Connie Sylvanus

LS521 Sp02

3/09/02

Search Tips – Utilities

Elective Instructional Activities

Being in a classroom which contains one computer there are very few opportunities to have my third graders use search engines. Therefore when we, as a class, do searches online these searches must be effective and efficient.

Our third grade curriculum requires one research project. We have completed this requirement by having each student in the class research an animal of their choosing with specific requirements. At this time it becomes necessary to teach a lesson on how to search online. Below is a list of tips I use to eliminate frustrations and tears on everyone’s part including the teacher.

Tip #1

Correct spelling of item being searched.

This tip is immensely important with my students. Before anyone is allowed to use an online search they need to have their animal’s name on a post-it note correctly spelled and checked by a partner. Before teaching I would have never imagined the number of ways one could spell tarantula! This post-it note accompanies the child up to the computer and then the post-it note is used to double check the spelling as the animal name is entered into the search engine. This tip has saved much time.

Tip #2

Use child designed search engines.

This tip has saved my students from finding information they cannot use. Two kid friendly search sites that we have used in my class are Yahooligans! www.yahooligans.com and KidsClick! www.kidsclick.org .When typing in the animal tarantula in these sites the web pages that were shown dealt with characteristics of the spider which could be used by a third grader. When using a general site such as altavista www.altavista.com the search result showed movies dealing with spiders, real estate agents, and a digital and print media company.

Tip #3

Be specific with the words entered.

Every year there is a child in the room that wants to do a report on whales, just whales. When the child and I go to the computer and entered whales in a search engine the search came up with 300,000 entries. Then we need to discuss being more specific with the type of animal that is going to be researched as well as being more specific with the search. The next time the search was attempted we tried the humpback whale. This time the search produced nineteen sites which could all be used by the child. Having the child narrow down the type of animal they use to research is as much a research lesson as a search lesson.

Tip #4

Plus and minus signs will produce an exact search.

The use of plus and minus signs allows the students to indicate or locate a specific characteristic in their search. One search might be to find information about the habitat of a manatee. The first search was conducted using only the word manatee. The search produces sites about the Save the Manatee Club, shops that sell manatee backpacks, as well as sites listing characteristics of manatees. When refining the search to manatees+habitat information was obtained that has to do with the manatee’s habitat specifically.

Tip #5

Use synonyms for the word being search to expand search.

Many times the children find an obscure animal to research and we get little information back after conducting a search. For example, recently a child decided to research the green moray. At www.yahooligans.com there was only one site with limited information on the green moral. After finding out that this was a type of eel we entered the word eel into the same site and came up with several sites which assisted the child in completing the research.

When researching this paper I also came across several sites which put several search engines and directories on one page. The best of these sites for children I felt was called Kids Tool for Searching the Internet www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm.

There is so much information geared for children on the Internet that it is helpful and essential to teach children at an early age how to access this information easily. The tips listed in this paper were tips I have used with my class and have found them helpful for making Internet searching fun and informative.