School-appropriate seach engines

Submitted by rwprietz on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 2:47pm.
rwprietz
Posts: 1

My school district is having problems with students abusing search engines like ask.com and google. Does anyone know of a search engine that is filtered for appropriate content?

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Wed, 12/12/2007 - 12:51pm
diane_mazziotti
Posts: 1

I sometimes use KidsClick! at www.kidsclick.org as a search engine. It is comprised of preselected websites organized and vetted by librarians. There are limited results, however. Yahooligans is an option also, as a person "hand picks" all of the sites and approves them for searching. However, the site has games and a lot of advertising.

Check with your school librarian to see if your system subscribes to online databases. Online databases are not just for your oldest students, and you can find resources for the primary grades if you need that. The info will have been published in magazines and/or newspapers which should be enough of a filter for age appropriate content. 

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to tell you how I am using online databases with my students.



Tue, 12/18/2007 - 9:59pm
neene
Posts: 38

Most search engines offer a child centered component.  Instead of ask.com encourage students to go to ajkids.com.  It's the same company just a filtered version.  Also thinkfinity.com from Verizon is a wonderful search engine tool.

 

Here is a link to an article on Search Engine Watch:

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156191 



Wed, 12/19/2007 - 12:20am
mantzd
Posts: 19

USD 405 Lyons, Kansas uses just Google at this time for safe searching.  We have been able to work with our ISP as they have an agreement with Google to keep the searches safe.  Have you attempted the advanced search on Google and use the safe feature?

--

Dean Mantz

USD376, Sterling, Kansas

STAR DE and Kansas Leadership Team Member



Sun, 12/23/2007 - 1:00am
Ktingly
Posts: 3

I use Google with my students. For example, when we research biomes I have my students type Biomes k12.  Google has a lot of excellent sites for students and is a fantastic search engine.  I used Yahooligans in the past but they recently changed their layout and has a lot of games and advertisements.  My students get easily distracted so I do not use this site often.  Also, try www.goodsearch.com



Sat, 06/07/2008 - 4:23pm
catwalkermi
Posts: 7

I've had the same problem with my school. I did some research and found a few that are really good and appropriate. I posted them on my website. Check it out and hopefully it'll be what you're looking for! If you go 1/2 way down the page, there's a section called "I'm ready to start searching online..."

http://www.steveandcat.net/mrswalker/research_reports.htm

--

Cathy Walker

4th Grade Teacher

Oak Grove YR Elementary

Raleigh, NC

DEN STAR Educator

www.steveandcat.net/mrswalker