Internet in the Classroom
Specialized Search Engines
 

Remember that the World Wide Web...

• Is not organized by anyone;

• Is not cataloged by anyone;

• May contain wrong or useless information;

• Is so large and is growing so quickly that searching for a particular piece of information can take a long time.
   

Search engines are interactive websites that allow you to enter key words into data fields. The key word or words you type are then used to query a database. The results of your search are displayed as a list on the screen for you to scan. Within the list will be clickable links to webpages that contain the content you are looking for.

Activity

1. Most of us know about the favorite about the favorite search engine to date:  Google.  This article provides great information about things many of us didn't know that Google does: www.sreetips.com/google.html .  Find at least 3 things you will use in teaching students about using the Google search engine.

2. Specialized searches:

    Google or Yahoo searches are not always the best for specialized searching.

Look at the following search tools and tell when you might use at least one from each category in your classes:

Search Tools	Data Collections: Multimedia	"How to" Sites	Web Database SearchTools
Britannica or –Columbia 2003 Encyclopedia	Singing Fish	How Stuff Works	Beaucoup
Your Dictionary or OneLook	Speechbot	Atomic Learning
–AnyWho	Find Sounds	Learn2.com	Complete Planet
Acronym Finder	Awesome Clip Art for Kids	eHow

 

4. Other sites you will like:

  Pick one and tell how you can use it in your classroom.

• www.visualthesaurus.com/online/index.html

• States and Capitals
• FedStats
• Infonation
• dmarie.com/timecap/
• –www.googlefight.com/