SweetSearch: A New Alternative to Google.

With several hundred million search queries each day, Google is the undisputed leader in search engines. There's a reason why "google" is widely used as a verb! But for many types of Internet searches, especially for students, Google is not always the best choice. I recommend several alternatives for students, including several which are actually customized google search engines designed for kids: www.askkids.com, www.kidrex.org, www.gogooligans.com, and www.kidsclick.org.

Now there's another promising alternative to Google. SweetSearch was created to address the reality that most students cannot effectively conduct online research. Results from a Google search are simply too overwheming, and often not educationally appropriate. SweetSearch (which is a customized version of Google) can help kids find better information more quickly, and will return only content that has been researched, evaluated, and approved by a team of researchers, teachers, and librarians. I tried searching a few topics and was impressed with the quality and organization of the results. There are several neat features, inlcuding SweetSearch Biographies, which includes profiles of over 1,000 famous people. A word of caution, however: before conducting a search lesson with young students, I strongly recommend testing the search results first. Even search engines designed for children can yield unexpected, and possibly undesirable, results!

Learning to Change-Changing to Learn

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow."
~ John Dewey

I'm the first to admit that keeping up with and learning emerging technologies can be overwhelming, but the alternative is worse. It's the responsibility of all educators to prepare students for the future, and in the 21st century, that means providng opportunities for digital learning. This video is a helpful reminder of why we need to provide our students with a learning environment that resembles-prepares them for-the real world.