Search Engines for Kids

1. Search Engines for Kids by Dr. Katie Klinger

2. Ask Jeeves • Go tohttp://www.ajkids.com to check out Ask Jeeves. • I really admire the layout and potential of Ask Jeeves for Kids: there is also an adult version of it at www.aj.com. • You can use natural language to pose questions to Jeeves, who does his very best to answer them. • There is even a check box to mark if you want Jeeves to check your spelling. • An additional text box displays the questions other people have asked Jeeves to trigger your interest to stay on this web site. • For example, on the main page of AJ kids, it says "How do I make cool paper airplanes?", and when you click on the ask button next to this question, it takes you to another screen where it provides nine different parts of the same question but with various levels of relationships built from the original question using critical thinking skills. • From those new questions, you can choose other activities that at first glance appear to be unlike the original question (like: how do I make homemade paper), but upon further inspection, are still related in a specific manner.

3. Ask Jeeves Cont’d • Teaches students to think about the various parts of your original question to the kids in order to expand their research options. You also have the opportunity to consult "concise encyclopedia articles" on airplanes, paper, and who invented airplanes. • These many questions are already answered in great detail and accessible from connecting pages… you simply click on a down arrow next to any topic that is in a text field and a drop down menu appears of additional topics.

4. SuperKids • Check out SuperKids athttp://www.superkids.com/#search • Its main page http://www.superkids.com/ bills itself as an Educational Software Review site. • It also includes features like Vocabulary Builders, SuperKids Math Worksheets, Logic Games, a Reading Corner, and a Movie Corner. • I really felt the idea of a recent Famous Quote of the Day   "Water, water everywhere and no where a drop to drink." Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Ancient Mariner, 1798

5. The “Quote” cont’d • Expanding this quote would be fun and educational to discuss with kids for several reasons: • It is often misquoted as "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." • This abuse of the original phrase illustrates the tendency of a language to evolve and modernize itself in subtle and often unnoticeable ways. • The phrase " no where" is used as a single word in our language most of the time. • Kids would be encouraged to actually read the book Ancient Mariner to find out what why he said this phrase and what life was like at the end of the 18th century.

6. The “Quote” • I feel this site is well worth exploring because it has a broad scope of topics that are current, relevant, and meaningful to educators, parents, and kids. • I hope you take the time to include it in your education about search engines for kids. • Other search engines are Yahooligans, Searchopolis 3.0, GO Network, and Lycos SafetyNet. Feel free to explore these on your own.

7. Educational Portals • Educational Portals such as Education World try to bring all possible resources for teachers and administrators together in one place • www.educationaworld.com • Kathy Schrock • http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/

8. Government Resources • Federal • http://www.ed.gov/free/index.html • State • http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/et/rs/sets.asp