Internet Search Tools

This blog post is meant to serve as a resource for teachers who need safe and reliable search engines for their students. These search engines can be used for all kinds of classroom inquiries, from searching for games, to general information, to research-specific articles. These websites are useful for all ages of students, though the five I have listed tend to lean more toward usefulness in secondary education. Below are links and descriptions for these five internet search tools that I believe to be very useful and safe for classroom use: KidzSearch, Infotrek, Google Scholar, Wolfram Alpha, and Instagrok. I hope you find these links beneficial for your classroom!

KidzSearch

KidzSearch is a safe search engine created for young students to explore topics, play games, and look at websites that are popular among other students. It has many helpful links on its homepage that utilize pictures to make navigation easy and appealing. Unique characteristics of KidzSearch are that it has a list of fun and educational games for kids, includes links to news and to popular photos, and even has a page dedicated to helping students with their homework. The search option appears similar to Google (though is, of course, filtered) and does include advertisements. The site is a little unclear with too many unlabeled photo-links and lacks aspects that would help it appeal to older students. I would use this website in my middle school classes for days that students want to explore the internet in their free time and for some minor research-type assignments.

Infotrek

Infotrek is a search engine that allows high school students to search the internet for educational websites by both searching for key words and by clicking through icons that represent different topics. Infotrek is very well organized and well presented, with graphics that aid users in navigating the website by subject area. The search option for this website takes users to a list of related web pages that are safe and educational. The search list is presented clearly and is easy to navigate. Infotrek even contains links to other student friendly search engines. It has a slightly unappealing color scheme (grey) and does include advertisements. I would use this website in my classes for students to browse topics, especially if they want to search by narrowing down results by subject area.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a refined version of the Google search engine that provides search results of very high quality. Google scholar can be extremely helpful to students in finding trustworthy, credible sources for research papers and projects. This search engine offers pdf links of articles for many of its search results. Google scholar eliminates the ads often seen on Google and has a tool bar of options that help to narrow and enhance search results. Its format is a little advanced, however; more like a college research search engine than one that is usable for early secondary education classrooms. I would have my students (seniors and juniors) use this to find scholarly sources for important research projects.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is a great resource for high school students, especially for those taking courses in science and math. Wolfram Alpha is an excellent source of high level information and distinguishes itself as a "computational knowledge engine" instead of a search engine. Wolfram Alpha often offers step-by-step solutions and explanations of complex problems, though some information on the site can only be accessed through paid membership. A particularly unique characteristic of Wolfram Alpha is that its search results display lists of in-depth information about certain topics rather than lists of website links for such topics. Wolfram Alpha is sometimes difficult to navigate and does not have a list of sources like most search engines. Also, payment is often required to view certain answers. I would have my students use this website if they needed help working through particularly difficult problems that are not explained in their textbooks.

Instagrok

Instagrok is a very unique and innovative educational website. Its key feature is that it presents information in search results as an interactive concept map. Topics are covered in depth due to the concept map format and information and links of all kinds are available on each page. Instagrok provides challenging quizzes to test what students have learned from each concept map and has instructions for teachers on how to best use the website for education. Instagrok has no advertising and ensures safe content. A main drawback for the site is that it costs money for teachers to use. The site is rather complex, especially for younger, elementary or junior high, students. I would use this site in my high school classes to allow students to explore certain topics in depth. The quizzes it provides would also be helpful for having students quiz one another on newly acquired knowledge.