National Endowment for the Humanities
In Her Shoes: Lois Weber and the Female Filmmakers Who Shaped Early Hollywood
Lois Weber has been forgotten. So have Dorothy Davenport Reid, Gene Gauntier, and many others. High school sleuths use advanced search engines to investigate these women and discover clues to their disappearance from filmography and...
California Department of Education
Evaluating Web Sites
If it's on the Internet, it must be true—right? How can someone tell if a website contains less-than-truthful information? Savvy surfers evaluate sources in the fifth of a six-part college and career readiness instructional activity...
Curated OER
Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies
Transform your class into a butterfly museum! Research different types of butterflies, their habitat, and life cycle. Interactive components such as PowerPoint presentations, Claymation movies, and webpages add pizzaz to the museum...
Curated OER
In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash
Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...
Curated OER
Lights! Cameras! Action!: Creating a Drama About the Lyme Art Colony
Discuss the lives of artists in the Lyme Art Colony in the 1900s with this resource. Young historians write and perform a short scene depicting individuals who lived in the Griswold boardinghouse, used by the colony artists. They use the...
Curated OER
Ecuadorian Rainforest
Have your class talk about the importance of the rainforest and the products that come from it. Learners watch a video showing the path of chocolate from the rainforest to the supermarket. They discuss how the rainforest and chocolate...
K20 LEARN
Unlocking Answers: Keys to Great Research
Successful searches for information require more than just a device with Google access. Young researchers learn how to use keywords and hashtags, as well as how to evaluate sources and how to paraphrase without plagiarizing in a fun...
Newseum
Quick Skim or Deep Dive? Picking the Right Search Strategy
To search online to find answers to some questions requires only a quick skim, while others demand deep research. Scholars engage in a lesson that teaches them the difference and how to craft questions that produce the best online search...
Newseum
Search Boosters: How Content Creators Can Game the System
Scholars examine the techniques content creators use to boost their search rankings. After watching a short "Search Boosters" video, groups select a story from the "News or Noise? Media Map" and analyze the devices used in the story. The...
Newseum
Search Signals: Understanding Your Top Hits
Class members watch a short video about the criteria used to drive search results to learn about how search engines work. Scholars use a "Search Signals" worksheet and a tip sheet to record information as they conduct a simple search of...
Teaching Tolerance
Understanding Online Searches
Discover what's behind an online search. Scholars read a handout and engage in discussions to learn how to critically evaluate online search results. Then, working in small groups, they create posters listing their demands for search...
Teaching Tolerance
Understanding How Digital Information Comes to You
Google, Yahoo!, Bing ... so many choices, so little time! Using the resource, scholars explore how different search engines affect the way they find information. After reading a handout on the topic and engaging in small group...
Beauty and Joy of Computing
Search Engines
Which search engine is best? The last lab in a unit of five leads the class to investigate search engines. Working in groups, individuals read and discuss articles related to searching the Internet. Pupils develop suggestions that would...
TryEngineering
Search Engines
Introduce search engines with an activity that models how search engines work and the different algorithms they employ. Working in groups, class members then build search queries to demonstrate the knowledge learned.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 3
Ninth graders hone their research questions in a lesson focusing on accurate search engine techniques. Continuing a unit on inquiry-based learning based on Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, the lesson guides learners through the...
Computer Science Unplugged
Battleships—Searching Algorithms
How does a computer perform a search in order to find data? The lesson begins with a demonstration on finding one number out of 15. Pairs then play three games of Battleship by using different search techniques. The lesson plan finishes...
BBC
Getting Online One Click at a Time
The Internet is a vast and fascinating place to be, but you have to know how to get there first! Use a helpful guide to become computer savvy in no time. It covers computer basics such as keyboarding and hardware, and goes into e-mail,...
Google
Better Searches. Better Results.
Show your researchers how to get better results when using a search engine to find information with a template that models 10 search strategies. The suggestions explain what to type, what the search engines does, and what results users...
Curated OER
Where in the World is the Wide Web?
Sixth graders investigate how the web works and how to search effectively. In this Internet use lesson plan, 6th graders brainstorm positive and negative experiences they have had while on the Internet. Students view two web sites to...
Curated OER
The Hatfield and McCoy Feud
Learners explore West Virginia history with regard to Mountain and Appalachian Culture. They compare and contrast life now with life 100-150 years ago. They write and illustrate a short story about the life of children 100-150 years ago....
Curated OER
Consumerism Scavenger Hunt
In this social studies worksheet, students discover how to be an informed consumer by first reading 10 questions pertaining to marketing, advertising and purchasing choices. Students use Internet searches to find the answers. There are...
Curated OER
Summer of the Monkeys
While reading the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, the class ties together the core reading objectives, which are making predictions, comprehending new information, reading for author's purpose, independence in reading, and...
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
Keyword Searching
Sure, most kids know how to navigate the Internet, but do they know how to gather information pertinent to their research topic? Distribute this worksheet to help them gain an understanding of keywords and how to use them to search for...