Search Engines and Directories

I learned a lot about Search Engines and Directories in class. There are a lot of little helpful hints that I had no idea about that can make the Internet searching process much much easier.

I think search engines and directories can be very helpful in the classroom, especially if students know the difference between them and the various search options that they have. For my WebSearching activity for this class, I used a search engine uniquely designed with kids in mind- Yahooligans. I also tried using Google. The results I got were very different! With Google, I had to do mass amounts of searching through hits- many of which were completely unrelated to what I was actually looking for. With Yahooligans, however, there were many less hits and the hits that I did get were kid friendly. With Google, I searched through pages of links before finding the information I wanted, where with Yahooligans, I used the first hit it gave me.

Knowing how to navigate the Internet in a safe, efficient way is a very useful skill. When searching with a regular search engine, the amount of hits can be overwhelming- especially when half the sites are completely unrelated or useless to what you are actually trying to find. Using something like Yahooligans can really help students find what they want when they are searching for information on the Internet. It can also keep them safe by reducing the amount of inappropriate hits. I wish I had known how to make the search process easier and more efficient when I was in school.