Reflect on the process that you and your group experienced in the Web Search Activity. Did this activity Will this activity change the way you do research in the future?
Hello! It was nice meeting you all today. Our group had the following reflections on the assignment:
We initially decided to research "Ocean Animal Adaptations" because it was a 4th grade teaching objective. Using Google as an intial search engine, we received over a million hits on that particular topic. It was an overwhelming and unproductive method of researching our specific topic. After deciding our topic was too broad, we narrowed it down to a specific animal and its adaptations –the puffer fish. When we typed that in Google, we still received over 600,000 hits, which was still too overwhelming to even begin researching. After using the Berkley site, which gave us ideas of how to narrow our search to produce more accurate results, we discovered many valuable ways to search more effectively. We tried Wikipedia, which gave excellent information about the puffer fish, including their adaptations. Then, we tried the expert search, which led us to accurate articles, although not necessarily kid-friendly articles. In addition, we used another strategy on the Google search engine, using quotations, which narrowed our search and produced more accurate websites. We can utilize this experience in our classrooms when researching specific topics with our students. --Jeaneen Ajluni, Jessica Ezzell and Melanie Bocarro
Hello, this was a wonderful first class. What a wonderful idea to have us working together to blog on the first day!
Denise Shillingsburg, and I (Tina Shirley) chose to research “effective reading programs” because of a tie to a research topic I’ll be researching. What we discovered is that it is extremely important to look at the purpose of the search engine. We began with using Google and received over 43,200,000 hits! Most of these hits were advertisements for purchasing reading programs.We felt overwhelmed! What we quickly learned is that if the search engine was created for financial gain then the hits will be broader, and may be less meaningful. By using Google or Yahoo we would need more effort to find the “gem” among all the rocks (assuming there were any gems to find.)
We also discovered that if we start with a search engine that purpose is closer to the topic we are researching ( i.e.: education search engine for effective remediation reading programs) the choices are more reliable. When we used about.com we began to find hits that were closer to what we were looking for. When we switched to NCSU library education search engine hit the jack pot. We had about as many hits as about.com, but the quality of hits were higher.
Lastly, we discovered that no matter what search engine we use it is very important to bring in key words and narrow the search through word choices. When we added the key words “middle school, remediation” the hits of Google lowered by several million. Similar results were also found when we added the key word "remediation" to NCSU Library education search engine.
Over all we have discovered that not only does the researcher need to be wise about the purpose of the search engine, but they need to have a wealth of search engines to choose from in order to match purposes. We also discovered that the researcher must be wise and know when to abort one site in favor of another. Time is very important and some search engines can lead to the researcher chasing so many rabbit holes that they loose the track of what they are trying to find. Finally, we learn the importance of key words. Being able to single in on key words dramatically increased our ability to find reliable information sources no matter the search engines main purpose.
Last Comment: When looking at how this experience might change our research practices in the future, we decided that we would start collecting various search engines sites to use. Both of us discovered that we use primarily the same engines (Google and Yahoo,askjeves) and lack any real knowledge about others such as Wikipedia. We both decided to make a goal of finding quality search engines in order to increase our effectiveness as researchers. We both agreed that beyond this class, our students were an excellent resource to tap into.
We used Google because it’s a popular and well-known search engine. We researched plants because it aligns with the third grade curriculum. When just searching the word “plants” we got 60,100,000 different web links. We realized our topic was too broad and some of the sites were not age appropriate for 3rd graders, so we had to narrow our search. We narrowed the search to “3rd grade and parts of a plant” and there were 2, 030,000 results, which were also grade level appropriate. When searching under “photosynthesis” there were 319,000 results. Based on our research we learned that “Distinctive phrases” (parts of plants), looking for a specialized subject directory, and specifying a narrow aspect helped eliminate sites that were not age appropriate and irrelevant. We found that it's best to search within the first ten pages of results because they seemed to be more relevant.
We used Google.com to perform our search. Familiarity with this search engine is our primary reason for choosing this particular engine. Using Google, we chose to research the life cycle of a butterfly, because life cycles are part of the 2nd grade Science curriculum. By researching this topic we will become more familiar with the content, and therefore be more apt to teach about life cycles effectively. At first, we were presented with 1,890,000 results, and realized we could have narrowed our search down to specific types of butterflies or to certain stages in the life cycle. So in order to narrow down our results and obtain entries that were more relevant to our topic, we used quotation marks around “Butterfly Life Cycle”, which brought our search results to “only” 63,200. In order to give students access to this information, we could add them as useful links on the school’s webpage, or copy and paste the sites into a Word document for them to locate on their own. Doing this would allow the students to become more familiar with the use of search engines. And given the vast number of results obtained from our search, we concluded that the first ten or fifteen pages of results would likely yield information that was most pertinent to our topic, since subsequent pages tended to give results that were a bit broader in scope, with perhaps less detail than we would ideally prefer to have. Brad Gregory & Yorke Denning
Laura Mangones and I (Amy Callipare) began by choosing to research "Jerry Spinelli" as an extension to a novel unit in sixth grade on "Stargirl". When we began searching his life, our initial search on google surprised us as it was too broad, having 579,000 hits. This made us rethink our search words and we decided to then add biography to the search. This helped narrow; however, we still had 79,700 hits, which was still too many. We realized we probably still needed to be more specific. After using the recommended search strategies by Berkley, we narrowed our topic and enclosed it in quotation marks, which condensed our results down to 276 hits, a significantly smaller field. Since we had narrowed our search and really confined it, the majority of the websites were high quality. All of the sites on the first page gave valuable information that we would have asked students to find. From this experience, we would crate a list of possible websites for students to use as a starting point, but we would also encourage students to try to narrow their search topics without being too specific when doing research in the future.
Andrea and I (Elizabeth) originally chose a research topic that was too broad. We decided on NC because it is a relevant topic for fourth grade curriculum. We decided to use Yahoo Kids search engine because it was kid friendly, censored, and popular. However, our hits for this search were very irrelevant for students’ research and the number of hits was too large. After reading about the search strategies we choose to narrow our search terms to focus on the history of NC specifically focusing on Blackbeard. We decided to use the strategy of picking the correct search engine, using Yahoo kids which utilized the Boolean strategy. By using this search strategy we were able to narrow down our hits significantly. After viewing the 25 hits we found that students could use 90% of the websites. After finding appropriate websites for fourth grade students, we determined several ways to share these websites with the students. One way is to post the approved sites we found from our search on Blackboard. Another way would be to post the websites on a bulletin board at a computer center. Through this activity we learned some web searching strategies that would produce better research amongst our students.
Kim Fuller and I (Heather Walton) researched black holes because it is a fun and interesting topic for many students. We used Google to begin our search and received about 22,200,000 hits. It would be very difficult to explore all of those sites and to discover the useful and kid-friendly ones. The Google search provided book titles and websites that were related to the topic. It would be difficult for students to find the books, and the related websites may distract them from the original topic.
We decided to refine our search by using quotation marks around black holes and by exploring two other search engines. The first search engine was the Librarians’ Internet Index. Several of the sites provided by the search engine were kid-friendly and useful. The search engine provided brief comments for each site to help you determine the usefulness of the site for your topic and needs. The number of hits was also much more manageable; this search engine only returned 10 sites for our search. About 90% of the hits from this site seemed to be reliable and high quality. One site was not relevant to the search topic.
The other search engine we explored was About.com. This engine returned 332 hits and also provided a brief description for each site. Unlike Google, this site did not provide book titles or other inaccessible links and resources. The hits provided by About.com seemed to be about 80% reliable and useful based on the web addresses and descriptions provided.
We learned that it is much more efficient to use sites such as the Librarians’ Internet Index instead of Google or similar search engines. By using the alternate search engines, our search was more efficient. It took less time to find more reliable and useful sites. We need to help students learn about alternate ways to search for information and to help them practice using these search engines.
We chose to research the topic "animals that hibernate” because Tara teaches this to her kindergarten class. The first search engine we used was google. The initial search was somewhat helpful, but we found over 1 million hits on our first attempt which was overwhelming. Also, there were several sites that required subscriptions or that were designed to sell products. When we used some of the more academic engines recommended by the Berkeley site, we found topics that were either too advanced for our purposes or not exactly what we were looking for (ex. hibernating cockroaches!)
It was obvious that to be effective we needed narrow down the topic. Next, we moved on to "bears and hibernation" and used both google and yahoo. This still yielded over one million results. Our most effective step was to narrow the topic by grade level which yielded websites with lesson plans and other age appropriate materials. Another useful search was “hibernation and kindergarten.”
What we learned is that narrowing your search appropriately will not only help you save time, but will increase your likelihood of finding results that you can put to use in your class. With this in mind, a useful skill to teach students is how to refine their topics and approach research in a purposeful way. Also, students should know how to evaluate whether a site is a reliable source of information (which can be difficult even for adults).
Adam Gutschmidt and I researched literacy in high schools. Because of the growing emphasis placed on EOC scores, it is important that the students are coming to the secondary level with high reading and comprehension skills. Yet, this is not always the case, so as educators, we need to know how to work with the students who are struggling with their reading. We chose Google Scholar to conduct our research since it filters some of the "junk" material. Yet, we were surprised when typing in the previously mentioned phrase produced 182,000 hits. After using the Berkeley website, however, we learned that it would be necessary for us to put the phrase in quotes so that all four words would appear in the same article. This lowered our number of hits to seventeen, which was more manageable and more reputable. I personally am glad that I worked with Adam since I had never used the Google Scholar search engine before and found it to be useful.
For our web search assignment, Diane and I decided to research the use of "iPod's with elementary aged students". It quickly became apparent that our Google search would not yield us the best results as we were bombarded with websites trying to sell iPods and that discussed issues schools were having with elementary aged children bringing them to school. Most of the reporting was negative and talked about iPod's being a distraction to the educational environment. It quickly became obvious that we needed to narrow and better specify what we were searching for.
Using Google once again, we narrowed our topic to "using iPod's as a teaching tool." This gave us MORE results from google, but using the search engine "dogpile," we received 76 manageable results. Although some of the sites were still from apple or aiming to sell us an iPod, there were also some sites that were right on target and would have been helpful for anyone wanting to implement the use of iPod's into their classroom. There were quite a few websites with suggestions of activities or approaches for using the iPod. One such website was created by apple...it is obvious that they have jumped on the opportunity to market iPod's to educators. (See: http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipod/lessons/ if you are interested in a few ideas.)
Getting more specific and explicit in what we were actually looking for was effective in this search. Although we were interested in the use for elementary students, we realized that no matter the grade level that an article/website might discuss, we could gain some knowledge about how to use the iPod's with elementary students, so one big change was to drop the "elementary age" restriction.
As usual, I (Tammy) have found that searching the internet for information (using google), while informative, is also time consuming. When I search for something using google, I end up learning a whole lot more than I intended (which is great), but I am usually under a time crunch and need ways to find more specific information faster. With that said, I do think this activity has created an awareness that google is not the only search engine out there, but I still think I need help on what those other search engines are and which ones would be most appropriate for different situations.
I am so sorry to have missed the first class. My husband and I carpool. so while he was playing frisbee golf, I was stranded on campus. YIKES!
I did a for a study guide for Junebug in trouble by Alice Mead to supplement my guided reading activities for my 6th graders. I received 36,700 hits the first time, 6 of which didn't have anything to do with the book. I used quotation marks as reccommended and received a slightly better result but still was getting anything with "study guide" in it. I used another strategy of rephrasing but still little improvement. I was unable to find any questions to use, but I did discover that this book is recommended for bibliotherapy (might be part of why I used it with new 6th graders). I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for phrasing. I look forward to seeing some familiar and new faces on Monday.
I have enjoyed reading the comments you have shared regarding your research activity. I believe that it would be true to say that you have gained new strategies for researching. One of the things that you shared that intrigued me was the use of Wikipedia. There has been so much controversy around the use of Wikipedia. I would love to know what your thoughts are on introducing students to this resource.
13 comments:
Hello! It was nice meeting you all today. Our group had the following reflections on the assignment:
We initially decided to research "Ocean Animal Adaptations" because it was a 4th grade teaching objective. Using Google as an intial search engine, we received over a million hits on that particular topic. It was an overwhelming and unproductive method of researching our specific topic. After deciding our topic was too broad, we narrowed it down to a specific animal and its adaptations –the puffer fish. When we typed that in Google, we still received over 600,000 hits, which was still too overwhelming to even begin researching. After using the Berkley site, which gave us ideas of how to narrow our search to produce more accurate results, we discovered many valuable ways to search more effectively. We tried Wikipedia, which gave excellent information about the puffer fish, including their adaptations. Then, we tried the expert search, which led us to accurate articles, although not necessarily kid-friendly articles. In addition, we used another strategy on the Google search engine, using quotations, which narrowed our search and produced more accurate websites. We can utilize this experience in our classrooms when researching specific topics with our students.
--Jeaneen Ajluni, Jessica Ezzell and
Melanie Bocarro
Hello, this was a wonderful first class. What a wonderful idea to have us working together to blog on the first day!
Denise Shillingsburg, and I (Tina Shirley) chose to research “effective reading programs” because of a tie to a research topic I’ll be researching. What we discovered is that it is extremely important to look at the purpose of the search engine. We began with using Google and received over 43,200,000 hits! Most of these hits were advertisements for purchasing reading programs.We felt overwhelmed! What we quickly learned is that if the search engine was created for financial gain then the hits will be broader, and may be less meaningful. By using Google or Yahoo we would need more effort to find the “gem” among all the rocks (assuming there were any gems to find.)
We also discovered that if we start with a search engine that purpose is closer to the topic we are researching ( i.e.: education search engine for effective remediation reading programs) the choices are more reliable. When we used about.com we began to find hits that were closer to what we were looking for. When we switched to NCSU library education search engine hit the jack pot. We had about as many hits as about.com, but the quality of hits were higher.
Lastly, we discovered that no matter what search engine we use it is very important to bring in key words and narrow the search through word choices. When we added the key words “middle school, remediation” the hits of Google lowered by several million. Similar results were also found when we added the key word "remediation" to NCSU Library education search engine.
Over all we have discovered that not only does the researcher need to be wise about the purpose of the search engine, but they need to have a wealth of search engines to choose from in order to match purposes. We also discovered that the researcher must be wise and know when to abort one site in favor of another. Time is very important and some search engines can lead to the researcher chasing so many rabbit holes that they loose the track of what they are trying to find. Finally, we learn the importance of key words. Being able to single in on key words dramatically increased our ability to find reliable information sources no matter the search engines main purpose.
Tina Shirley and Denise Shillingsburg
Last Comment:
When looking at how this experience might change our research practices in the future, we decided that we would start collecting various search engines sites to use. Both of us discovered that we use primarily the same engines (Google and Yahoo,askjeves) and lack any real knowledge about others such as Wikipedia. We both decided to make a goal of finding quality search engines in order to increase our effectiveness as researchers. We both agreed that beyond this class, our students were an excellent resource to tap into.
Team: Tina Shirley and Denise Shillingsburg
We used Google because it’s a popular and well-known search engine. We researched plants because it aligns with the third grade curriculum. When just searching the word “plants” we got 60,100,000 different web links. We realized our topic was too broad and some of the sites were not age appropriate for 3rd graders, so we had to narrow our search. We narrowed the search to “3rd grade and parts of a plant” and there were 2, 030,000 results, which were also grade level appropriate. When searching under “photosynthesis” there were 319,000 results. Based on our research we learned that “Distinctive phrases” (parts of plants), looking for a specialized subject directory, and specifying a narrow aspect helped eliminate sites that were not age appropriate and irrelevant. We found that it's best to search within the first ten pages of results because they seemed to be more relevant.
Posted by; Sara Bowers and Tina Bardossas
We used Google.com to perform our search. Familiarity with this search engine is our primary reason for choosing this particular engine. Using Google, we chose to research the life cycle of a butterfly, because life cycles are part of the 2nd grade Science curriculum. By researching this topic we will become more familiar with the content, and therefore be more apt to teach about life cycles effectively.
At first, we were presented with 1,890,000 results, and realized we could have narrowed our search down to specific types of butterflies or to certain stages in the life cycle. So in order to narrow down our results and obtain entries that were more relevant to our topic, we used quotation marks around “Butterfly Life Cycle”, which brought our search results to “only” 63,200. In order to give students access to this information, we could add them as useful links on the school’s webpage, or copy and paste the sites into a Word document for them to locate on their own. Doing this would allow the students to become more familiar with the use of search engines. And given the vast number of results obtained from our search, we concluded that the first ten or fifteen pages of results would likely yield information that was most pertinent to our topic, since subsequent pages tended to give results that were a bit broader in scope, with perhaps less detail than we would ideally prefer to have.
Brad Gregory & Yorke Denning
Laura Mangones and I (Amy Callipare) began by choosing to research "Jerry Spinelli" as an extension to a novel unit in sixth grade on "Stargirl". When we began searching his life, our initial search on google surprised us as it was too broad, having 579,000 hits. This made us rethink our search words and we decided to then add biography to the search. This helped narrow; however, we still had 79,700 hits, which was still too many. We realized we probably still needed to be more specific. After using the recommended search strategies by Berkley, we narrowed our topic and enclosed it in quotation marks, which condensed our results down to 276 hits, a significantly smaller field. Since we had narrowed our search and really confined it, the majority of the websites were high quality. All of the sites on the first page gave valuable information that we would have asked students to find. From this experience, we would crate a list of possible websites for students to use as a starting point, but we would also encourage students to try to narrow their search topics without being too specific when doing research in the future.
Andrea and I (Elizabeth) originally chose a research topic that was too broad. We decided on NC because it is a relevant topic for fourth grade curriculum. We decided to use Yahoo Kids search engine because it was kid friendly, censored, and popular. However, our hits for this search were very irrelevant for students’ research and the number of hits was too large. After reading about the search strategies we choose to narrow our search terms to focus on the history of NC specifically focusing on Blackbeard. We decided to use the strategy of picking the correct search engine, using Yahoo kids which utilized the Boolean strategy. By using this search strategy we were able to narrow down our hits significantly. After viewing the 25 hits we found that students could use 90% of the websites. After finding appropriate websites for fourth grade students, we determined several ways to share these websites with the students. One way is to post the approved sites we found from our search on Blackboard. Another way would be to post the websites on a bulletin board at a computer center. Through this activity we learned some web searching strategies that would produce better research amongst our students.
Team: Elizabeth Austell and Andrea Melahn
Kim Fuller and I (Heather Walton) researched black holes because it is a fun and interesting topic for many students. We used Google to begin our search and received about 22,200,000 hits. It would be very difficult to explore all of those sites and to discover the useful and kid-friendly ones. The Google search provided book titles and websites that were related to the topic. It would be difficult for students to find the books, and the related websites may distract them from the original topic.
We decided to refine our search by using quotation marks around black holes and by exploring two other search engines. The first search engine was the Librarians’ Internet Index. Several of the sites provided by the search engine were kid-friendly and useful. The search engine provided brief comments for each site to help you determine the usefulness of the site for your topic and needs. The number of hits was also much more manageable; this search engine only returned 10 sites for our search. About 90% of the hits from this site seemed to be reliable and high quality. One site was not relevant to the search topic.
The other search engine we explored was About.com. This engine returned 332 hits and also provided a brief description for each site. Unlike Google, this site did not provide book titles or other inaccessible links and resources. The hits provided by About.com seemed to be about 80% reliable and useful based on the web addresses and descriptions provided.
We learned that it is much more efficient to use sites such as the Librarians’ Internet Index instead of Google or similar search engines. By using the alternate search engines, our search was more efficient. It took less time to find more reliable and useful sites. We need to help students learn about alternate ways to search for information and to help them practice using these search engines.
We chose to research the topic "animals that hibernate” because Tara teaches this to her kindergarten class. The first search engine we used was google. The initial search was somewhat helpful, but we found over 1 million hits on our first attempt which was overwhelming. Also, there were several sites that required subscriptions or that were designed to sell products. When we used some of the more academic engines recommended by the Berkeley site, we found topics that were either too advanced for our purposes or not exactly what we were looking for (ex. hibernating cockroaches!)
It was obvious that to be effective we needed narrow down the topic. Next, we moved on to "bears and hibernation" and used both google and yahoo. This still yielded over one million results. Our most effective step was to narrow the topic by grade level which yielded websites with lesson plans and other age appropriate materials. Another useful search was “hibernation and kindergarten.”
What we learned is that narrowing your search appropriately will not only help you save time, but will increase your likelihood of finding results that you can put to use in your class. With this in mind, a useful skill to teach students is how to refine their topics and approach research in a purposeful way. Also, students should know how to evaluate whether a site is a reliable source of information (which can be difficult even for adults).
Heather McConnell and Tara Warner
Adam Gutschmidt and I researched literacy in high schools. Because of the growing emphasis placed on EOC scores, it is important that the students are coming to the secondary level with high reading and comprehension skills. Yet, this is not always the case, so as educators, we need to know how to work with the students who are struggling with their reading. We chose Google Scholar to conduct our research since it filters some of the "junk" material. Yet, we were surprised when typing in the previously mentioned phrase produced 182,000 hits. After using the Berkeley website, however, we learned that it would be necessary for us to put the phrase in quotes so that all four words would appear in the same article. This lowered our number of hits to seventeen, which was more manageable and more reputable. I personally am glad that I worked with Adam since I had never used the Google Scholar search engine before and found it to be useful.
For our web search assignment, Diane and I decided to research the use of "iPod's with elementary aged students". It quickly became apparent that our Google search would not yield us the best results as we were bombarded with websites trying to sell iPods and that discussed issues schools were having with elementary aged children bringing them to school. Most of the reporting was negative and talked about iPod's being a distraction to the educational environment. It quickly became obvious that we needed to narrow and better specify what we were searching for.
Using Google once again, we narrowed our topic to "using iPod's as a teaching tool." This gave us MORE results from google, but using the search engine "dogpile," we received 76 manageable results. Although some of the sites were still from apple or aiming to sell us an iPod, there were also some sites that were right on target and would have been helpful for anyone wanting to implement the use of iPod's into their classroom. There were quite a few websites with suggestions of activities or approaches for using the iPod. One such website was created by apple...it is obvious that they have jumped on the opportunity to market iPod's to educators. (See: http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipod/lessons/ if you are interested in a few ideas.)
Getting more specific and explicit in what we were actually looking for was effective in this search. Although we were interested in the use for elementary students, we realized that no matter the grade level that an article/website might discuss, we could gain some knowledge about how to use the iPod's with elementary students, so one big change was to drop the "elementary age" restriction.
As usual, I (Tammy) have found that searching the internet for information (using google), while informative, is also time consuming. When I search for something using google, I end up learning a whole lot more than I intended (which is great), but I am usually under a time crunch and need ways to find more specific information faster. With that said, I do think this activity has created an awareness that google is not the only search engine out there, but I still think I need help on what those other search engines are and which ones would be most appropriate for different situations.
I am so sorry to have missed the first class. My husband and I carpool. so while he was playing frisbee golf, I was stranded on campus. YIKES!
I did a for a study guide for Junebug in trouble by Alice Mead to supplement my guided reading activities for my 6th graders. I received 36,700 hits the first time, 6 of which didn't have anything to do with the book. I used quotation marks as reccommended and received a slightly better result but still was getting anything with "study guide" in it. I used another strategy of rephrasing but still little improvement. I was unable to find any questions to use, but I did discover that this book is recommended for bibliotherapy (might be part of why I used it with new 6th graders). I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for phrasing.
I look forward to seeing some familiar and new faces on Monday.
I have enjoyed reading the comments you have shared regarding your research activity. I believe that it would be true to say that you have gained new strategies for researching. One of the things that you shared that intrigued me was the use of Wikipedia. There has been so much controversy around the use of Wikipedia. I would love to know what your thoughts are on introducing students to this resource.
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