Mr. Walker's Technology Blog

Archive for the ‘Internet Search’ Category

Sweet Search For Me (http://www.sweetsearch4me.com) is a new search engine specifically designed for k-8 students. While there have been many other search engines specifically geared for elementary school students  Sweetsearch4me is taking a more focused approach. Here is an explanation taken directly from their site:

“SweetSearch4Me searches only Web sites that our staff of research experts, librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved as high-quality content appropriate for young users. Only the best sites directed at elementary school students are included, and many of the results on the first page were created exclusively for kids. SweetSearch4Me was released in beta in late June 2010. We plan to spend the summer further evaluating and fine-tuning its results, and will formally release it in September 2010.”

The website seems to be promising. I did some test searches and was happy with the results that I received. The site also uses YOLINK services. This is a very unique approach to Internet searching and research. I was recently introduced to YOLINK. I will be testing it over the next couple of weeks. I hope to share my results in a blog posting shortly.

I would be happy to hear your opinions of this new search engine.

Enjoy!

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WolframAlpha is the next generation in search engines. I have found this site to be one of the most useful tools available on the Internet.  It  is a computational search engine.

What this means is that this search engine can compute just about anything. The program is so sophisticated that it can query almost any computation using natural language. You can “just ask a question”. You will not only get your answer, but you will see the steps to solve it as well as all other pertinent or relevant information related to your question.

Does this sound confusing. The best way to learn about the power of this website is to watch this demo video made by its creator.   Sit back and enjoy this clip. I am confident you will be amazed!

Wolfram Alpha can be used quite extensively in Education. Math and Science students can use the engine to help solve math problems, learn the step to solve a problem, and gather data for research.

This search engine separates itself from GOOGLE in that it delivers the answers and data you are looking for. It does not just list a page of search results that you  sift through to find what you are looking for. As I mentioned, it is a computational search engine. That means it has access to endless amounts of data to pair with its algorithms. At the bottom of all of  your search results you will find a link to sources. These are the sources that are used to complete the computations. Whether it is historical weather data or us census numbers, the sources of data are right at your fingertips.

There is so much that I could write about Wolfram Alpha. Stay tuned for more postings.  In the meantime, take a look at the video and start exploring.

Enjoy!

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