A Prototype System to Browse Web News using Maps for NIE in Elementary Schools in Japan

In many elementary schools around the world, NIE (Newspaper In Education) that uses newspapers as teaching tools has been implemented. However, the contents of newspaper articles are difficult for elementary school children. It is also not easy for children to find interesting articles from the newspapers. In this study, we propose a system to browse Web news using maps, in order to provide support for NIE in elementary schools in Japan. Children can find, confirm and learn various events which occurred near their own town by using the proposed system. This paper proposes an interface and support functions of a prototype system, and explains results of preliminary evaluations of the system. Finally, we improve a part of the interface of the proposed system based on the evaluation results.