Project #15: Search Engines

The internet is a vast space with an abundance of free knowledge. Sifting through all of the junk, wrong leads, and spam is difficult enough. Finding safer ways of searching for the right information doesn't have to be. Search Engines are a great way to find the information you want to help a student find creditable information. Here is a listing of some search engines I have found useful that will also be useful for students.

1. RefSeek is a search engine that will search through newspapers, books, encyclopedias, journals and webpages. It is proud of the fact that it takes away the distracting information that most broad search engines allow to enter into the search results.

2. iSeek is meant mainly for students and teachers. The site values their technique of "targeting results" rather than merely searching for information and receiving a broad spectrum of miscellaneous responses.

3. Kid Rex is a fun search engine meant to be completely kid friendly with 100% accuracy. I love the set up on this page, mainly due to the fact that it will dismiss most if not all inappropriate content.

4. Wolfram Alpha is a search engine I wish I had known about. A student can actually type in an equation and receive feedback or help as results. I think this would be very helpful for students that need a little extra help with math or science.

5. Sweet Search will be great for research papers. It has a lot of validated information that is easier to access without fussing with normal search engines.

6. Dogpile is my favorite search engine because it will sift through other search engines to find the best answers without you having to do the legwork. Also, the site donates large portions of its revenue to the ASPCA!

7. Pipl is a neat search engine that can be beneficial to students doing research on a particular person. This site helps you find out information about a particular person by pulling any and all accessible information forward.

8. Blinkx is one a teacher would have to monitor the students' usage of. It is a way to search for videos that would be useful for research, visual aids, or clips for iMovie projects. However, it does have broad access to videos that may not be school appropriate.