The Search for Search


Do you, do your children, do your college students know how to conduct a search on the internet? Today's blog we will examine search engines for children; tomorrow:  online libraries and references.  The day after that we'll examine our grown-up search methods and how to improve on them and on our productivity.
Here is a list of the top ten safe search engines for children:
http://www.teach-nology.com/mega_search/10_search_engines/
This link includes Yahooligans, Rhyme Zone, Britannica On-line, Amercian Memories, to list but a few.
You may want to encourage the kids to try Ivy Joy search for kids.  A good way to handle this type of information is to have each child create his or her bookmarks or favorites folder just for research.  This folder would contain sites like:  "Kids Search Tools"

Overall Rankings

The search engine sites are subjectively ranked on a 1-5 star scale, with 5
stars being the best. The categories ranked include: (1) visual appeal to a
child; (2) relevance to a child, based on our chosen searches; (3) commercial
vs. educational, with the educational slant creating a higher score; and (4)
ease of navigation for 7-10 year olds.
Visual Appeal

to a Child		 Relevance

to a Child		 Commercial vs.

Educational		 Ease of

Navigation
AOL for Kids **** *** * **
Cybersleuth Kids ** * *** *
Fact Monster ***** ***** ***** *****
Kids Click ** ** ***** **
Lycos for Kids * **** * *
Quintura Kids ***** ***** ***** *****
Yahoo Kids ***** ***** * ****
ZOO ** **** *** *****
About.com * *** *** *
Ask.com ***** ***** * ****
Google *** ***** * ***
MSN *** **** * ***
Yahoo *** ***** * *


Check out Tek Mom, another great resource for the kids.  Also Prandia for kids and teens.

High School and college students doing more advanced searches with the capability of more mature search results will certainly benefit from
ONLINE UNIVERSITIES.COM.


Of course Google Scholar, and though Stumbleupon is greatly abused and used for entertainment and diversion, it was originally developed as a search enhancement and a tool for serious research.

So, take a few minutes and guide your children to resources available to them and know which are safe and which are not.

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