptions being made (most notably those related to the digital divide) and explain why these assumptions lead to incorrect conclusions.

In this lesson students will conduct a small amount of research to explore a computing innovation that leverages the use of data. Students will research a topic of personal interest and respond to questions about about how that innovation produces, uses, or consumes data. The lesson is intended to give students practice with doing research of this nature and provides a small amount of scaffolding to help students figure out what to look for.

This lesson is intended to be a quick, short version of a performance task in which students rapidly do some research and respond in writing. It might take 2 class days but should not take more. The goal is to generate ideas for exploration later when students complete the actual Explore PT later in the year.

Blog posts by Michelle Côté and Scott Dallimore, scientists with NRCan, recount the important scientific research taking place aboard the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier research vessel. NRCan’s Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) is investigating offshore geological hazards and identifying sensitive marine habitat in Canada’s Western Arctic. NRCan is working on ocean and sea ice science in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, which has a special interest in marine technology.

By conducting interviews, sharing and assessing data, and writing papers based on their authentic research, students reach their own conclusions on the meaning of the American Dream.

Vision Center is a web guide created for those seeking information about eye care and health, contacts, glasses, sunglasses, LASIK eye surgery (and other vision correction options), and other optometry needs. VC specializes in producing authoritative medical content in various health verticals, including vision and dentistry.

All content published on Vision Center is researched, written, and edited by licensed optometrists, experienced journalists, and other medical writers in the industry. All pages and topics on the website are fact-based and sourced from recent scientific research, scholarly articles, textbooks, government agencies, and medical journals.

The purpose of the video lesson is to review the steps in creating a bibliography. The accompanying handout provides an outline for writing a bibliography and an opportunity to write a bibliography as practice. It also gives an online link for doing research and writing bibliographies. The attached self-evaluation includes a checklist that requires students to reflect on their experience with writing a bibliography .

The purpose of this lesson is to explore doing a research project.
Included:

YouTube video to support DLC ELA Grade 2: Unit 3 Lesson 2 - Research
Handouts:
HO-3 KWL Chart on Beavers
HO-4 Research Sources
HO-5 Animal Research Graphic Organizer

Students conduct Internet research to investigate the purpose and current functioning status of some of the largest dams throughout the world. They investigate the success or failure of eight dams and complete a worksheet. While researching the dams, they also gain an understanding of the scale of these structures by recording and comparing their reservoir capacities. Students come to understand that dams, like all engineered structures, have a finite lifespan and require ongoing maintenance and evaluation for their usefulness.

Through Internet research, patent research, standards and codes research, user interviews (if possible) and other techniques (idea web, reverse engineering), students further develop the context for their design challenge. In subsequent activities, the design teams use this body of knowledge about the problem to generate product design ideas. (Note: Conduct this activity in the context of a design project that students are working on, which could be a challenge determined by the teacher, brainstormed with the class, or the example project challenge provided [to design a prosthetic arm that can perform a mechanical function]. This activity is Step 2 in a series of six that guide students through the engineering design loop.)

'The Emma Stewart Resources Centre is your library. With a collection of over 38,000 books and audio-visual resources, over 100 journals and newspapers, a selection of teacher-prepared units, plus a friendly and knowledgeable staff, the Emma Stewart Resources Centre is able to meet your classroom, research and professional development needs.

'ONLINE CATALOGUE
The Emma Stewart Resources Centre’s online catalogue is available 24 hours a day.

'UNIT PLANS
Listed here are unit plans currently available for elementary, middle and secondary levels.

'RESOURCES
The Emma Stewart Resources Centre offers a variety of specialized resources, including bibliographies, related web links, recent acquisitions lists and news pieces on teaching resources.

'SERVICES
Our staff is always ready to search for the materials you need. Online request forms provide quick and easy access to our services.'

/

Le Centre propose aussi des ressources en français, dans le catalogue numérique et parmi les plans d'unité téléchargeables (plusieurs sont mises en lumière ici dans la Banque de Ressources!).