Educator and speaker Alan November believes there is a growing gap between what we teach children and what is needed in this expanding global workplace. In his opinion students need to be able to do three key things when they leave school.
Have the capacity to do good research on the Web
Have good global communication skills
We should evaluate teachers on their ability to directly engage children with people all around the worl
Be self-directed
Our system is based on the concept that teachers own the learning
Corporations need people who don’t need a boss to tell them what to do
The top skill learned in school is to learn how to be taught
Quickly I will highlight the first of those skills. “The ability to do a good search on the web”. Most students just type in a stab at their topic and take the “Big 6”, which one told me was the first six hits on the list. Not a real effective method, but easy and seldom corrected.
Boolean Searching
Really a strange name for a very simple concept, it is like a verbal Venn diagram. If I want a search of ‘yellow trucks’ and type in Yellow Trucks I will come up with all the sights that have Yellow and all the sites that contain trucks, as well at the “yellow trucks” With Boolean searching you write “yellow and trucks”, the results will only contain both words. If I want to eliminate “Chevy” then type in “yellow and trucks not Chevy”. Try it with something you want to look up and look at the hits. Try it with two or three different search engines and check out the numbers.
For a fun look at Boolean searching checkout Boolify: the Boolean Project. It is great for explaining the process, even to younger groups.
Keys To Search the Internet More Effectively:
Read the Help or Tips Menu
- The Help or Tips Menu will provide valuable information about how to perform an effective search.
Prepare to Search
- Think about what you are looking for. Make a list of key words that you can work with. Consider what is the best search tool for the job.
Use Unique Terms When Possible to Retrieve More Specific Results
- The words you choose will determine the information you find. Try to use words that are specific and describe what you are looking for in unique ways.
Use the Directories in Search Engine or Subject Directories
- Directories are available on most search tools and help organize sites into categories.
Use More than One Search Engine
- Not all search tools are alike. A search will produce radically different results depending upon the tool used. Every search engine it’s has strengths and weaknesses. Try doing the same search on different tools. Compare the first ten sites retrieved by each tool.
Use Capitalization When Needed to Refine a Search
- Not every search tool is case sensitive. Capitalization sometimes finds sites that have the search term in the title--this is especially useful when searching for a terms that are not capitalized unless they are in a title.
Use Quotations or Other Symbols to Specify a Phrase
- Search tools do not know whether a search is for "lesson" or "plans." The default is typically lesson or plans in simple searching. Use quotations to surround a phrase such as "lesson plans."
Keep Results to a Minimum: Size of the Search Tool Does Not Matter
- If you have not found what you are looking for in the first 20 to 50 sites, give it up and reword your search or try another search engine.
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine. How is that different than a search engine like Google? Wolfram|Alpha answers factual queries by computing the answer from data. Let’s look at an example: I will enter Farmington in the search field:
I see the results for Farmington, Utah—not Farmington, Michigan or Connecticut or Maine. How does it know I mean Utah? It pulls my IP address from my computer, located in West Jordan and assumes I mean the Farmington just north of here. Just in case I do mean another Farmington, I am provided with a list of other cities named Farmington in other parts of the U.S.
