Many of you will be familiar with the scenario: your child comes home from school with instructions to research a topic for homework and the question then arises, how and where is this research to be done? More often than not, the school will tell your child to “use the internet”, but as we all know, simply googling something can turn up results that might be:
unwanted (those not easily offended could try looking online for a picture of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s consort) and you’ll see what I mean; I use this example because it is exactly what happened to a friend’s child),
indigestible (imagine a 6 year old wanting to learn about solar eclipses, and trying to make sense of the relevant Wikipedia entry),
or simply inaccurate because information can be placed online without any editorial process (take a look at some of the articles on MMR inoculation in the US, for example).
For all these reasons (and a few more), I prefer to encourage my kids to use books for their research; books can be selected so that I know they have been written with language my children can access, and they have been through a long editorial process to ensure accuracy. No children’s book on Prince Albert would ever include some of the images thrown up by Google.
However, I was very interested to learn that Dorling Kindersley, renowned for their quality non-fiction books both for adults and children, recently launched a free, safe website for children (particularly 7-11 year olds), and also their parents and teachers: http://www.dkfindout.com/
Drawing on Dorling Kindersley’s stunning image library and the wide range of content from its books’ backlist, DK FindOut! is full of potential.
DK FindOut! is clean and beautiful, in a way that does make doing your homework a little bit more appealing.
The website also offers some ways into knowledge, understanding and sparking curiosity which books can’t: it contains videos, it is fully accessible on all mobile devices and so is instantly available without any planning, and it makes adding visual content to homework projects very easy.
We’ve used it quite a lot in the past month to support homework and my youngest finds the site easy to navigate and enjoys being on it.
But we’ve not stopped using books…
Indeed, I personally still prefer to encourage my child to use books for her homework, not least because they are easier to share together, to sit around and discuss as we look at pictures or read text. Whilst the website is free, so too is a visit to the library. Whilst the website is in theory accessible anywhere any time, that’s dependent on your internet connection and any downtime on the site (it is still in beta mode and we have experienced a couple of occasions when, for example, the search function wasn’t available). A book on the other hand, either one you own or have borrowed from the library, is far more reliably accessible. It is not reliant on battery power or happy servers.
http://www.dkfindout.com/ is, however, an exciting development. We’ve found it a useful place to start our research and I think lots of families and schools will find it interesting and helpful. The website will continue to grow over the course of the coming months. There are already some teachers’ lesson plans available, and there will be a special area for parents later in the year. As more and more content is added I’m sure we’ll be returning to use DK FindOut! again and again. I hope it heralds a new era in visually stunning, factually reliable, child-friendly websites.
Tomorrow is my girls’ last day of school this year, and then the summer holiday begin. We’ve a summer full of stories planned and as part of that we’ll be following Storycloud, a free online library of brand new short stories for 5 – 8 year olds and their families, written by some of the very best children’s writers in the UK.
The authors include Michael Rosen, Malorie Blackman, David Almond, Philip Ardagh, Jamila Gavin, Debi Gliori, Candy Gourlay and Andy Stanton, and the stories they have written can either be read on screen, printed off, or listened to read by the authors themselves. The tales have been written very much with “what next?” in mind – each includes prompts to encourage children to create their own stories and drawings in response to what they read/listen to; although the stories are self contained, they are written in such a way to spark ideas and get juices flowing.
Down on the Beach by Andy Stanton, illustrated by Adam Stower
Once you’ve enjoyed the weekly story (released every Monday) you then get to see an illustration to go with that week’s story. As with the writing, top talent has been drawn upon to create these digital pictures, including Guy Parker-Rees, Chris Riddell, David Roberts, David Melling, Deborah Allwright and Sarah McIntyre. The images are minimally animated – each has a sprinkling of secrets which you can search for by clicking with your mouse.
Here’s the full line up of stories (some of which are already available):
18 June: The Talent Show by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Kristyna Litten
25 June: Down on the Beach by Andy Stanton and illustrated by Adam Stower
2 July: Strange Things Happen by Malorie Blackman and illustrated by Chris Riddell
9 July: Jimmy McArdle’s Stones by David Almond and illustrated by David Roberts
16 July: Down the Plughole by Philip Ardagh and illustrated by Sarah McIntyre
23 July: Ali’s Trousers by Azzad Benkerroum Zaim and illustrated by Carl Pearce
30 July: The Tree at the End of the World by Debi Gliori and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
6 August: The Zebra and Cheetah by Semilore Joseph and illustrated by David Melling
13 August: The Hoopoe Bird by Emma King and illustrated by Ross Collins
20 August: The Boy Who Lived on a Pancake by Candy Courlay and illustrated by Deborah Allwright
27 August: The Magic Carpet by Zeynab Abokor and illustrated by Elissa Elwick
3 September: The Day Before by Jamila Gavin and illustrated by Lee Wildish
Down the Plughole by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre
I’ve been lucky enough to have a sneak preview of all the stories and illustrations, and I’ve been delighted with what I’ve seen and read. It’s great to hear the aut
This will be really useful. I prefer books so much more to vague Internet research too, for many reasons, however on occasions there simply isn’t enough time to source the correct books. Thanks for sharing.
I still prefer book research over Internet research as I think that a specific book on a topic gives a better opportunity to focus on what you are looking for (especially for a child learning research skills). It’s easy to spend lots of time looking for what you want to know on the Internet and as you say the information you find hasn’t necessarily been verified. However, DK Findout! does look great and I came up with some interesting information when I did some random searching. I look forward to seeing how it grows. Thanks for a useful blogpost Zoe
Great post yet again, Zoe.
I remember once overhearing some university lecturers discussing this point. It was obvious to them that the students did their research online because of the similarities in their writing, i.e. the source material was the same. Understandably, as teachers they found it predictable and not stimulating to read. I still wonder about the credentials of those writing, whether their research and expertise is strong. I’m an ‘oldie’ and enjoyed the physicality of going to different books and articles, et. al. when researching and writing. It’s so satisfying! Ultimately, I think both must and should be used.
I love that this has been a topic for a post and discussion!