Lesson the First - WB Wonders

#1 & 2 - Gosh, where to start. I compared discussions of the mountain lion in WBK and WBS, and, of course, WBS has the longer, more detailed discussion necessary for MS students, but WBK has nice features as well including the lexile level of the article on the upper left (850). The WBK article also included links to 2 websites, one of which included a nice discussion of the current habitat of the mountain lion along with some drawings of front and back paws. The longer, more detailed article in WBS also included links to curriculum content standards on the upper right and, in the bar on the left, clicking on "sounds" yielded an audio clip of the mountain lion cry. New info to me is that, although the animal doesn't roar, it does purr. The WBS discussion says the cry is somewhat like a human scream, as verified by that audio clip.



Both WBK & WBS articles contained one picture of the mountain lion (same pic in both resources. The WBK website previously mentioned shows at least one more picture, but it probably wouldn't be as easy to download and print, etc., as the one in the actual WB article.



Love the ease of moving between the 2 resources--so handy for student users (and their adult helpers)! And, the read-aloud capability in both resources could be such a benefit.



#3 - My students would've appreciated very much the detailed breakdown on the left side of the contents in the discussion of Germany, being able to zip around at will within the lengthy article, and not have to read line by line from start to finish.

As the teacher and keeper of the printer paper and toner cartridges, I'd have appreciated the links within the article permitting printing of just one section at a time, eliminating the need to print the whole thing to get facts from only, perhaps, 1 subsection, for example, the subsection on German music.

Primary Sources - What a treat to show this to the teacher(s) in charge of History Day projects! Gold mine-type stuff ready & waiting.

Types of info more valuable to the user, comparing the 2 screens, depend upon the user's purpose. The first screen that opened on Germany gathers together maps, historical maps, sounds, videos/animations, pictures, etc., thus possibly sparing the user from having to explore the in-depth article if such exploration isn't necessary--a really nice feature. Many times, that first screen would be deep enough.

#4 - I chose "First Ladies of the United States" and clicked on the Enable Read-aloud Toolbar to hear the article read aloud and altered the speed of the reading for both more slowly and faster. I also played around with changing the language in which the article was printed--tried Arabic, French, German, Spanish. Both read-aloud and translation (assuming unfamiliarity with the English language is the issue) capabilities should be useful to users struggling to read English well.

Ta-ta for now. Time to stop playing and get serious about something else, no doubt, less fun.