World Book School Edition

It is useful having two editions connect to each other. When I researched chipmunks, World Book Kids provided a link for related information that brought up an entry in World Book Student. The information provided in the student edition is more technical and detailed, but some of the children using the kids edition would still find it useful. If the younger kids do not understand the words, all they have to do is double click on them for a definition.

World Book Advanced provided a wealth of information compared to the kids and student editions. All of the information it contains would be valuable to students who have reports due. The introduction provides a nice overview, and from there they can figure out what section of the entry they need to look at. It was nice that the publishers included a link to suggested books. Most of the students I work with are not allowed to use electronic resources exclusively. They need print materials as well.

The images in World Book Discover are helpful, but the most useful feature would be its ability to translate the text into different languages. While the translations are useful for those whose english is not good, I think that it may get more use from students trying to learn a foreign language like German or Spanish. They can compare the original English with the translated text. I think the database is more likely to be used by people whose native language is English since those who do not understand English well would probably be hesitant to even use an online resourse like a database - at least without presuasion.