Search Literacy via Google September 23, 2009
Posted by jhurd in : Check this out!, Technology , trackbackGoogle is committed to helping teachers. Their latest iteration of that is the recent release of a search curriculum, including lesson plans, multimedia power point presentations and a webinar explaining how to teach search in the classroom.
The presentations can be viewed online or downloaded, and once downloaded they are editable should you, for example, decide you don’t need to teach your 8th graders how to search patents.
Tied to the ISTE technology standards the lessons are broken into three modules: understanding search engines, web search strategies and Google features. For obvious reasons, the modules all focus on the Google search engine; the tech-savvy librarian would want to add information on other search engines, web portals, etc.
Similarly, check any presentations for bits of information that may not be relevant to other search engines. For example, the “Search Toolbox” presentation states on slide six, “Quotations are rarely needed. Use them only when necessary.” Now, that is arguably true with Google or Yahoo, both of whom use AND as their default operator; Alta Vista, however, uses OR which could make quotation-less phrase searching more problematic.
Nevertheless, these are not only a good resource for librarians, but also a wonderful resource for classroom teachers who may not have access to trained library staff. They could also be used as catch-up tutorials for those students who missed class during your search strategies lesson. Best of all, as with all Google tools, the plans and presentations are free. It’s hard to beat that.
Comments»
Google also offers free professional development for librarians and other educators through the Google Teacher Academy:
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
The Google campuses themselves are sort of mind-blowing, and the community of Google Certified Teachers is a vibrant one.
Wendy Stephens, GCT NYC ‘08
Wow! Thank you. I teach information literacy and technology literacy to adults and teachers throughout the MENA region. This search curriculum will be perfect for them to use and share!
I agree about the mind-blowing part. I just attended GCT in Boulder. My mind was fried within 20 minutes!