Tutorial Tour - Choose a topic or scroll through the entire tour

Search Engine
Abstract Level
Resource Level
Printing a document
Exploring
Locking a Resource
Searching by Keyword
Using the Scroll Assistant
Adding to the Print List
Abstract & Links Window
New Features
Searching by National Science Standard

When you open Enhanced Science Helper K-8, you will see the Search Engine window. The Search Engine window has three boxes in it: The Criteria List Box, The Selected Criteria Box and the Resources List Box.

In this example, we will find resources that have to do with the Content Theme: Tradeoffs. Then we will narrow our search to find resources concerning Problem Solving related to Engineering/technology as well.

Step One. Use the scroll bar to go to the Content Theme > Tradeoffs, in the Criteria List and click on it (see diagram below). The item then becomes highlighted. Click the add item button to move Tradeoffs to the selected criteria box. Notice that the number of resources available now displays a smaller number.

The number of resources available will decrease as you narrow your search. In other words, your search criteria are acting like a filter on the total number of available resources. So, after adding additional criteria, you are viewing only the resources that satisfy those criteria, and hence, the number decreases.

Step Two. Suppose you also wanted to narrow your search by selecting a Process Theme. Pull down the Criteria category menu, highlight Process Theme, and release the mouse. The list in the box now shows Process Theme criteria. Let's say you wish to choose Hypothesizing. As before, clicking on the item to highlight it and then clicking the Add Item button (forward arrow) will include this item in your search.

The new search criteria you have chosen will appear in the Selected Criteria Window on the right. If you make a mistake, simply highlight the mistake and use the Eraser button to delete it.

Step Three. Notice that there are two categories for Hypothesizing in the list. If you wish to include both categories in your search, you can use the And/Or buttons. Suppose that you wanted to find resources that involve both hypothesizing and applying inferring. Select Inferring from the Criteria List and click the And button.

The Resource List now should show resources that have both Hypothesizing and Inferring as Process Themes. Notice that there are no available resources that have these criteria. If you want to find resources containing information about hypothesizing or inferring, click the Or button.

The search now finds those lessons that have either Hypothesizing Or Inferring as Process Themes. You can use the Or function only within a given search criteria category; however, you can use the And function between search criteria categories, as in selecting a Process Theme And a Content Theme, and within categories, as in the previous example.

Step Four. Select Subject from the Criteria List (you should see Subject appearing in the Criteria List.) Highlight Engineering/technology in the list and Add it to the Selected Criteria Box by clicking on the right arrow button.

You now should have found resources that fit the following criteria: Tradeoffs and Hypothesizing or Inferring, and Engineering/technology.

Note: You can use the Undo command in the Edit menu to cancel your most recent action while in the Search Engine window. For example, in the step above, your last action was to add Engineering/technology to the Selected Criteria Box. Using the Undo command would remove that criterion from the box.

Step Five. You now are ready to look at a resource in your Resource List. Move the cursor to the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the Resources List. You can move slowly through the list by clicking on the up or down arrows, or you can move more quickly through the list by clicking on the scroll bar itself, or by clicking and holding on the scrolling tab and moving it up or down. Scroll down the list until you can see the resource titled, "Inclined Plane." Click on this title to highlight the item.

Opening the highlighted resource will take you from the Search Engine to the Abstract Level.

The Abstract level provides a brief description of the resource you have chosen, helping you decide if it is appropriate to your needs. The abstract itself contains two parts: (1) categorical descriptions of the resource, such as grade range, subject and title of the resource and (2) a synopsis of the resource. The abstract level also provides you with a linked reference list to other related resources.

Step One. To view an abstract for the selected resource in the Search Engine window, click on the Open button. This opens the Abstracts and Links Info Window (below). The Abstract & Links Info Window displays the abstract and the following information for a resource: original project, unit, and book; rated and designated grade levels; complete search criteria; and a list of related resources, called "links."

At this point you have five options: 1) You can return to the listing of resources. 2) You can view the actual resource. 3) You can use the Add to Print List button to mark this resource for printing later. 4) You can use the Book Contents button to bring up a table of contents dialog box for the original project book that contains this resource. You then can go to a different resource in this same book. 5) Or, you can select and view related resources in the Links list.

Let's view the actual resource in its Resource Window. Click the Open button in the upper left of the Abstract & Links Info Window. You can use the Next and Previous page buttons to view other images or pages in this resource. The Resource Window shows the total images or pages in this resource and the image or page currently in the window. You also can type a page number in the current page box to go to that page. Use the scroll bar to view portions of the image not visible in the window.

Let's say you wish to print a resource that you have been viewing. From the Print Menu choose the Add to Print List command. You can specify which pages to print, the quality of the printouts, and whether to include the abstract or all linked material in your printing.

For now, click to print all pages at high resolution. Click OK to add your request to the print list. Because printing a large number of lessons takes time, this feature lets you list items to be printed later. If you wish to print a resource immediately, from the Resource Window or Link Window, choose Print This... in the Print Menu. If you return to the Search Engine Window, you will see a printer icon to the left of the item in the Resources List (as shown below).

Suppose that you are intrigued by a lesson and you wish to view the previous lesson in the lesson's original book. If you are viewing the lesson, close the Resource Window to see the Abstract & Links Info window again. Click on the Book contents button (shown below) to get the table of contents for that book.

Book Contents Button

You then can click on the resource to go to the Abstract & Links Info window for that resource. Scroll to the title for the previous lesson in the original book, For example, "Inefficient Pulley", and click on it to highlight it, then click the Open button to go to the Abstract & Links Info Window for that lesson.

After you view a resource, and before you search for a new resource, you may wish to lock the previous resource in the Resources List of the Search Engine Window. The lock function keeps selected resources in the Resources List when you change the search criteria to produce a new list of resources. (If you do not lock items, they will drop from the Resources List unless they are found again by the new search criteria.) If it is open, close the Abstract & Links Info Window and find the item in the Resources List. To lock it, click to highlight, then click the Lock button to the left of the Resources box (see figure below). Note that a lock icon appears next to title in the list.

One of the most commonly used features of Enhanced Science Helper K-8 is the Keyword search facility. In this example, we will locate resources by specifying key words or phrases. Use the Clear All button to remove any previous search criteria. Move the cursor to the menu bar for criteria category. Click and drag the cursor down to Keyword and release. An alphabetized listing of available words and phrases appears in the Criteria List. You can move through the list using the scroll bar by clicking the up or down arrows, or by moving the scrolling tab, or by clicking on the bar itself-;or you can click the Scroll Assistant button for instant access to keywords. Unlike some computerized searches, the keywords found in Enhanced Science Helper K-8 were selected by human reviewers. This means that you will find meaningful links to the keywords listed.

Scroll Assistant

To use the Scroll Assistant, click the Scroll Assistant button (shown above). In the Scroll Assistant dialog box, click "in Keyword List." You can browse through the list by typing any letter to get to words that begin with that letter in the keyword list. You also can type the first few letters of a word or phrase to quickly get to that word and associated phrases in the list. Type "Circuit " to go to that keyword in the list.

You can add keywords to your selected Criteria List by clicking the Add Item button. Add "Circuit " to your selected criteria. Searching by "circuit" as a keyword results in 55 "hits", or 55 resources that have been categorized by abstractors as being about circuits.

There may be other resources that mention the word "circuit" but the scientists reviewing these resources did not feel that those resources were really "about" circuits. To do a content search (a word search) on all abstracts, resources, or both, choose Search by Contents…. under the Search Menu.

Using the Scroll Assistant

You may have used the Scroll Assistant to do a Keyword Search. The Scroll Assistant can also be used to browse through other lists. For example, you can use the Scroll Assistant to find items in the Resource List. Click the Scroll Assistant button . Click "in Resource List" and type the first few letters of the resource title to quickly move through the list to the desired resource. This is helpful when you remember the name of a lesson or other resource and you want to find it again. Click Done to leave the Scroll Assistant Window.

Do a search on the keyword, "Circuit," to produce 55 resources. Click once on the resource titled, "Beginning Circuits," and click the Add to Print List button (small printer icon) to put this item in your list of resources to be printed. Select to print all pages at high resolution and with the abstract. Now let's go to the Print List Window to see how to print out the resources you have selected.

Use the Print menu at the top of the screen and the View Print List command to open the Print List window. The print list gives the resource title along with selections you made in the Add to Print List Window.

You can print these resources by clicking the Print All button. You may also print one resource at a time by clicking on the resource title line and then clicking the Print Now button. You probably will not want to print any resources now, so click the Done button to leave the Print List Window.

Let's see how to use the links found in the Abstract & Links Info window. Links are resources that have a direct connection with the resource currently in the Abstract & Links Info window. For example, the lesson on " Beginning Circuits" has an associated link called, "Materials for Batteries and Bulbs." You can find and access this linked resource using the Links list. Returning to the Search Engine window, highlight the resource, " Beginning Circuits " and click Open. You now can see the Abstract & Links Info Window for this resource:

Move your cursor to the Links list and click to highlight the linked resource: "Materials for Batteries and Bulbs" mentioned above. Click the Open button to view this linked resource.

You now can see the Link Window showing the linked resource and you can move through the document using the Previous and Next buttons (Backward and Forward Arrows).

As in the Resource Window, you can see the total number of pages or images for this resource and the page or image currently in the window. You can change pages using the next and previous image buttons or by typing a number in the box for the page currently being viewed. The Link Window also has a feature for viewing a list of resources that share this same link. You can access it by clicking the Related Resources Button in the top right corner of the window.

Enhanced Science Helper K-8 contains several features not found in previous versions of Science Helper K-8. The Search by Contents…. function mentioned above, for example, is a new feature which allows you to search abstracts or resources for a particular word or phrase. The addition of video resources is another new feature in Enhanced Science Helper K-8. Two new features, however, represent useful functions that have been requested by Science Helper K-8 users since it was first released.

The first of these is the ability to edit and manipulate lessons in text form. You may now view any Enhanced Science Helper K-8 lesson in Microsoft Word™ simply by choosing Open Word Version from the File Menu. If Word is on your hard disk, and you have enough memory, the document you are viewing will open up in the word processor. Since Word files may be imported into nearly all word processors, and since a Word version of every resource document is available on the CD, it will be possible to edit these files on your word processor of choice.

Another powerful feature of Enhanced Science Helper K-8 is its ability to find lessons given a specific National Science Standard. To find all lessons that relate to a given standard simply choose Standards K-4 or Standards 5-8 from the Criteria List in the Search Engine Window. Let's choose Standards K-4:

The Criteria Box will now contain National Science Standards criteria from which you may choose.

Scroll through the Criteria List and choose technological design abilities. A list of 68 resources appears in the Resource List. Opening any of these lessons will take you to the abstract page as it did with your previous searches.

Standards criteria work the same way as all other criteria, so you may refine your search using the And/Or buttons and other search criteria such as Grade Level or Subject,. Using Enhanced Science Helper K-8's simple search procedures will allow you to find lessons which address the National Science Standards in a simple, efficient manner.

We hope you enjoyed the tour, and that you will continue to browse the On-Line Help System.