Curriculum
Research and Information Fluency: Grades 6-8
Investigating Search Engines and Directories
Download Student Sheet(s) for printout in PDF format.
Read a Letter to Educators about Internet research and information fluency from CyberSmart!
Overview
Students learn how search engines, directories, and meta-search engines work and compare and contrast their features.
Objectives
- Compare search engines, directories, and meta-search engines
- Describe the features of one or more specific search sites
- Explain why smart searching includes trying more than one search site
National Educational Technology Standards for Students © 2007
Source: International Society for Technology in Education- Research and Information Fluency
- plan strategies to guide inquiry.
- locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
- evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
Home Connection
Download the Home Connection sheet related to this lesson.
Site Preview
Search Engines Sites
Directory Sites
Meta-Search Engine Sites
Materials
- Activity sheets (3)
- Online computer access
Introduce (offline)
- Ask: What search sites have you used? What do you like about each? Students who identify a particular site should explain why they use it. Reasons for using the site may or may not be related to its search functions.
- Tell students they will now look at some ways these sites differ.
Teach 1 (offline)
- Distribute Activity Sheets 1 and 2.
- Have students read and discuss "How does a search engine work?" Explain that a "spider" periodically returns to recheck a site. In this way, the index is kept up to date.
- After students read "How does a directory work?" point out that editors add new subject categories and sites depending on the number of information requests recorded by their computer for particular information.
Teach 2 (online)
- Distribute Activity Sheet 3.
- Take students to www.becybersmart.org or www.cybersmartcurriculum.org, click on Student Links, and then click on the diamond. Find the title of this lesson, and open its links.
- Have students investigate one or more search sites and record their findings on Activity Sheet 3.
- Tell students that search sites do not always tell whether they are primarily a search engine, directory, or meta-search engine. To answer Question 1, have students check the information provided with the links for this lesson.
Teach 3 (offline)
- Have students share the information they collected. If more than one student looked at the same site, have them compare their data and impressions.
Assess (offline)
The following items assess student mastery of the lesson objectives.
- Ask: How do search engines and directories differ? (Search engines are indexed by computer programs and directories are indexed by people. Search engines usually have many more sites indexed than do directories.)
- Ask: What was one feature of the site you visited? Have students refer to the data they recorded on Activity Sheet 3.
- Ask: Why is it a good idea to try more than one search site? (Because no one search site covers the entire Web. Also, search sites offer different search options.)
Extend (offline)
The following activity can be added for students who completed this lesson in a previous grade.
- Allow students to choose a simple keyword to submit to a search engine. Have them practice being "editors" at a directory by evaluating the first five sites returned as results and assigning each site to one of the subject categories from a popular directory.
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