As I prepped to write this entry, I started to question what in the world I was going to write about. You certainly can't go on and on about the magnificence of Google without boring people to death in just a few words.
The more that I thought about it, the more I realized that I really did not have much experience with any other search method than Google....what other ones are even out there? I decided to use my trusty Google method and typed in 'List of Search Engines' and was instantly connected to this great site that lists more than I ever could have imagined existed. Who knew there was a search engine that you can use to find out information on more specific categories? There are probably millions of people who knew that, but this Google addict is not one of them.
In our class we have been talking about all these wonderful blogs and how we should be finding ones that connect to us, read them and learn from them. I was stumped on how you find them!
Using my 'new' searching skills I have discovered a few different sites...
Now, I have not had a chance to fully look through and use all of these, but they will be something that I explore as I get farther into my professional and personal blogging. I feel like I could easily get sucked up into this blogging world and have to force myself to come up for air! I really enjoy reading about other people's life experiences and through these search engines, I know that I will be able to submerse myself in reading!
When searching for information, although the web has made it that much easier, it is also frustrating to know what information is good and what information is bad. I recently did some research on autism and became frustrated at the amounts of information out there and a lack of understanding what was credible and what is not.
When teaching my first and second graders about research, the topic of credible sources on the web does not really come up. We have certain 'kid friendly' search engines that are linked to our website and the kids use these when learning to research on the web. This is their first taste of researching on the internet at school and it is heavily guarded. We do teach internet safety (somewhat) to the kids and we talk about how somethings on the internet are not safe, but we do not address that some information is not true. Reflecting on it, I think it is something that we could easily add to a lesson. Why shouldn't we plant that seed in their head now for later when they are exposed to larger, less protected searches?
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