Worksheet for Internet Training

Surfin’ with RETA

Using Browsers and Search Engines

Description In this activity you will use a browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) to learn about RETA, become familiar with Search Engines and navigate the Internet.

STEP ONE - Open Your Browser

1. On the desktop (computer screen) look for either the name/icon for Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

2. Using your left mouse button, click twice on the icon. You may be prompted to give a password- if you do not know it, please ask your RETA instructor. Then click on the word ‘Connect.’

3. The window will open up and load. You should see a bar at the bottom of the window as the page loads. When the bar goes away, the page has loaded onto your screen completely.

4. The page you will see is called the homepage. Various Internet providers have either their own page, or will open up a page from a search engine, which is just a place to go to look for resources. You will be trying out several search engines.

5. Across the top of your screen, there are several buttons.

 BACK sends you to the last page.  FORWARD takes you to the next one.- it will be highlighted if you have gone backwards.  STOP stops a page from loading if you change your mind about where you want to go.  SEARCH helps you search the web by having you select a topic.  FAVORITES gives you a chance to save favorite sites to a folder on your computer so you can find it more easily.  HISTORY shows you where you have been for the past several days.  MAIL lets you read your email if you have an email account on this machine.  PRINT lets you print the page you are viewing. STEP 2 – THE RETA SCAVENGER HUNT

At the top of the Browser, you will see a space that says ‘address’, and has the address for the homepage you are being shown. Most addresses start with ‘http://, and is often followed by ‘www.’ The words and numbers after these letters are known as the URL- the Internet address for individual sites. Please notice that most addresses are in lowercase letters, and there usually is no space between letters. Sometime addresses will have uppercase letters, and spaces are taken by an underscore _.

1. In the address box type in the URL for the RETA site:

http://reta.nmsu.edu/

2. Hit ENTER.

Follow the links to find out more about the RETA Project.

Locate the answers to the following questions and fill in the blanks below:

1. What does RETA stand for? ______

2. What are the five RETA program goals? ______

______

3. What is the sponsoring grant for the RETA Program? ______

______

4. How many years has RETA been in existence? ______

5. How many Regional Resource Centers are there? ______

6. Name two things you can find on the RETA Site Virtual Resource Center. ______7. The Form you can download off the RETA Site that is just below the Bridge to Practice form is the ______.

8. What software application will you need to use this form? ______.

9. The New Mexico Standards database is one of the Curriculum Databases on the RETA Site. What is the other? ______

10. If you need to find a RETA session in January, what part of the site can help you? ______

STEP 3 – SEARCH ENGINES

Information on the Web is usually located though search engines, directories and meta search engines.

Search engines create computer-generated catalogs of web pages by continually visit web sites on the Internet. Search engines are best when you have the specific words and phrases that you want to appear in the results.

Some Search Engines are:

 Excite http://www.excite.com  Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com  Alta Vista http://www.altavista.com  HotBot http://www.hotbot.com  Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com

Directories are created by humans (unlike search engines). Sites are submitted and then are assigned to a category or categories. Searches are performed by following subject maps or using key phrases. Directories are best used when searching for information about a general subject.

Some Directories are:

 Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com  Argus Clearninghouse http://www.clearinghouse.net  The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org  Galaxy http://www.einet.net  Magellan http://magellan.excite.com  Yahooligans! http://www.yahooligans.com

Meta Search Engines at one time search and display the results of multiple search engines.

Some Meta Search Engines are:

 Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com  Metacrawler http://www.metacrawler.com  All4one (searches 4 major search engines at once) http://all4one.com  ProFusion (searches 9 major search engines at once) http://www.profusion.com  All-in-One (searches 400 search engines at once) http://www.allonesearch.com  Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com  Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com

1. Explore how Search Engines and Directories work by Searching a subject of your choice with several of these sites. 2. Click in the address box and type one of the search engine URLs.  Make sure you type the address exactly as you see it. The Internet can’t deliver without every character of the address, anymore than the US Mail can deliver without the zip code. 3. Hit Enter.  The Internet will look for the address and load the designated page. If you get an error message of any kind, check the accuracy of the address you have typed and redo if necessary. If you still get an error message, check with your RETA instructor. 4. In a search engine, you will see many options on the screen. Most have categories that you can click on to give resources. There is also an open bar that has the word “search” or “go” next to it. Type the word or phrase that you are searching in the bar and click on “search”. Be very specific, and use the words AND, OR to help link topics together, such as ‘dinosaurs AND Jurassic period’. OR Click on one of the resource choices to look at various categories under that topic.  Continue narrowing your search by clicking on a category of your choice. Continue clicking on categories until you see a list of topics in your category with short descriptions. Click on one of these, and you will be on a page with information that you can use.

HINT: Remember the buttons at the top of the browser. To go back to any categories, click on the ‘Back’ button at the top of your screen. Notice that the address in the address box will change each time you go to another page.

RECORD YOUR SEARCH RESULTS:

SEARCH ENGINE Number of Number of sites Successful Categories found Search?