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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for SIRS Knowledge Source® subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their SIRS subscription(s), while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Check out our online archive to read past issues.
In this issue:
- What's New @ SIRS
- SIRS Decades: Classroom-Ready Primary Sources
- Professional Development Program
- Lesson Plans
- CultureGrams in Focus
- Top 3 Websites
- Get Credit: Free Training Opportunities
- Call for User Testimonials
- Email Service Information
WHAT'S NEW @ SIRS
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates to our SIRS family of products were recently completed and we wanted to bring them to your
attention.
ExploreLearning: Codie Award Winner
Last week, ProQuest announced that ExploreLearning.com was a winner of a Software and Information Industry Association's (SIIA) Codie Award. ExploreLearning won the software and information industry's highest honor for the "Best Instructional Solution: Science."
"We are honored that ExploreLearning has been recognized as the best instructional solution in science," says John Campbell, Senior Vice President of ProQuest Education. "We are proud that ExploreLearning helps thousands of students achieve in math and science by building lasting understanding."
The winners of the 21st Annual Codie Awards were honored at a black-tie gala on May 16 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. This year’s winners were chosen from more than 1,025 nominations submitted by more than 500 companies, breaking the record for nominations set in the 2005 awards.
Established in 1986, the Codie Awards are the benchmark for celebrating the most innovative products in the software, digital content, and education technology industries. The Codie Awards program is the longest running and only peer recognition program in the software and information industry.
"This 21st Annual Codie Awards continues our tradition of celebrating the best products in the software and information industry." said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA. "Being a winner among so many fine nominees is a solid achievement. I congratulate all of the
companies."
ExploreLearning offers interactive online simulations that drive the inquiry process and conceptual understanding of math and science in grades 6-12. ExploreLearning helps students build lasting knowledge of complex mathematical and scientific principles through hands-on exploration, providing a powerful enhancement to the way teachers teach and students learn.
Discover everything ExploreLearning has to offer you and your school!
CultureGrams: World Conflicts Today Release
ProQuest is proud to announce the release of a new World Conflicts Today text and updates to the other nine conflicts that make up this in-depth resource. The new text treats the ongoing and resurgent conflict in Afghanistan---reviewed and highly recommended by war expert and eyewitness to the Afghanistan war, Dodge Billingsley.
World Conflicts Today is an online reference product and teaching tool for students and teachers and for use in high school and university libraries and classrooms. It explains and illustrates complex, ongoing world conflicts in clear and straightforward terms. The reports cater both to those who may just want an overview of a particular conflict and to those who need in-depth understanding.
The conflicts:
- Afghanistan (NEW!)
- Iraq
- Basque Country
- Palestinian Territories
- Northern Ireland
- Korean Peninsula
- Colombia
- Darfur
- Chechnya
- Jammu and Kashmir
The reports may be used across the curriculum for history, current events, and social studies research. Dive into CultureGrams and World Conflicts Today at our K-12 website.
Newest Articles & Graphics
Our editorial team updates SKS every day with new articles and resources. Here’s a short list of the timeliest and most topical articles added to your product this month. Publication dates may vary due to the editorial selection process.
SIRS WebSelect Survey: Winner!
Special thanks to everyone who participated in our SIRS WebSelect survey. Congratulations to Margaret Keller, from Cathedral High School, El Paso, TX, on winning the Amazon.com gift card!
Focus on Terrorism
In an effort to ensure the most current and accurate information is available to students, SIRS editors have updated the Key Figures section of Focus on Terrorism. The Iraq section now highlights the new Iraqi Prime Minister: Nuri Kamil al-Maliki.
Renaissance's Literary Corner
Don’t miss SIRS Renaissance's Literary Corner! You’ll find a curricular study of prominent authors in every major literary period and region, along with fresh author profiles. To connect, click the link to SIRS Renaissance on the main search page, and you’ll see a large Literary Corner link on the right side under Database
Features.
SIRS Leading Issues: This Month’s Top Picks
Our popular SIRS Leading Issues feature is dynamically updated daily with new content! New topics are added monthly along with "Your Top 10 Choices"--a list solely driven by end-user searches. Here's a list of some of the more commonly accessed topics by our subscribers:
- Marijuana legalization
- Gangs
- Capital punishment
- Abortion
- Teenage pregnancy
- Immigration
- Same-sex marriage
- Child abuse
- Eating disorders
- Nuclear weapons
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LESSON PLANS
The first all-electronic computer was designed 60 years ago by John William Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania. The computer, called the ENIAC, weighed 30 tons. Contrast that with the present computer chips that are millions of times more powerful and can fit on a human fingernail.
Predictions are that in less than two decades, a new breed of super computers will have memories and CPUs that are nano-sized and millions of times more powerful than those we marvel at today.
Activity: Students can appreciate what they take for granted in the technology they enjoy today by visiting the past and learning more about the genius and hard work that made it possible. They will also learn about how technology progress accelerates geometrically with each new development.
Type “Computers” in the Subject Heading Search box. Students will get a variety of topics that relate to computers from this search. Student should select and use at least three Researcher resources for their reports. Students should be assigned a different aspect of researching the technological progress that led to the modern computer. For example:
- Computers prior to the ENIAC
- What was special about ENIAC and why it was developed
- The invention of the transistor as a significant breakthrough
- Other significant breakthrough inventions that propelled the growth of the computer industry
- The invention and creation of the Internet
- Computer Networks
- Wireless networks
- Unusual uses for computers
- Criminal activity made possible by computers
- Predictions about future computers
Oral or PowerPoint reports of approximately three minutes will give students the motivation to research and present and the opportunity for other students to learn from each others work and questioning during the report. Presentation skills are required by all state standards and an excellent way to develop these essential 21st century literacy skills.
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SIRS® DECADES: PRIMARY SOURCES IN YOUR CLASSROOM
The use of source documents offers students a direct glimpse into the past. But without context, these sources can confuse as often as illuminate. SIRS Decades places these resources into a relevant framework for understanding that enriches both the content and student understanding of the material. SIRS Decades features more than 5,000 hand-selected primary and secondary source articles highlighting key events, movements, people, and places in 20th-century America.
These visuals are editorially-selected by SIRS so there is a built-in focus and synergy among these resources that would not be present in random or general searching of the Internet or any other historical print or electronic database.
All Primary Source Documents include a summary to help students select appropriate resources for reports without the need to browse all resources. These editorially-written summaries provide a framework for the documents and help students to fully understand the importance of each document, which they may find difficult to interpret on their own. Time saved can be reinvested in more critical thinking: analysis, synthesis, and writing/report presentation. Increasing time on the development of these skills ensures future success in higher education, careers, and personal life decision making.
To access the material below, sign up for a trial, login, and then click on each link.
Sample Primary Source Documents
Find out more about SIRS Decades at our K-12 website.
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PROQUEST PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SIRS & ELIBRARY
Our professional development training program is a complete package that delivers the key processes to ensure successful program implementation, and the content to support ongoing use and customization across the entire curriculum.
The CEU-eligible program provides educators with research-based technology integration strategies and tools for customizing instruction and assessment using our SIRS and eLibrary online learning solutions. Schools receive the materials they need to build professional development and instructional models that can maximize teacher efficiency and effectiveness, and improve student achievement.
Educators receive rubrics, assessments, activities, and content designed to spur students' information literacy skills, critical thinking, and reading and writing abilities, while increasing their own technology usage. Plus, our flexible model ensures that all instructional staff in a school or system will benefit from the lessons learned.
Our fresh support for our line of SIRS solutions will train your teachers to fuse four types of literacy using SIRS resources with state and national learning standards. Find out more about this new program today--just in time for your spring training dates!
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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. Our World Edition includes 187 country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 68 countries and all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
CultureGrams goes beyond mere facts and figures to deliver an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people.
Country:
New Zealand
- Capital City: Wellington
- Population: 3,993,817
- Area: 103,737 square miles (268,680 sq km)
- Real GDP per capita: $21,740
- Adult literacy rate: 99% (male), 99% (female)
- Infant mortality: 6 per 1,000 births
- Life expectancy: 76 (male), 81 (female)
Did You Know?
- New Zealand’s indigenous name is Aotearoa (“Land of the Long White Cloud”).
- Two of three New Zealanders read a newspaper every day.
- New Zealand is the world's largest exporter of wool.
Language
English and Maori are both official languages. The latter is used for Maori ceremonies or other special occasions. Maori people also speak English, and some Pakeha speak a little Maori, which they may learn in school. Many Maori words (Pakeha, kiwi, etc.) have been adopted into English.
Religion
Most New Zealanders (81 percent) identify themselves as Christians, including Anglicans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and Methodists. However, only about 11 percent attend church on a regular basis. Attendance is higher on religious holidays. About 1 percent of New Zealanders are Hindu or Buddhist. The Ratana and Ringatu Maori Christian Churches have large congregations. Most of the rest of the population either does not affiliate with a religion or has not specified a particular belief.
Recreation
New Zealanders spend considerable time outdoors, playing sports, gardening, or fixing up their homes. Gardening is one of the most common leisure activities.
Since no area is far from the mountains, sea, or rivers, there are many opportunities for mountaineering, tramping (hiking), fishing (both deep-sea and freshwater), hunting (on a limited basis), swimming, walking, jogging, and sailing. Rugby is the national sport. Soccer is popular in winter, while cricket is the favorite for summer. Field hockey and softball are popular with both men and women. Girls and women often play netball, a game similar to basketball.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SKS WebSelect™ and Discoverer WebFind™ editorial teams scour the Internet for top-quality sites that help teachers teach and students learn. Although no Internet site can supplant a quality research database, these vetted resources offer unique resources that are sure to be of interest.
The Science of Cooking
Organization: The Exploratorium
The Science of Cooking provides recipes and activities on the science behind food and cooking. On this site, users can explore a spice map of the world, discover how a cucumber becomes a pickle, find out what happens to meat when cooked, learn about sucrose molecules, take a microscopic tour of bread and study how to make a naked egg. The Flash plug-in is required for certain interactive parts of this site.
It All Adds Up
Organization: National Council on Economic Education
"Welcome to It All Adds Up, a site for teens who want to get a head start on their financial future. Play online games and simulations to learn about credit management, buying a car, paying for college, budgeting, saving and investing. Click one of the images...to get started." (NATIONAL COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCATION) Learn about personal finance in these five modules: Getting and Using a Credit Card, Buying a Car, Budget Odyssey, Saving and Investing Blitz, and You're Going to College.
The Insurgency: Iraq
Organization: Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
"Kidnappings. Suicide bombers. Beheadings. Roadside bombs. The Iraqi insurgency continues to challenge the most highly trained and best-equipped military in the world. FRONTLINE peels back the layers and gets beyond the propaganda to take a complex look inside the multi-faceted insurgency in Iraq." (PBS) On the companion site, consider if the insurgency can be defeated, read interviews with U.S. military commanders and journalists, find a timeline of attacks, and view a map of Iraq's ethnic and religious makeup.
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FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Our ProQuest product trainers are standing by to help you get the most out of your subscription--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! We offer a wide variety of online training sessions each month.
Plus, all attendees can easily obtain a Certificate of Attendance (right) for any of our online courses! The certificate documents the course name, amount of class time, date, and verifies attendance. You can use the certificate to document attendance in the class and submit it along with the additional documentation your school district requires to award you with continuing education credits.
Be sure to tell your trainer that you would like to receive a certificate via email at the start of each class. They’ll be glad to help!
You can download three ready-to-print versions of forthcoming training dates and times in PDF format.
Our training sessions cover after-school hours within several time zones. Best of all, there's no cost to participate. All you need is a computer with Internet access, a phone, and one hour.
Register for a course!
You may also sign up for a timely enewsletter to receive training dates each month via email as soon as they're available.
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CALL FOR USER TESTIMONIALS
What features of your SIRS subscription do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are you planning to use SIRS as part of an assignment or student research project? How do you and other curriculum leaders in your institution use your ProQuest educational resources?
Share your experiences with peers working in schools across the country and around the world--through an upcoming Product News Bulletin! We're waiting to hear from you. Please send your ideas and stories to: tim.mclain@il.proquest.com
If we choose your submission, we'll contact you for additional information and permission to use your story in a future issue.
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FORWARD TO A COLLEAGUE + EMAIL SERVICE INFORMATION
Increase the usage of your digital learning resources! Our forward to a friend service makes it easy to instantly send this product bulletin--and all the great ideas and information it contains--to others in your subscribing institution with a click of your mouse.
Also, be sure to encourage them to sign up for our SIRS, CultureGrams, ProQuest, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, eLibrary, eLibrary Curriculum Edition, and additional enewsletters as appropriate.
To change your email address, sign up for additional newsletter titles, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
Cordially,
Your ProQuest K-12 Team
Your SIRS license agreement gives us permission to send you email about product upgrades, special offers, and new services. If you'd like to discontinue receiving these messages, you may unsubscribe. If you have any questions or are having difficulty, please send email to Tim McLain. Thanks for your interest in SIRS and ProQuest!
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