Finding Information
7 Search Engines Part 1
Activity
Pick a search engine from the list below:
Bing OneSearch
Brave Qwant
DuckDuckGo Spotlight
Ecosia Startpage
Google Swisscows
MetaGer Yahoo!
- Are the search results as good as other engines you use regularly?
- What are the search engine’s sources? Is it dependent on other search engines for its results?
- Read the About us and Privacy Policy or Terms of Use pages.
- According to these pages, what does the company do with your data? Can you change the default privacy settings?
Once done, please have a look here for a brief description of each engine.
A search engine is the AI in your pocket. It is the most sophisticated use of Artificial Intelligence that most of us use regularly. The success of search engines is due to
- The explosion of content on the world wide web;
- A search engine’s capacity to make sense of this content and tag it for future searches (Indexing);
- Its capability to understand* what you are asking1;
- Its ability to show the most relevant content first (ranking).
AI algorithms power the three last factors.
Search engines – Knowledge Engines as some call them – have been successful in creating the illusion that everything in the world is on the web and that everything on the web is searchable2. This ready-to-serve knowledge, knowing and method of extending memory is transforming learning.
Search engines as learning and teaching tools
There are at least three ways in which search engines can help teachers and learners:
- Making it easy to find and verify information for use in lessons and tests. In this context, the meaning of information has undergone a big change in the last decade. As well as texts, audio, video, animation and even pieces of code are now easily accessible. So are search forums and digital repositories.
- Relieving the need for the teacher to be the sole source of knowledge. Teachers are now free to help hone skills, incite enquiry and resolve conflicts and doubts, if they so choose.
- Enabling students to do exploratory and project-based learning by opening up access to information. Students can access, sequence and derive their own meaning from information. This leads to learning that lasts and can be transferred to real-life situations3.
However, exploratory learning or any other kind of student led learning does not come easily. Students need help and scaffolding for many skills that go with searching for and putting together their own information sources3.
What to ask and how to ask it
Various studies in Europe and further afield show that students struggle to search the web efficiently and effectively3. They often get frustrated when their search turns up nothing or do not know how to assess the relevance of search outcomes4. Younger children seem to have four distinct difficulties in searching for information on computers: creating search queries, selecting an appropriate website from a search list, spelling search terms correctly and understanding