This week we looked at search engines for educators. I find it really important to have different search engines to use in the education world because there is so much on the Internet that is inappropriate for students to see. Having a safe outlet for students to use is important.
The 12 search engines we had to look at were great. I like how academicinfo listed topics from A to Z and that directory includes printed work as well as electronic. Archival Research Catalog and Library of Congress is a great tool to use for social studies research. It also includes teacher resources! The scholarly search engines are very useful and I know I will be using them in my own education. Infotopia is my favorite search engine because you could pick a topic like Science or Math and narrow results even more.
The one thing this list was lacking was search engines appropriate for younger children. Being Childhood certified I was hoping to find a search engine where the information was given at a younger reading level. I think it is important that students start learning how to search for credible sources at a young age so being able to use the computer would help greatly with that. Having results at lower reading levels can help include all students that have different reading abilities.
I agree that it is important to have good resources that will allow students to find information safely and to also help guide them to resources that will be at their level and or relevant to what they need.
ReplyDeleteI also have found that it is difficult to find resources for younger readers. I know there wasn't a search engine for this, and this would be beneficial since this is an important skill and it would be great to start teaching them as early as we can. I have used the pbskids.org website for my younger readers, which I know isn't a search engine, but it is geared towards kids and has a wide range of articles. There is also the option for students to listen to the article which is a great tool to differentiate.