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I want to thank everyone who responded to my request on teaching
Internet Search Strategies to Middle School Students.  Many asked me to
post a HIT so here are some of the responses I received.

I would recommend you just show em how to search with phrases and
pluses.

"AltaVista is one of the premiere search engines. Quotes let you define
a
phrase to search for, and the plus sign
stipulates words that must show in the result. So the search strategy
+"First President" and +Pilot will produce results with the
phrase "First President" and the word Pilot. "
*************************************************************
Please visit my free interactive tutorial on using search engines and
subject directories.  It includes many practice exercises.

Finding It Online:  Web Search Strategies
http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/main.html

Debbie Flanagan
***********************************************************************After
she begins the unit, she gives a long range
assignment specifying the use of the Internet, and gives them some
choice
of topics within a range. I have the kids get into groups according to
topics, where they brainstorm "what we already know."  that gives them a

pile of good keywords and phrases. [Previous to this I would have taught

Boolean searching.] I have them construct possible searches using a
worksheet.  I usually recommend AskJeeves, Excite, or Infoseek to start.

They search, preferably using a multiterm search.  With both teachers
hovering, we try
to help the groups glean the most useful of the results.  When a group
thinks they have found a good site, we have them use a website
evaluation
form (my own, but based loosely on Kathy Shrock's).  If the site
"passes"
scrutiny, they share it with the rest of the class.  We teach them about

domain names, watch for dates and try to give them an idea of the
concept
of authority.  They are both amazed and appalled at things they find
written by other middle schoolers!
This has worked pretty well for us.  The prep work is really important.
Maureen S. Irwin
**********************************************************************The
video on internet searching that feature Ellen
Mondale is very good. I then start at the computer having the kids pick
a
topic and type that into yahooligans.  (You can use any
search engine that has a directory)  How many hits?
Next I have them select a category from the directory
and do the same thing.  How many hits? (So far we
haven't looked at any of the hits - just the number).
I let them try several topics.

2nd session:  Next we do same term and add a second
with AND, then OR, then NOT.  How many hits for each?
They have such fun with this that it takes the entire
2nd session.

3rd session:  We start looking at the hits.  1st
reading the summary and deciding if it's worth
clicking.  We discuss how to change the search terms to
get what you want.

4th session:  Website critiques.

My kids are excited about finally learning how to make
the internet usable.  I know many of them are going
home and sharing this with their parents - I tell them
to do so.

Jill Brown, MLS
**********************************************************
NOTE:  Due to quality & quantity of information that can be found on the

Internet it is not recommended that students be told to just go search!
You may wish to limit students to student oriented search tools!

Student Oriented Search Engines & tools:
AOL NetFind Kids Only
        http://www.aol.com/netfind/kids/
Ask Jeeves For Kids!
        http://ajkids.com/
AWESOME LIBRARY - K-12 Education Directory
        http://www.neat-schoolhouse.org/awesome.html
Kids Tools for Searching the Internet
        http://rcls.org/ksearch.htm
KidsClick
        http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick
Lycos A2Z Just for Kids
        http://www.lycos.com/kids/
StudyWeb
        http://www.studyweb.com/
Yahooligans For Kids
        http://www.yahooligans.com/

Additional Resources Appropriate for Student (& Teacher) Research:
ALAs Great Sites!
        http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/
ICONnect:  Favorite Web Sites for K-12 Students
        http://www.ala.org/ICONN/kcfavorites.html
Internet Public Library - Youth Division
        http://www.ipl.org/youth/HomePage.html
Kids Web - The Internet Library for K-12
        http://www.npac.syr.edu/textbook/kidsweb/
The Michigan Electric Library - Children and Young Adults
        http://www.mel.lib.mi.us/children/children.html
Nosweat.com -- Fastest Online Research!
        http://www.homeworkcentral.com/

Search Tutorials:
AskScott - Your guide to finding it on the Internet
        http://www.askscott.com/
Finding Information on the Internet:  A TUTORIAL

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
Guides to Internet Searching
        http://www.mnsfld.edu/~library/helpsearch.html
Kathy Schrocks Guide for Educators - Slide Shows for Learning and
Training
        http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/shows.html
Monash Information Services (The Spiders Apprentice):
        http://www.monash.com/
NUEVA how to choose the best search engine for your purposes:

http://www.nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html

Search Engine Tutorials
        http://www.searchenginewatch.com/resources/tutorials.html
Search Engine Watch:  News, Tips and More About Search Engines
        http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
The Search Page
        http://www.accesscom.com/~ziegler/search.html
University of Maryland: WebSearch
        http://www.inform.umd.edu/CompRes/WWWRes/WebSearch/

Search Tools Lists:
AskERIC Internet Search Tools:
        http://ericir.syr.edu/Qa/Toolbox/#search
Beaucoup Search Engines -- Main Menu
        http://www.beaucoup.com/
NetStrider - Search Engines, Indexes, Directories and Libraries
        http://www.netstrider.com/search/
Reference refdesk information My Virtual Reference Desk
        http://www.refdesk.com/
Sailor Search (Complete List of Sailor Resources; State & Internet):
        http://sailor.lib.md.us/forms/search.html
Sailor Search (A selection of Internet Search Engines):
        http://sailor.lib.md.us/topics/comp.html#search


Some Internet Search Engines, Directories, Libraries, Spiders &/or
Robots:
Alta Vista
        http://altavista.digital.com/
Archie (FTP Sites)
        http://netlink.wlu.edu:1020/archie/
Ask Jeeves!
        http://www.askjeeves.com
DejaNews (News Groups)
        http://dejanews.com/
Dogpile, the Friendly Multi-Engine Search Tool
        http://www.dogpile.com/
Excite
        http://www.excite.com/
GRADES
        http://www2.classroom.net/databases/grades/eduFind.html
HotBot
        http://www.hotbot.com/index.html
InfoSeek
        http://guide.infoseek.com/
Lycos
        http://www.lycos.com/    or     http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/
Magellan!
        http://www.mckinley.com/   or    http://magellan.excite.com/
(Green Light sites are kid safe!)
MetaCrawler
        http://metacrawler.cs.washington.edu/index_power.html  or
http://www.metacrawler.com/
Open Text
        http://index.opentext.net/
Savy Search
        http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dreiling/smartform.html
Search Gopher Space with Veronica
        gopher://liberty.uc.wlu.edu:70/11/gophers/veronica
WebCrawler
        http://www.webcrawler.com/
Yahoo
        http://www.yahoo.com/


Linda


Again Thanks for all the suggestions
GailWisner
Media Specialist
Northwest Middle School
Taneytown, MD  21787

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