The Boolify Project
The teacher tool called Boolify would be very useful in my classroom. As my fifth graders are learning to use the Internet for more than just games, it is now important for them to use the Internet to effectively search topics. The website Boolify offered three different lesson plans that would be easy to integrate into my curriculum. The lesson plans’ topics were evaluating websites and other information sources, using basic boolean search operators (and, or, not,) and refining search results. By using the web page http://www.boolify.org, the students can do their searches using the jigsaw pieces and then use the operator words “and, or, not”. The sites that match their key word search are displayed at the bottom of the page. Students have more options to remove, save the search, view the search, start over, and go back. This site would be a very effective search engine for students who are beginning to use the Internet to conduct research.
*Since posting this, I have been able to incorporate this site into my research projects. I have shared it with the fourth grade teachers who have also used this site when researching.
Googlepedia
Another useful tool to use in my fifth grade classroom would be Googlepedia. My students are beginning learners when it comes to conducting effective Internet searches. They don’t take time to research thoroughly and often select the first link that appears. They often use Wikipedia. The Googlepedia would allow students to see Google search results side by side with Wikipedia entries. This would allow matching entries to appear in the browser window. The Googlepedia is a simple Firefox add-on.
The teacher tool called Boolify would be very useful in my classroom. As my fifth graders are learning to use the Internet for more than just games, it is now important for them to use the Internet to effectively search topics. The website Boolify offered three different lesson plans that would be easy to integrate into my curriculum. The lesson plans’ topics were evaluating websites and other information sources, using basic boolean search operators (and, or, not,) and refining search results. By using the web page http://www.boolify.org, the students can do their searches using the jigsaw pieces and then use the operator words “and, or, not”. The sites that match their key word search are displayed at the bottom of the page. Students have more options to remove, save the search, view the search, start over, and go back. This site would be a very effective search engine for students who are beginning to use the Internet to conduct research.
*Since posting this, I have been able to incorporate this site into my research projects. I have shared it with the fourth grade teachers who have also used this site when researching.
Googlepedia
Another useful tool to use in my fifth grade classroom would be Googlepedia. My students are beginning learners when it comes to conducting effective Internet searches. They don’t take time to research thoroughly and often select the first link that appears. They often use Wikipedia. The Googlepedia would allow students to see Google search results side by side with Wikipedia entries. This would allow matching entries to appear in the browser window. The Googlepedia is a simple Firefox add-on.