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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for ProQuest® Platinum subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their subscriptions, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Don't miss our online archive for access to past issues, and to make changes to your newsletter options.
In this issue:
PROQUEST EDUCATION SOLUTION UPDATES
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates or content additions were recently completed, and we wanted to bring them to your attention.
New Content @ ProQuest Vault
ProQuest is always on the lookout for fresh content of all kinds. Whether it’s a new publication, newspaper collection, or photo source, our content acquisition team is on top of it. In the past few months, we’ve added more than 205 new sources to our overall ProQuest vault, along with 8.2 million documents. Wow!
Knowledge = Power: Spring Training Videos
Spring is in full swing! It’s time for Mother Nature -- and our trainers here at ProQuest -- to show off a little.
Along with the new flowers, leaves, and warmer temperatures, we’re proud to present an extra-large virtual bouquet of fresh, up-to-date training videos for more than half of our popular K-12 learning solutions.
These videos are presented in Flash, sporting quick load times and larger formats for easy viewing. Here’s a list of our newest offerings -- look for the rest of our popular library to be updated in July:
ProQuest Platform: Platinum, Education Journals, etc.
ProQuest Learning: Literature
ProQuest Learning: Literature Canada
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
SIRS Decades
eLibrary & eLibrary CE
eLibrary Canada
eLibrary BookCarts & QuizCarts
History Study Center
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PLATINUM CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
May is Physical Fitness and Sports Month. There are more people actively involved in sports at all levels and joining health clubs today than ever before.
Despite this increase in activity, the incidence of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure are higher in Americans than in any other civilized country in the world. How is this possible, and what can we do about making the connection between sports activity and health more beneficial to participants? Health and Physical Education teachers can use this opportunity for students to learn beyond the textbook and the gymnasium.
- Click the Topics tab
- Type “physical fitness and sports” in the Search box
- Click on Sports and Physical Fitness link
- Click View Document link
Select three documents from the results list that address the following Essential Questions. These are examples of questions that motivate critical thinking and help students go beyond the typical “who, what, when, and where” type of questions generally associated with student research assignments. Teachers can and should create additional Essential Questions based on the interests of their students.
- Why does participation in sports not ensure physical fitness?
- How can sports programs help students to build good habits that lead to better physical fitness?
- What are some factors that contribute to overall physical fitness and why?
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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:
China
- Capital City: Beijing
- Population: 1,298,847,624
- Area: 3,705,820 square miles (9,598,032 sq km)
- Real GDP per capita: $4,580
- Adult literacy rate: 95% (male), 87% (female)
- Infant mortality: 25 per 1,000 births
- Life expectancy: 69 (male), 73 (female)
Did You Know?
- China is only slightly larger than the United States, but it has more than four times as many inhabitants.
- Of some 50,000 Chinese characters, only about 8,000 are in use; knowledge of 1,500 is necessary for basic literacy.
- China seeks to provide an elementary education to every citizen; nearly 100 percent of first-grade-age children are enrolled.
Language
Standard Chinese (Putonghua), or Mandarin, is based on the Beijing dialect and is the national language. It is taught in schools, so most Chinese can read, write, and speak Mandarin. Many people also use the dialects or languages of their geographical region. These include Wu, Min, Yue (Cantonese), and Kejia.
Recreation
Favorite pastimes include eating, karaoke, and imported movies; the average Chinese attends more than 10 movies each year. As incomes have increased in recent years, traveling to other parts of China has become popular. Most cities have sports facilities. The country's favorite sports include soccer, table tennis, swimming, and badminton. Chinese play table and board games in homes and parks. Majiang is the most popular table game; most people know how to play it. Wei qi is a strategy game played in more educated circles. Chinese chess is another favorite. Parks and courtyards are often filled in the morning by those practicing taijiquan, a traditional form of shadowboxing that provides exercise and therapy.
Government
In the People's Republic of China, national policy is determined by a 20-member Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and, more importantly, its 7-member Standing Committee. The president (currently Hu Jintao) is chief of state, chosen by the 2,985 members of the National People's Congress. Hu is also the general secretary of the CCP, considered the government's most powerful position. The premier (currently Wen Jiabao) is head of government and is nominated by the president and confirmed by Congress. Members of Congress are indirectly elected at local levels. In about half of all villages, local leaders are elected rather than appointed.
Health
While malaria and cholera are problematic in China, people are generally healthy. However, the system of guaranteed care is being replaced by an insurance-based system where patients are required to pay for part of their care. Since rural Chinese often lack money, health conditions are declining and disease is spreading. Unlike many developing countries, Chinese health care concentrates on prevention. An extensive network of programs emphasizes immunizations, prenatal care, pediatrics, and sanitation. Facilities are simple, but the system has greatly improved basic health--especially in urban areas. Still, water is usually not potable and open sewers are common. Traditional Chinese medicine (use of medicinal herbs and acupuncture, among other things) is combined with Western medical techniques in treating illness and injury.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SIRS® WebSelect and SIRS® 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 Insurgency: Iraq
Organization: Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service
"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.
Hercules Illustrated
Organization: Joel Skidmore
"Hercules was the Roman name for the greatest hero of Greek mythology--Heracles. Like most authentic heroes, Heracles had a god as one of his parents, being the son of the supreme deity Zeus and a mortal woman." (JOEL SKIDMORE) The story of Hercules is told here with illustrations. In Greek and Roman mythology, Hercules was a son of Zeus, the greatest of the Greek heroes, and the only hero ever to become a god.
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.
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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 Platinum do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are planning to use it 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
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