Metasearch Engines:

#1 Dogpile  -. Dogpile is very user friendly. Students will find the mascot Arfie appealing. This search engine pulls results from 7 search engines. Results can be veiwed by relevancy of your search or grouped by search engines. It also has advanced feartures along with preferences that are easy to use and understand; good for the primary to secondary student.

http://www.dogpile.com/

# 2 Vivisimo - Runner-Up - Vivisimo automatically clusters your search results; a plus. It's results are from 6 search engines. It also offers advanced features but they are not as extensive; it does not have the query break down that Dogpile has. The number of results displayed were high; 100 to Dogpile's 20. A good search engine for  the  primary to secondary student.

http://vivisimo.com/

Kid Safe Search Engines:

#1 Ask Jeeves Kids - I think this soon will become my favorite kids search engine. The search engine main page is fun, so kids will automatically like that. Searches are asked in a question format which is good practice for students. For students who don't know how to formulate their question, they can click on the "Study Tools" and will be provided with  links in a question format, based on the tool clicked. The tool categories are: Math, Science, History and Biography. There is also a tool for a Dictonary and Thesaurus. The News Resources links are categorized by grade level.  Students in the primary and intermediate grades will find this search engines useful.  Way Cool!

http://www.ajkids.com/

#2 Kids Click - Runner-up - This is also a cool search engine for kids. All links to the categories are listed for the students. There are links to: Search Lessons, Pictures, Sounds and other Search Tools. The advance search offers boolean search options, as well as grade the grade level. Although there are additional features, students will need a little more guidance to get started. Teachers will need to instruct students where they want them to start. For librarians, this search engine would be great  toolfor teaching the Dewey Decimal System and Classifications; this is done by changing to Librarian View. Great for the primary and intermediate student.

http://www.kidsclick.org/

News Search Engines

#1 Google News - Google News is a well oganized search engine. If you choose not to click on additonal links; the majority of it's content is displayed on the main page with links for the full story. Top stories are listed by links and on the main page. The time the page was last updated is displayed, as well as for the individual stories. There are additonal links for: Images, Web Searches and Groups (sports/entertainment). There is also the option to e-mail an article once you clicked on it for details. The source of the article is given once you've clicked on the story. Although this it's main page is busy, it's easy to navigate. Students in primary and intermediate grades will find this search engines useful.

http://news.google.com/

#2 Yahoo News - Runner-up - A popular search engine for many. Although Yahoo News and Google News are similar in their orgnization, with time updates for stories and links to for other searches, Yahoo News requires a little more to search. There are more links on the main page in, as opposed to the content being organized right there for you in Google News. Students in the primary to secondary grades will find this search engine useful.

http://news.yahoo.com/

Media Search Engines

#1 KidsClick Pictures - KidsClick Sound - Kids Image and Sound Search is not a true Media Search Engine, but it's links make up for this. The links which are part of KidsClick, provide images and audio that is content related; a plus. This search engine is also easy to navigate. Students can use the media search engines, Lycos and Altavista from these links. This search engines is good for the primary to intermediate student.

http://www.kidsclick.org/psearch.html

http://www.kidsclick.org/ssearch.html

#2 Dogpile - Dogpile - Runner-up - Dogpile provides the option to search: images, audio and multimedia. A gain, this search engine is very easy to use. Results are also pulled from Googles Image. Under preferences, the filter can be turned on so students do not receive adult content. This search engine can be used by the primary to secondary student.

http://www.dogpile.com/

Best Overall Search Engines

#1 Ask Jeeves - I really like the question format of Jeeves. I've been using it for over a year now and I like it's easy format. When I search I don't always want to use the right phrases to get the results. I like to ask a question, get the results and then narrow down from that point. Jeeves does have the option to specify the search in preferences. It offers the features of other search engines, only it's hidden in Smart Search. There is also the link to Ask Jeeves Kids for students, if they need more guidance during searches. This search engine is good for the intermediate and secondary student.

http://www.ask.com/

#2 Google - Runner-up - This is a very popular search engine. It has many of  the same features as Ask Jeeves: preferences, advanced searches and video. It does have a little more bells and whistles with links to:  language translation and blogger features. Once you've entered in a search, the page gets a little busier in it's apearance. Unless students have experience with searching, they won't need all the additonal features of Google. This is a search engine for all students.

http://www.google.com/