Search!

Until our most recent session, I was under the impression that google was the be all and end all of search engines, and this would have been where I sent my students. However, it appears there are a range of alternatives that would suit different educational purposes.

Which search engines and services would I use in the classroom?

• SearchCloud: Allows several terms to be included in a search where each term can be given an importance ranking by changing the font size. Places search terms in a cloud showing relative importance of each term, great for visual learners and for student's to rank the importance of key words in their search.
• Google: A great research starting point and useful to search websites only from Australia. When referring children to google, it is critical to teach them to look beyond the first few suggestions.
• Tag Galaxy: A fantastic service that searches Flikr photos. An alternative to a google image search, I would send my student's here to find images related to a particular topic. Great graphics that would be engaging for student's, particularly visual learners. 
• ZuiTube: Youtube for children, ZuiTube would be a great video search tool, minimising the risks of inappropriate content with youtube. Videos are a great tool for student's to get an overview of a topic and to share ideas with schools from around the country and the world.