Encyclopedia Britannica (lite)

Encyclopedia Britannica contains entries for thousands of topics that cut across a range of subject areas. In Encyclopedia Britannica, users are able to search for specific entries, browse by topics, and read about significant events that happened on “this day” in history. When reading about a topic, users are provided the first 100 words of the entry (unless they subscribe to Encyclopedia Britannica, in which case they would have access to the entire entry). Also, users can view images of the subject and study the LinkMap option, which lets users see how the subject they are studying is connected to other subjects.

Instructional Ideas

1. Before teaching a new unit, teachers can have their students preview it by looking up different keywords, historical figures, or significant events that relate to the unit. For example, teachers can do a jigsaw activity in which they divide their class into small groups and assign each group a topic to read about and report to the class (e.g., When beginning an Astronomy unit, one group can read about Galileo and report his significance to the class, another group can report about how Geometry is part of Astronomy, and another group can report about telescopes.).
2. Teachers can have students read a specific article about a topic in this app and then summarize it. The summary can be 1-3 sentences log, and students can write it using an Office app. In addition, teachers can require students to include three pieces of information they learned from reading the article and/or explain how the article relates to their life.
3. When conducting research projects, teachers can require students to cite this app as one of their sources.
4. When using the “This Day” feature of the app, students are given multiple significant events that happened on this day in history. As an activity, teachers can have students rank the events from most significant to least significant and require them to provide a rationale for their ranking.

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