wolframalpha.com- This little engine is phenomenal. As far as educational searches go, this will permanently be my go to. One simple search, such as 700,012,343 feet to meters led not only to the actual conversion but also comparisons as radius... (i.e. approximately 3.5 x Saturn equatorial radius). As far as searches to advise students to use wolframalpha.com takes the gold.
bing.com- A search engine similar to Google in design. It allows you to search the web in seconds. It is not the most ideal search engine but is one to keep on the back burner if all else fails.
Blekko.com- Blekko seems to be a safer search provider. They strive to eliminate what they call "content farms". Assuming that means that you will receive a more reliable search parameter. They are a fairly new company, one that i hope will become more popular in time.
Education.iseek.com- This engine is targeted for students and educators. A simple vague search of history brings up the definition of history itself, along with websites for state history websites even the Smithsonian. It even allows you to narrow your searches though folder tabs on the left hand side of the screen that show the searches and groups them into similarities. These tabs can be and will show only the selected topics or grade levels.
refseek.com- refseek allows you to both search the web but also serves as a research engine. A simple search of a research topic for one of my classes "1918 Soviet Constitution" brings 109,000 results, of the ones on the first page, only two are wiki pages. All of the other sources are university sites, political science forums or blogs, and even the marxists website itself.
For teachers and students alike this is an ideal engine.
sweetsearch.com- Sweet search targets students. They provide multiple sites that help with teaching students research skills, helping students learn something new every day, and biographies for 1,000 significant people. They survey every site that the engine browses through, and ensures that they are credible sites. For the up and coming researcher, I feel this will be an asset for both the teachers but also the students.
Federal Registry for Educational Excellence - The federal registry uses government databases along will bringing up special organizations. Using a simple search of "history", it brings up similar responses as many other engines, yet adds all government sources. Once result was an oral history of the U.S. Congress. These increased resources are targeted for education. Also, another benefit was not having to see Wikipedia in the results.
Virtual Learning Resources Center- VLRC is describes themselves as "Index(ing) thousands of the best academic information websites, selected by teachers and library professionals worldwide, in order to provide to students and teachers current, valid information for school and university academic projects." Just another search database to add to a "PLN" in assisting students in their scholarly research.
Each of these are great resources to be added to everyone's "PLN" simply as an alternative to the uncontrollable size of Google.
No comments:
Post a Comment