Using Search Engines to Locate
Appropriate Internet Sites
for Elementary Students

This session was created in the hopes that you will be inspired to begin using the Internet with your children at home. The Internet is a wonderful resource for students and now you have the opportunity to become even more involved with your child's learning. We'll be looking at some of the most well-known searching resources that you can use with your children to help locate materials that will enhance what they're learning in the classroom while making sure they are visiting age-appropriate information.
 

What is a Search Engine?

In its simplest terms a search engine is very much like an electronic librarian. When you visit your local library, you may be familiar with how to use the card catalog or you may begin by simply asking the librarian to locate a book about a certain topic for you. Using a search engine works in much the same way; you ask a certain search engine to locate material about a certain topic. However, instead of asking out loud, you type in your request and click on search.

In more formal terms, a search engine is a tool that helps catalog the Internet by indexing keywords on web sites and helping the user to locate certain files that contain that keyword. Much like different librarians bring back different books or resources for you to look at, different search engines report locate different types of resources and give them back to you in some type of list fashion. The difficulty with Internet search engines is that they are not as organized or even as smart as most librarians and often a search engine will locate many resources that are not really related to your topic or they may report them back to you in a very unorganized, or at least unfamiliar, format.

When using search engines with children, it is important that you use a search engine that locates a manageable list of age-appropriate resources that children can sift through easily to find what they are looking for. Let's take a look at some different types of search engines designed specifically for children.

Four Safe Search Engines Designed for Children

1. Yahooligans
The information at this site is indexed by general categories. You can follow the categories to more specific information or you can just do an open-ended search through all the categories at that site. http://www.yahooligans.com

2. Ask Jeeves for Kids
This search engine encourages children to ask questions in "plain English" and then helps learners fine tune their questions with a series of pull down menus and more specific questions.There is also an adult version of this site called Ask Jeeves. http://www.ajkids.com

3. Kids Click
This web search for kids was designed by librarians. It also includes nine Internet searching lessons that teachers and parents can do with learners. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/

4. TekMom's Search Tools for Students
This easy interface for students (and teachers/parents) enables you to access many appropriate search engines for kids from one screen.  Access content area search engines, online encyclopedias, images, dictionaries, maps and more.  Just type in your search term in the most appropriate box and click go! http://tekmom.com/search/index.html
 
6. Google.com -- ranked the #1 best search engine

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