Searching the Web Effectively

Kids are universally terrible at searching the web.

Terrible.

It's my favourite argument against the idea that kids innately understand how to use technology.  It's also based on a simple misconception, and it's something that with a bit of teamwork and critical thinking, it's easy to overcome.

The misconception is simply that Google is smart.  Google Knows Everything.

This is rubbish, and kids need it proven to them.  Google's excellent at search.  It knows where everything is, but that just makes it a world-wide neat freak.
It can't draw inference.  It can't follow conversation (yet).  It can't assume context.  It can't think for you, which means it can't understand a question.  All it works with is the words someone puts into the search box.
Correcting widespread use of search engines needs to begin with changing the way we approach knowledge & non-fiction.  Questions that have definitive answers, out.  Opportunities to explain how things work or tell stories of how things went down, in.  If the mentality of the kids is "I need to find the answer," they're going to keep asking the questions.

Now, you'll need a pretty simple toolkit to kick this change off.  3 things.

1. Bookmarks.  A collection of reliable sources of information online.
2. Google Advanced Search.  Controlled, knowledge-centric search.
3. A reference guide to help evaluate an information source.

Bookmarks

If the kids don't get a handle on what a reliable, valid source of information looks like today, they'll keep believing everything they read.  This is where your fully-formed adult sense of critical thinking comes in to play.  When you find something useful, take a record of it.  Bookmarking it in Bitly makes it easy to catalogue and share.  This will save you a lot of time, over time.

This video walks you through the how and why of collecting online resources to Bitly.

Advanced Search

This lets you break your search down into words & terms you definitely want (like the core of the topic itself), words and terms you think might be relevant (like an "and/or" list of related concepts), and words, terms, or websites you definitely don't want (like those question/answer sites like ask.com, or to filter unrelated concepts that may share a name or keywords with what you're actually researching).
You can also filter results by reading level, or use it to find copyright-free media to use in projects.

Try it out here, and if you want a runthrough either by yourself or with your class, let me know.

A Reference Guide

How do you decide whether a site is worth your while or not?  How do you develop that evaluation process in your students?  Trust It or Trash It is a really good resource.  Each of the three stages of the process has a set of focus questions along with it.  Brilliant to give kids guidance, also brilliant to hand over to them to use independently.  Best case, do both.

Using these three in combination, and making a habit of it will begin to turn the ship around with regards to how kids approach the Internet - we want them to do it in a very conscious, deliberate, and intelligent way.