This activity demonstrates how to help students develop skills in finding information in databases that lie below the surface of the Web. Using a web-based tool called Rollyo, students are challenged to find the answer to several questions within a safe environment of preselected websites. The theme for this activity is inventors and inventions and is suitable for a reading level of Grades 5 and up.

Mini-lesson

Step 1
Explain to the students that there are many places to look for high quality information on the Internet when starting a project. Discuss these orienting questions: "Who would know the answer to this question?" and "Where could we find that person?" One valuable source of information is websites that compile information written by experts on a specific topic in a database.  Some examples of these kinds of websites are the Internet Broadway Database and the Library of Congress.  This activity provides practice in searching for information that is stored in databases on topic-specific websites.

Step 2
Have students open the Inventors and Inventions Searchroll (http://rollyo.com/21cif/inventors and_inventions/)

Demonstrate how to search Rollyo and explain that it the same as searching in Google or Yahoo except that they are only searching in eleven preselected websites.

Step 3
Have students try to find the answer to the Search Challenges listed below.  Encourage them not to spend more than 5 minutes on any one item.  As an alternate approach, have students work in pairs at one computer.  When students generate keywords together they often gain new insights and learn vocabulary from each other.  Depending on how much time you have for the minilesson, you may select one or two search challenges for them all to work on.  Have them write down their answers:

1. Name an African-American woman who signed her patent application with an “X.” What did she invent?
2. Whose invention made it easier to see while driving in the rain?
3. Create a query that brings the invent.org site to the top of the snippet results list. Note:  You cannot use the actual URL in your query.  Hint: An important keyword is a synonym for the phrase: look for
4. How many websites in this Searchroll have a “Hall of Fame” listing?

Answers Here

Step 4
Debrief.  Ask the students to share what strategies they used to find the webpages with the answers.  Have students demonstrate their effective queries on a computer that is projected on the screen.

Step 5
Have students identify where they might look for topic-specific databases for the projects they are working on.

Help for Rollyo: 
View this Rollyo tutorial on how to navigate in Rollyo and how to create your own free Searchrolls.