The 21st century education is all about cultivating such important skills as critical thinking and digital skills. Technology has radically transformed the way we teach and knowledge is no longer stored primarily in print. There is now much more knowledge online than you would find in all libraries of the world taken together. To tap into the potential of this vast repertoire of online resources, our students definitely need a bit of instruction on how to effectively use web search techniques to search for academic sources. They need to be taught how to fish instead of being given a fish everyday. In short, we have to teach them how to be independent learners.
Google Search Education has all the materials you need to help your students become skilled searchers, whether they are just starting out with search or ready for advanced training.
Here is what it has to offer you :
1- Lesson Plans
These are a series of lessons to help you guide your students to use search meaningfully in their school work and beyond. This page is composed of two main parts :
A- Google A Day Classroom Challenges :
These challenges help your students put their search skills to the test and get them motivated about the use of technology in their learning.
B- Search Literacy Lessons
These lessons help you meet the Common Core State Standards and are broken down based on level of expertise in search : Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced. Among the lessons it provides are :
- Picking the right search terms
- Understanding search results
- Narrowing a search to get the best results
- Searching for evidence for research tasks
- Evaluating credibility of sources
2- Live Trainings
This page has a great set of webinars ideal for you and your students. I have spent several hours watching most of them and I am amazed by the wealth of information they provide. They will help you improve your own search skills and learn how to bring search literacy to your school. Here is an example of a great webinar I have watched about Google search skills
I highly recommend that you check the resources mentioned above and introduce them to your students to help them be the independent learners and critical thinkers we want them to be . Don't forget to share with your colleagues and if you have suggestions or additions please share with us below.