When early and middle childhood students
begin to search for their own resources using the Internet,
the best place for them to start is with one of the directories
that select material suitable for their literacy levels and
understanding.
It is important that students develop effective
search strategies. Teachers must also
provide adequate supervision and take steps to minimise risk
of student exposure to unsuitable material.
Directories, rather than true search engines, are particularly
suited to children in the Early Childhood and Middle Childhood
phases of development. The following directories are all relatively
easy to use and sites have been preselected for suitability
for this age group:
- Ask
Jeeves for Kids!
Ask Jeeves for Kids! allows
young users to ask complete questions using plain
English. Preselected and filtered sites are used to
ensure safety.
- KidsClick!
An attractive, easy-to-use directory
for students in the 7-12 age range. Provides links
to other kids’ search tools.
- KidSpace
@ The Internet Public Library
Part of the larger Internet
Public Library site, KidSpace contains
preselected sites grouped by subject as well as a
number of special features that support areas of interest
to young students, teachers and parents.
- Yahooligans!
Yahooligans! is a searchable,
browsable index of the Internet designed for Web surfers
ages 7 to 12. Only sites judged appropriate for this
age group are chosen.
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Because image searching on many popular search
engines may lead to misleading, unexpected or inappropriate
results it is better for younger searchers to use pre-selected
image collections such as those featured below.
- Kids
Image Search Tools
Part of the Kid’s Click!
site, this page provides links to a number of general
image collections and special image databases.
- North
Chadderton School Global Community Gallery
A gallery of images, organised by topic such as fossils,
science, and butterflies. There are 21 albums in total,
containing almost 1,400 images which can be used freely
for non-profit, educational purposes.
- Pics4Learning
Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly
image library for teachers and students, consisting
of thousands of images that have been donated by teachers,
students and amateur photographers.
- Picture
Australia
PictureAustralia lets you
search a range of Australian image collections, regardless
of where they are located.
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For teachers and more experienced students wanting to use a
search engine, try:
- Google
Clear, uncluttered interface, easy
to use and consistently relevant results make this
an ongoing favourite.
- AllTheWeb
Streamlined interface, ease of
use and added features make this a close runner-up
to Google.
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CMIS
Internet Gateways
The CMIS Internet Gateways site provides links to major
portals for education, government, news and generalities.
These links have been selected as some of the best starting
points for teachers to locate useful information on the
web. |
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| Search Tools |
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| Directories |
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| Image Search |
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| Search Engines |
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| Internet Gateways |
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