Good search results from the Internet are something we all struggle with. All that information, but why can't we find exactly what we need? I worked with the Y5s to investigate this further.
For this provocation, I used a KWL learning strategy - what I know, what I wonder and and what I learned. To activate their prior learning and to gauge how much they already knew, I started by asking students how they defined effective keywords, how they choose the keywords they use. Students did know the importance of keywords, of using synonyms for a comprehensive coverage when searching. They understood that one had to be specific and have a preconceived idea of what they were investigating.
The Y5s had a solid understanding of keywords - or they were overly confident - so the "What I wonder" reflection was scant. But they did want to know more about the importance of keywords and why so often the vocabulary was so advanced. I suggested perhaps that the reason for latter is because most websites are written by adults.
To understand Internet searching and keywords better, we watched the Brainpop video on Internet searching.
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| Image taken from brainpop.com |
I also showed them the commoncraft video on Web Search Strategies.
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| Image taken from commoncraft.com |
After viewing both videos, there was some discussion and a few quick Google searches by me using these keyword and searching "tricks". Students were then able to grasp some important concepts such as phrase searching, narrowing and broadening results by adding and removing specific keywords.
