Traces the evolution of the idea of an encyclopedia from Jerome, who worked mainly in Caesarea in Palestine towards the end of the Roman Empire, through the work of Augustine, Martianus Capella, Boethius, and Cassiodorus Senator, to Isidor, who worked in Seville on the eve of the Carolingian Renaissance. (LLS)

Describes the history of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" from 1768 to 1888. Discusses its origins in Edinburgh during the Enlightenment, early editors and contributors, the gradual changing of the work, and its expansion from an Edinburgh to a global publication. (Author/LRW)

This edited volume covers the range of critical trends in the use of computers and other devices for classroom teaching, online learning, professional development, school improvement, and student assessment. "Spotlight on Technology in Education" draws on expert sources including teacher-leaders, librarians, researchers, and trainers who…

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has unveiled plans for what appears to be the world's first online, peer-reviewed encyclopedia devoted to ancient Egypt. The "UCLA Encyclopedia of Egypt," which in April won a $325,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will include material in Arabic as well as…

Library media specialists hear about Web 2.0 in numerous professional journals and during conference workshops. They know that using this aspect of the Internet is second nature to many of their students, and therefore they feel a need to become knowledgeable about this means of information sharing. What better way to learn about blogs, wikis, or…

The author presents 10 best digital resources for 2009. As librarians prepare for the next school year--or as public libraries develop the budget for a new fiscal year--these are the products for children and teens that should be advocated to add to one's digital collection. These include: (1) American Indian Experience; (2) Animoto…

Drawing on experiences in his social studies classroom, Houman Harouni evaluates both the challenges and possibilities of helping high school students develop critical research skills. The author describes how he used Wikipedia to design classroom activities that address issues of authorship, neutrality, and reliability in information gathering.…

Description and review of Britannica 3, its structure, point of view, coverage, use, format, and some comparisons between the old and new Britannicas. (LS)

This review compares "Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry" with the "Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology," two prominent encyclopedias of chemical technology and industry. Cost, quantity of information, organization, illustrations, authorship, abbreviations, online availability, and content of articles are discussed. (MES)

Textbooks and encyclopedias represent different genres of scientific literature. Textbooks help the students to prepare for their examinations in various subjects taught at schools, such as logic, metaphysic, chemistry. In the 17th Century some Calvinist professors, mostly in Germany, thought that a universal wholeness should be taught for the…

E-learning is a combination of learning services and technology that allow us to provide high value integrated learning any time, any place. It is about a new blend of resources, interactivity, performance support and structured learning activities. This methodology makes use of various types of technologies in order to enhance or transform the…

In this work, our goal is to examine the attitude of the Greek scientific community towards Quantum Mechanics and establish the history of teaching of this theory in Greece. We have examined Physics textbooks written by professors of the University of Athens, as well as records of public speeches, university yearbooks from 1923 to 1970, articles…

The history, background and features of the fifteenth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica are presented. (JG)

As online research has become an increasingly standard activity for middle school and high school students, Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) has simultaneously emerged as the bane of many teachers who include research-focused assignments in their courses. An online encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit its entries, Wikipedia has educators…