Searching with Google

Teaching research is hugely important for 21st Century Learners. We are beyond the point of teaching facts and figures - they can look those up anytime, anywhere. But how efficiently are they able to seek out those facts and figures? Are they using quality resources and double-checking their material? Are they able to synthesize ideas from different resources and sift out unnecessary information?

A huge shout-out goes to my school Library Media Specialist, Miss Rudenga, who does so much to teach our students the Big Six research skills. But we've found that even with lots of guidance, sometimes the world wide web is a little too "wide" for students learning to research. 

Enter Google Custom Search Engine!

This is a great tool for a topical search assignment - maybe you're doing a quick question to start off your class ("What song is #1 on the Billboard Country Music Charts this week?") or doing a large-scale research project ("History of Jazz Music"). This can allow your students to practice their independent research skills in a controlled environment. 

Let's take a look at how to set one up for your class...

1. Navigate to www.google.com/cse and click "New Search Engine."

2. Start by adding sites that your Custom Search Engine. These will be the sites that your search engine will use to gather results.

From the CSE site:
You can add any of the following:
Individual pages: www.example.com/page.html
Entire site: www.example.com*
Parts of Site: www.example.com/docs* or www.example.com/docs/
Entire Domain: *.example.com

3. Name your podcast and click "Create."
4. You have two options for sharing your CSE with your students:

• Embed HTML Code: If you're able to use HTML code for your website/school web host, click "Get Code," copy the code in the grey box, and then paste it in the appropriate place in your website editing page.
• Generate a URL to Share: Click on the "Public URL" which will take you to a stand-alone site. Copy the URL in the address bar which you can then e-mail, post, or otherwise share with your students.

5. On the next screen, click "Control Panel" to customize your search engine. If you look on the left side of your screen in "Control Panel," you will see options for still more features such as "Look and Feel" (display), which also includes how the search engine comes up on the screen. If you make changes, be sure to click "Update" at the very bottom of the page.

I'm sticking with the basics right now, but play around with the advanced options, using keywords to generate results for your CSE, etc...

Happy Searching!