Welcome to Lands and Peoples, a multifaceted Internet site designed to serve as a principal resource on countries, cultures, and current events for the classroom and for the library. Use this Teachers' Guide to help students derive the most they can from the site.
The mission of Lands and Peoples is to provide accessible, easy-to-understand articles on countries, cultures, and current events to a young audience.
Lands and Peoples is divided into five main sections, which are described below. Each of these sections can be instantly reached by clicking on its name on the navigation bar below the banner at the top of each screen, or from the Home Screen.
The Encyclopedia features informative and well-written feature articles in an easy-to-understand topical arrangement, from world to continent to area to country to region to state/province. The numerous ancillary stories, or "sidebars," are here, as are individual "Facts and Figures" statistical entries for each piece. Just a keystroke away are the encyclopedia's extensive appendix section (L&P Almanac), and the extensive bibliographical references. All of the resources of the Encyclopedia are readily accessible by students using the site's clearly explained search options. Four-color photographs and maps accompany each article.
Each Encyclopedia article begins with a "Table of Contents" link, which when clicked, generates a detailed outline of the piece. The student needs only to click on the desired topic to bring up the appropriate area in the article. In all articles, the text scrolls down until the end of the piece. The internal links among Encyclopedia articles are indicated by underscored words in colored type. Clicking on a word so highlighted brings the user to the start of the linked article elsewhere in the Encyclopedia. The student can return to the original article by clicking "Back" on the browser bar.
Lands and Peoples has an amazing collection of hundreds of maps. By going to the Electronic Atlas, users can access these maps in a variety of ways. The Electronic Atlas home screen contains a stylized map of the world bordered by two columns. Clicking on any of the labels on the world map immediately generates a map of the chosen area. Each of the 10 boxes in the side columns, when clicked, generates an alphabetical list of the "specialty maps" that are categorized under the box title.
Along the bottom of the screen are three boxes, each of which, when clicked, generates an alphabetical listing of the maps depicting continents, countries, or states/provinces, respectively. Clicking on any of the titles in any list yields the appropriate map. From the maps themselves, certain "hot-spotted" labels, when clicked, generate the map whose title is the label. Finally, the user can simply type a geographical entity into the Map Search box and then click on the globe beneath it. A "Search Results" screen will then appear with a listing of appropriate maps.
This feature, accessible only from the Home Screen, generates the North America home screen, providing users with immediate access to the site's coverage of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas, as well as their various regions, states, and provinces.
Lands and Peoples pioneers new territory with this unique interactive feature. Using Culture Cross, the student can compare the land, people, economy, history, or facts and figures of any two continents, countries, or states/provinces. First, the student designates the category level from the three choices (continent, country, or state/province), and the topic of comparison from the five choices. Next, the student chooses the continent, country, or state/province from each of the two lists. Finally, by clicking "Compare," a pop-up screen is produced with side-by-side scrollable windows carrying the desired topic's treatment from two different articles.
This section of Lands and Peoples emphasizes a fun-and-games approach to countries and cultures. Passport to Fun is divided into three categories, as discussed below:
Through the Lands and Peoples Almanac, students access the site's Facts and Figures, Flags, and Selected Reading databases. Also offered in the L&P Almanac is an alphabetical glossary of geographical terms and an extensive selection of charts and tables. L&P Almanac has emerged as a reference resource as valuable in some ways to teachers and librarians as it is to students.
World Newspapers offers a searchable database of URL addresses for newspapers around the world.
Like every other Grolier Online database, Lands and Peoples offers its users access to thousands of pre-screened Internet links related to the Encyclopedia articles. Students access the links via the "Web Links" button on the article pages. The links are constantly checked, updated, and refined, making this feature one of the most useful reference tools on the Internet today.
Lands and Peoples has been designed for ease of use by even the youngest researchers. Screen designs and icons are clear and graphically appealing. Search tips can be accessed from the search screen, and complete search instructions are available in the Help section.
Lands and Peoples is readily searchable via overlapping systems. A student may wish to simply enter a word or words into the "Find it Fast" box that appears in the upper right corner of every screen of the product. By default, clicking "GO" will return results from every Grolier Online product to which you subscribe. To see only Lands and Peoples results, students can select the "Lands and Peoples Only" radio button. Upon clicking on "GO," a list of results, in groups of 20, appears.
Another option is to click on "Advanced Search," which appears throughout the site on the bar along the top of each screen. This takes students to a more-traditional search screen, where they can restrict the search to simple titles or text and avail themselves of Boolean logic operators (AND, OR, NOT) to specify logical relationships among the search terms. Clicking on "Find It" generates the Search Results as described here.
From the Home Screen or from the navigation bar, a student clicking on Encyclopedia will immediately access the article titled "The World" ; in the left column, and continuing through every screen of the Encyclopedia, is a Browse list of the 10 categories into which ultimately falls each and every article in the Encyclopedia. Clicking on any given Browse category brings the user directly to the opening screen of that article, and generates a secondary list of hypertext-linked article titles subordinate to the main Browse category. Clicking on any one of these titles pulls up the desired article and, where appropriate, still another list of hypertext-linked articles.
The same list of 10 categories appears on the Search & Browse page, below the main search section. The labels on the map immediately to the right of the list also link to the main category articles.
Each screen contains three navigation bars. At the top of each screen is the Grolier Online general navigation bar. Below that is the primary navigation bar. This bar includes the names of every principal section of Lands and Peoples, except the one currently in use. Simply clicking on any of the words immediately generates the home screen for that section. When appropriate, the primary navigation bar also includes Advanced Search (see above) and Printing and E-mailing (see below).
The secondary navigation bar along the bottom of the screen offers four options. Clicking on "Home" returns the user to the Home Screen. "Teachers' Guide" provides information designed to help educators derive the maximum use from this web site. "About This Site" contains relevant legal, staffing, and contributor information about the site. "Help" provides the user with assistance in navigating around the site.
All Encyclopedia articles can be printed out and E-mailed. From an Encyclopedia article, click on "Print full article" or "Print sections" from the bar below the "FIND IT FAST" search box. Click on "E-mail article" to send an E-mail of the article.
Encyclopedia articles may contain any of the following elements: text; table of contents; graphic elements, including maps, photographs, and links to flags; a link to supplementary Sidebars; a link to Selected Readings; and a link to the Grolier Internet Index.
Graphic elements are displayed as thumbnail images. Clicking on the thumbnail enlarges it to full size and generates the caption and source credit (if applicable). A maximum of one map thumbnail and two photograph thumbnails will appear with any given article. If more than one map accompanies an article, a "More Maps" link under the thumbnail generates a pop-up screen with all the map titles listed as individual links. Clicking on any link will bring up the appropriate artwork. Similarly, if more than two photographs accompany an article, a "More Pictures" link under the thumbnails generates a pop-up screen in which all thumbnails for all of the article's photographs are grouped. Clicking on any of those thumbnails will produce the appropriate photograph at full size.
As a complete online service, Lands and Peoples offers Internet links to related sites on the World Wide Web. These links come to Lands and Peoples via the Grolier Internet Index (GII), a compilation of hundreds of thousands of World Wide Web links. Each and every link is checked and rechecked on a regular basis to be sure that it remains age-appropriate, current, accurate, and relevant. The GII is accessible from every article in the Encyclopedia, allowing students to select a recommended site at any point in their research.