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We have some suggestions for searching on the Internet that we wanted to
share with students and parents. There are so many possible places to search,
and finding just what you are looking for can take a lot of time.
There are three major types of Internet search tools:
(1)
Directories and indexes. These are databases with
information selected by information experts. They are generally the best search
tools for Lower School students because even though there will be fewer
responses to a search, the responses should all be useful ones.
www.kidsclick.org
is a good index for younger students because it gives reading levels for each
selection.
(2)
Search engines. These search a larger database to
gather information on a topic. They are more complex to use (it can be hard to
ask the right question) and can give an overwhelming amount of information.
www.google.com
is one of the best ones to use.
(3) Meta-search
engines. These search a number of search engines at the same time to
give even more results, which can be great if you are looking for some very
specific information. There is one for students,
www.ajkids.com,
which doesn’t have complicated rules for phrasing a search. A student can type a
question just like you’d ask a person.
There is more information about the Internet on the Area Education Agency web
site (research links for students) which you can connect to on the left side of this
page. There are links to more good Internet search tools, and good homework help
sites.
The AEA web site also provides two
databases (Accunet/AP photo for photographs, maps, graphs and sound recordings,
and EBSCO for magazine articles). A user name and password is required.
Please click on “Magazine Articles Online” for information on these databases if
you have never used them before.
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