TEACHERS WEED OUT TRIVIAL WEB SITES.

Byline: J.N. Sbranti Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

So your World War II history report is due Friday, and you haven't started your research. No problem, you figure, you're wired to the World Wide Web. A few clicks and you'll have what you need.

You smugly tap ``World War II'' into your search engine, and up pop 290,168 hits! Lucky you. Where to begin? And, perhaps more importantly, who to believe?

The Web's beauty is that it's unfiltered and anyone can host a site.

Unfortunately for student researchers, that's also its weakness. Wading through endless pages of uninformative drivel wastes time and, even worse, can lead to ``facts'' that just aren't so.

``We've run into Web sites that look great . . . but when you get down deep into them you find they're (sponsored by) some militia group,'' said Geoff Lillich, a Camarillo High School teacher who has perused hundreds of history and social science Web sites.

Not everything on the Internet is of equal value, Lillich said. Finding the good stuff on line is the key, and that's what Lillich and his educational colleagues think they've done.

For the past year, computer-savvy California teachers have sought out and reviewed thousands of Web pages related to social science, math, science and language arts.

The best of those sites are now hot-linked to four new databases sponsored by SCORE - Schools of California On-line Resources for Educators.

Have a question about prime numbers? Head to the mathematics Web site - http://www.kings.k12.ca.us/math/ - where a couple mouse clicks will get you 10,000 prime numbers in numeric order.

Struggling through Shakespeare's ``Romeo and Juliet''? Call up the language arts site - http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/iss/CLAP/clap.html - for tips on the tragedy's plot and characters.

If it's a biology question that's got you stumped, try the ``Ask a Scientist'' section at http://intergate.humboldt.k12.ca.us/score/ where university science professors offer personal answers via e-mail.

And for that World War II report, the history/social science site - http://www.rims.k12.ca.us/SCORE/ - offers 147 Web site links, all of which have been screened for accuracy and rated for quality. Check out those rated ``awesome'' first.

``Our first task was to find what was already on the Internet . . . then align those sites according to California's curriculum framework,'' said Jim Shaver, a Kings County Office of Education administrator who worked on the math links. ``We located and sorted them so teachers and students don't have to.''

The four on-line databases can be searched by grade level and academic topic. Each is designed differently, but all have click-of-the-mouse links to all the recommended Web sites.

The social science site is particularly easy to use. The state's kindergarten through 12th-grade social science curriculum is outlined, providing easy access to specific topics.

Fourth-graders, for instance, study California history. Within that general subject, you can call up the specific ``Missions and Presidios'' section. There you'll find seven Web site links offering data on every mission in the state, including many photos.

``These are fairly stable and consistent Web sites,'' Lillich assured, noting that the links are monitored to assure the right connections are made. That saves students valuable time.

``If you want students to use technology, you have to have something for them to access,'' Lillich said. ``This gets rid of them having to go through search engines.''

For those who know where to go, the World Wide Web has resources ``1,000 times better than what the library has to offer,'' said Don Mayfield, a San Diego County Office of Education administrator who helped put the language arts site on line.

``We want to get the kids into the Net in healthy ways,'' Mayfield said. He said that's what the four SCORE sites do, and each of them is constantly updating and expanding.

Besides serving as a student resource, the SCORE sites offer computer-based lesson plan suggestions for California teachers.

``A key thing we're trying to do is write lessons that use the Internet. We want real world, real time applications,'' Shaver stressed.

Math teachers, for instance, might have students research on line what they need to know before buying their first car. Shaver said SCORE can help students link to sites about the cost of vehicle registration, insurance, maintenance, fuel and used car prices.

On-line research is becoming a staple in California schools.

``In my classes,'' high school social science teacher Lillich said, ``we do multimedia reports in which students need to use at least three Web sites.''

The SCORE sites could make such assignments a snap . . . or should we say a click?