In the ever-expanding universe of information, educators have the ability share the secrets of Google search functions with their students before they blindly accept the information provided by any random and biased source. These tools can help young researchers narrow down information by timeframe, discover diverse perspectives, track language trends, and even travel back in time to pre-internet newspaper articles. By mastering these functions, students can reliably find research and refine their knowledge.
With specific Google search functions, students can find helpful results from a specific time frame using the "Tools" feature. It's like a time-turner for research, ensuring they find the most relevant information for their projects, whether from current sources, or exploring how information may have shifted across the timeline.The "Google News Archive" also holds a treasure trove of pre-internet newspaper articles. Students can dig deep into history, unearthing stories and firsthand accounts from a time when the internet didn't exist. And, with the help of the "Google Ngram Viewer," students can witness the evolution of language right before their eyes. They can see graphs that reveal the rise and fall of vocabulary trends over time.
Besides simply researching using Google's time-revealing tools, with the "Advanced Search" option, students can uncover unique perspectives from across the globe. It's like teleporting to a whole new dimension of knowledge, where diverse viewpoints await. With this new knowledge of the tools at hand, I believe that it is our duty as educators to explore the power of Google search functions for ourselves, and to create scaffolds for our students to know how to use these functions in their own research. This will not only allow them to be successful researches in our specific classes, but will also empower them to be resourceful researchers for the rest of their lives.
(With support from Generative AI)
Here's the thing....schools/districts spent a lot of money on databases for students to use so they have access to "trusted sources". However...away from school and when you're in a crunch you go to Google. So helping students to understand how to use the information they have access to is critical and it's on all of us in every class ever grade level to make sure they have the skills to (re)search.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed to be learning about all these tools for the first time as a graduate student! I cannot imagine how effective this would have been for my high school and especially undergraduate learning experience. I'm really not old but it's making me feel old for sure. I was also really fascinated by the ability to grab from other perspectives around the world. I would have probably never discovered that on my own.
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