Curriculum
Research and Information Fluency: Grades 6-8
Making Search Decisions
Download Student Sheet(s) for printout in PDF format.
Read a Letter to Educators about Internet research and information fluency from CyberSmart!
Overview
Students interpret some powerful decision-making tips to increase their searching efficiency and then apply them in school research scenarios. They also learn to look for advance search strategies offered at most search sites.
Objectives
- Interpret search tips that promote efficient Internet research
- Apply search tips to typical school research scenarios
- Explain that most sites offer advanced search strategies
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
- About
- Open Directory Project
- Lycos
- Yahoo! Directory
- Info Please Homework Center
- Multnomah County Library Homework site
Meta-Search Engine Sites
Materials
- Activity sheets (2)
- Online computer access
Introduce (offline)
- Describe the following scenario to students: Your social studies class was assigned to write research reports. Michael and Elena waited until the last few days. They must work smart to get their reports done in time and have decided to do their research on the Internet.
- Ask: How should they get started? (go to a site that offers searching and browsing)
Teach 1 (offline)
- Distribute Activity Sheet 1.
- As students read and discuss the search tips, have them give you additional examples for each.
- Review or introduce the basic differences between search engines, directories, and meta-search engines. Search engines index a huge number of sites automatically without human involvement; to search the index, one submits keywords. Directories are indexed by humans who evaluate and categorize each site; a directory can be searched by selecting increasingly specific subject categories. Meta-search engines simultaneously submit keywords to several search engines. NOTE: The lesson, "Investigating Search Engines and Directories," is a recommended prerequisite to this lesson.
Teach 2 (online)
- Distribute Activity Sheet 2.
- Have students follow the directions on their activity sheet to go to www.becybersmart.org/students, click on the purple diamond, and locate the links for this lesson. You can go to the same page as the students by clicking Student Links in the left navigation of this page.
- Tell students that while search services rank their results by various criteria, they usually list first the sites that are most likely to be useful.
Teach 3 (online)
- Assign each student or group of students one of the search sites selected for this lesson and have them locate and report on the advanced search features offered there.
Assess (offline)
The following items assess student mastery of the lesson objectives.
- Ask: Which of the search tips do you find most useful and why?
- Ask: How can advanced search features help you locate the information you need? (They can customize a search to find exactly what you want.)
Extend (online)
The following activity can be added for students who completed this lesson in a previous grade.
- Working in pairs, have students take turns selecting search scenarios to navigate. Student 1 gives a scenario from Column 1 from Activity Sheet 1 and adds a new topic or phrase, Student 2 conducts the search, trying to recall and use the strategy recommended for that scenario. Student 2 gets 10 points for each successful search that was completed without Student 1's help or hints. Then they switch roles. The first student to accumulate 100 points wins.
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