Google Search: Advanced, Specialized, and Custom

The Search segment will focus on things such as being able to locate timely relevant research (when needed for research-based decision making), discovering news about the school, and having updates on important topics come to you (as a way to save precious time).
The Crib Sheets:
Search
Google News

Tutorials
Search Education Lessons by Google Certified Teachers
Classroom Activities

Great Stuff to Explore
Google Insights for Search
Bonus: Posters for your classroom.

Google Search Stories (YouTube) - Check our David Hay's Search Story
15 Second Search Tips Videos (from Google)

Google's search page allows you to get all kinds of information in all kinds of ways. Here are a few shortcuts hidden away in Google's system.

 weather Rapid City
  time in Kyoto, Japan
 movies 57701  dollars to yen
 chinese food 57701  GOOG
 define:ort  MacBook laptop $200..$400
 UA 144
  Denver Nuggets

Additional resources for search:
Activity/Discussion:

Time for the Google Scavenger Hunt! Click here to get the file in a format that will be happy on both PC's and Macs. Once home, feel free to print and share with your students. Need help? Check Google's Search Feature page.


Academic Search Tools:
Activity/Discussion:

With a partner, find a book in Books you would like students to have read before they graduate. Share what you two come up with with the other members of your team. Also take a few minutes to see what resources you can find that would help your students with research projects.


Getting Advanced

Google also makes it possible to filter results in ways that can be very helpful to students and teachers. There are language tools, ways to specify domain and file types, and some creative ways to look at results tied to related searches and timelines. Start with that little "Advanced Search" link to the right of the search field on the main page. Use what you find to try the following:
  1. Set your Google search page to French.
  2. Do a search that only taps the websites of universities. (Which universities did it check?)
  3. Find Power Point presentations on the Taj Mahal
For those moments when you want to know what terms commonly get searched with the one you're wielding at the moment, give the Wonder wheel a good look. Find it by doing a search, and then clicking on that "Show options" link you may never have noticed before:


Activity/Discussion:

Try both Wonder wheel and the Timeline options.  When might these be valuable for students?


Custom Search Engine:

Time to explore the Google Custom Search Engine.

Take a look at this custom search engine created by another GCT: Asian News

Activity/Discussion:

Would this be a good tool for what you teach? What sites would you include? How would you find related sites to add in the future?



Another Way to Look at Search Resources

Web Search
 Specialized Search
Multimedia Search
 More Search Tools for Teachers
Mobile Search
 The Printables

Extra Activities:
  1. Create news alerts for your school (or workplace) and your name.
  2. Searching Images by usage rights
  3. Language Tools for translating your materials into various languages


Google Teacher Academy Resources from Googler Dan Russel:

Google Presentation



Things to Check Out Later:

Google Presentation



More helpful videos:


Google Learning Institute* Resources from Google Certified Teachers:

0528_Search


*Note: The Google Workshop for Educators was previously called the Google Learning Institute.


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