Anna Maranise

EDC 257: 21st Century Learning

M1A1 Search Tools Analysis

29 March 2020

Search Tools Analysis and Comparison

Table 1 This chart documents the number of hits returned by a search engine or website to a given search phrase.
Vertical Axes: Search Phrase; Horizontal Axes: Website used to complete search.

Google Kiddle Kidz Search Kidtopia

jellyfish 53,000,000 16,500,000 Hits 34,000,000 Hits 14 Hits

Hits

immortal jellyfish 1,270,000 1,780,000 Hits 1,100,000 Hits 9 Hits

Hits

immortal jellyfish + grade 183,000 Hits 154,000 Hits 96,800 Hits 5 Hits

immortal jellyfish + grade 2,680 Hits 0 Hits 1,370 Hits 2 Hits

4 + site:edu

immortal jellyfish + grade 18,000 Hits 0 Hits 6,950 Hits 2 Hits

4 + location + filetype:pdf

I used search terms that would help me find educational information about jellyfish

which was relevant to a group of 4th graders. I started with jellyfish in general, then narrowed

down to the immortal jellyfish, followed by searching for information for grade 4, for .edu sites

only, for information about locations of these jellyfish, and for .pdf documents. As expected,
narrowing down the search terms resulted in fewer and fewer hits, though I was surprised that

searching for a filetype, even with more specific parameters, returned more results than

searching for a .edu site.

In general, the results from Google were laid out the best in terms of design, at least for

my adult eyes. However, all three other sites had an image for every search result, which might

be preferable to children. I found the ads on Kiddle and KidzSearch particularly intrusive, as

they took up almost the whole screen when the results first loaded and required a user to scroll

past them to actually access the results of the search. However, on Kiddle, at least, they were

separated into a grey box and clearly marked. On the KidzSearch website they could easily be

mistaken for search results. These ads were relevant to the search, but not necessarily the best

results to use.

Depending on what the purpose of a search is, there are different benefits to using each

search site. For the most part, using Google returns the most results. In terms of quantity, this

does not really matter, because when thousands or millions of hits are available, there is no way

to utilize them all. However, Google casts a broad net, and pulls information from places that the

other search sites avoid. Kiddle seems to filter out certain results, only providing kid friendly,

and more likely to be legitimate search results. It is not exactly clear how KidzSearch works. It

seemed to show many of the same results as Google, but in a different order. It is “kid-friendly”

in that it filters out inappropriate content, but its functionality does not seem to be superior to

using Google with safe search turned on.

KidTopia is the most unique of the three child-focused search engines, returning tens of

results where the others provide millions. This makes the site limited in its usefulness, however,

all of the results were relevant to the search terms. This site could, therefore, be very useful to
students who are likely to get off track or become overwhelmed with too many options. It could

also be used in teaching children to use search engines, or in running certain exercises where the

teacher wants to be able to anticipate the possible search results that students might come up

with.

Also notable is the fact that Google brings up a Wikipedia article at or near the first result

for almost every search phrase. This can be problematic or useful depending on what is being

searched for and how well a user understands Wikipedia. Though this site is often dismissed as

being misleading or non-factual, this is not entirely true. Wikipedia is monitored and maintained

by dedicated editors, and it is an excellent source of information when used correctly. It is true

that it should not be used as a final source, but it is very useful for developing an initial

understanding of a topic. Because Wikipedia requires citations, it can also provide some options

for more legitimate and peer-reviewed sources. However, Wikipedia should only be used in this

way by those who understand its shortcomings and potential pitfalls. Therefore, for students who

may rely too much on Wikipedia, using a website such as Kiddle or KidTopia that do not seem

to display results from this website might be a better option.

It is extremely important that children learn to use search engines effectively. In the 21st

century, most research that they will do throughout their educational, and perhaps professional,

careers will be conducted online. Therefore, they must learn how to retrieve relevant results, how

searching on a database, a themed search site like KidTopia, or a general search engine like

Google differ from one another, and how to properly vet information that they find. Learning

how to use good keywords, Boolean phrases, and in some instances, filters will help students to

narrow down their results and find information more efficiently. Using search engines correctly

is not just important for academic research either. Search engines, especially Google, are
integrated into and deeply connected to the everyday lives of most people in contemporary times.

They can help people with common tasks like cooking dinner, changing a tire, washing a certain

type of fabric, and many, many other topics that someone might have questions about. As great a

resource as they can be, however, they can deliver misleading information without an

understanding of how to efficiently seek out information and how to determine what information

is factual and high quality. It is imperative that students understand that for the most part search

engines are aggregators of information rather than curators. They provide access to a wide

variety of sources, but do not offer an assessment of the quality of those sources.