Well SweetSearch (http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=Sweetsearch), a fantastic Web 2.0 tool, helps to alleviate many of the violations students commit plus serves as a valued source of information that has been culled just for students. Thousands of websites have been highly ranked for easy accessibility by researchers and librarians who continuously examine them to determine their suitability on the SweetSearch search engine.
To test how well the site worked, my kids and I searched topics that they are researching in school. I even searched for material that I am covering in class with my students. In every case, not only did we find information that was extremely helpful, but the resources were student friendly. My son is researching the freezing points of liquids for a science fair project. For a week, we have searched Google and could only get basic information on the topic, college level research or Wikipedia Answers. Well on SweetSearch, not only were we able to find what we needed fast, but the text was kid friendly and I didn’t have to translate dense language to a 10-year-old. How sweet is that? Especially when I have my own homework to do at Full Sail.
The “sweetest” thing about this search engine is the number of specialized searches it has for its users from daily searches, to “sweet sites” for teachers, students and librarians, to searches for social studies and biographies. Just a spoonful of SweetSearch will make the medicine of research most students scorn go down a whole lot easier.
Great idea,
ReplyDeleteWeb 2.0 tools and applications defined by Prof Rena Hanaway the instructor for Emergent Technologies In A Collaborative Culture, are the Web 2.0 tools and applications that have been developed, since approximately 2004, have allowed anyone to become a producer of information on the web and social participation to become the norm.
The opportunity for this social participation and collaboration I believe are changing the way we communicate, work and learn.
The use of the Sweetsearch for this assignment is wonderful. My previous experience as a teacher I would have encouraged my students to logging into Sweetsearch to research for classroom assignments.
The assignment was to use the tools that will work for you in your professional environment. I have to say this seems like a great tool that I would love to have used as a classroom teacher. I will pass this on to my sister who is currently teaching 2nd grade in Chicago.
I wish I had access to this when i was at DBI. It might have gotten these younguns some quality sources for their research and a few of them would not have failed for Plagiarism!
ReplyDeleteIshia,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! We do some research in my class, I have the same problem with vocabulary that the students do not understand. I am going to start using SweetSearch in my classroom. I especially like the right side of the page that shows in brief sentences or words exactly what is in the article so that you can see right away if is what you want instead of reading the entire article then finding out. Great time saver. Also, I like the related topic link, so if the student likes this article they can just click on the link and read another article without having to go back to main area. Thanks for sharing. How sweet it is.
Ishia, this is a great tool for basic research. I really like the way the subtopics are organized on a search, making it very easy for a student to quickly find exactly what they're looking for.
ReplyDeleteAs a part-time homeschooling parent, I look forward to using this tool with my kids for their research. Thanks!