Google as an Instructional Search Engine

Welcome back for more about Google!

I have been using google for a long time now, and I imagine that many of you, if not all, use it as well. I open Google when I need to search for different topics, pictures, books, places, and more. But when I think about how my students can use Google search in a way they understand what they are doing and get what they need, it always concerns me. Even though Google makes searching straightforward, we need to remember that word choices and order are highly relevant to the results, and even when doing it right, we might end up getting undesirable content. That has probably happened multiple times to all of us.

I know it has happened to me. I was in the middle of a vocabulary lesson with my adult ESL students when one of them asked me if I could quickly find a particular picture for a word that he couldn’t translate in his own language. I was so engaged with the lesson and excited to show them how useful google search is that I didn’t think about what the possible outcome of that search could have been, and I quickly did it. I cannot explain my embarrassment when the results were showing explicit images using a common word. I had to quickly scroll down to find a more appropriate picture while everybody was laughing and my face was turning even redder. In the end, my students understood the meaning of it, but for me, this was a reminder of how important it is to be proactive by educating ourselves first to have better results later.

Going back to Google search, because in instructional setting things can go very well or very wrong in a second while working on the internet, it is always a good idea to take some time to revise what we know and what our learners should be aware of. I also think that it is essential to use different ways of delivering this type of instruction. I mean, that it is not only visual, but exploring other types of learning styles so all learners can have access to the same information.
So getting further in this topic, I found that the Google educational team has posted a series of instructional videos to prepare professionals in a variety of subjects to help to get the best out of our search, which are very detailed and fulfill many questions and concerns. In one of the videos, the authors suggest that it is critical to stop for a second and think what are you really looking for and search for your answer instead of for your question. It was also pointed out that just by typing your keywords is not enough. They recommend using the left side bar to refine your search even more. I found this last suggestion very helpful and I wanted to use it, but it was not accessible on my computer by using Safari or Google Chrome. Instead, I found right below the search bar a button called Tools that will open a drop-down menu from where you can select specific search criteria. There is also the Advanced Search link where you can specify what are you looking for when the Tools one doesn't give you the options you want. If you try this, please let me know if you could see the left-side column with the option of color and more and what did you do to access to it.

Here is the link to a series of videos about google search:
https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/insidesearch/searcheducation/training.html


While searching for interesting information in this particular site (written in the above line), I also found that there are much more tools for educators and learners that can frequently be performed in the classroom using Google search. In the lesson plan section, for example, there is a variety of activities to engage students in learning about the culture, geography, history, and science according to their level of literacy.  These activities, which they call “A Google a Day Challenge ” drive students through a set of instructions to help them to get to the bottom of their research for a particular question. These activities involve background knowledge, hints, how to find answers, more information with further questions, and follow up questions and more activities.

I think that this hands-on tool can enhance the way students search and will defiantly teach them to use Google search more efficiently.  Here is the address for the A Google a Day Challenges https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html. I also attached below a couple of short videos that give a better explanation of what A Google a Day activities do and look like and a couple of PDFs that can be very handy.

Effective Googling
http://www.umsl.edu/~naumannj/Geography%20PowerPoint%20Slides/learning%20and%20study%20skills/Effective%20Googling.pps.

Better Searches. Better Results.
http://www.codlrc.org/sites/default/files/Google%20Better%20Searches.pdf

Overall I think that learning should be happening all the time and this is very possible using Google search. Once learners learn new things, they will take them back home, to friends, other teachers, and more.

And lastly, write a comment with your questions, ideas, additions to this topic and own experiences. I can’t wait to connect with you and learn more!

Thank you.

Kennia