Using the Internet to find information
Students first carry out an Internet search to find web sites that would be helpful to answer specific
questions about a science topic. In the second part of the activity, students refine their search using
a Boolean-style approach, outlined in the briefing sheet. The students then complete a related
homework task.
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
•
use basic search techniques to find web
sites relating to a topic
•
evaluate the usefulness and reliability of
different web sites as a suitable source
of information on a particular topic
•
apply Boolean-style operators to narrow
a search, with a view to identifying
more useful sites
students to refine their skills in the area of
internet searching, with a view to improving
their efficiency and helping them to find more
relevant information. It would be helpful to
discuss criteria to use in evaluating the
usefulness of web sites.
2 Students do Internet searches to find sources
of information to answer three questions which
they have identified. They find three web sites
and evaluate them.
30 minutes plus homework
3 Students join up to discuss their evaluations as
described on the briefing sheet. This should be
followed by a class discussion on search
methods. You could issue briefing sheet 2 at this
point to revise the use of ‘+’, ‘–’ and ‘OR’
Boolean-style operators to help to narrow
searches. (This is covered in ‘The Information
Revolution’)
Outline of the activity
4 Students continue to work in pairs to refine
their search.
•
extract information from web sites to
answer specific questions.
Time required
This task provides students with the opportunity
to refine their skills at Internet searching by
providing them with tools to evaluate web sites
and refine searches using ‘Boolean operators’
(link words which combine multiple search
terms).
There is a table on briefing sheet 1 for students
to consider the usefulness of a particular web
site. The following points for discussion may be
useful when considering reliability.
Reliability of the author – Who is the author?
What is the professional background of the
author? What year was the information written?
Reliability of publisher – What is the purpose of
the web site? Is it to persuade or to inform? Who
are the target audience?
Tips and strategies
At Post-16, many students will
already be familiar with the use of the
Internet for researching information on key
vocabulary. But without specific teaching
and learning activities, they may not do this
thoughtfully and efficiently. Most students
will need guidance in intelligent selection
and concise re-interpretation of material.
Draw students’ attention to the ‘Advanced
Search’ button in Google, Google Scholar,
Google Images and The Advanced Google
Operators web page.
1 Introduce the task as an opportunity for
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Using the Internet to find information: briefing sheet 1
In this activity you will evaluate some web sites used in your research.
Part 1 Evaluating web sites
1 In your group, agree three questions that you would like to know the answer to. These should
relate to your current topic of study in Science in Society.
2 You have 2 minutes to find three web sites which are sources of information that can help
answer the questions. You can do this individually or in pairs. Write down the web site URLs
below.
Site 1: _____________________________________________________________
Site 2: _____________________________________________________________
Site 3: _____________________________________________________________
3 You are now going to evaluate the usefulness of these web sites according to the criteria in
the table. Rank each site where 1 = Most useful, 3 = Least useful.
Criteria
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Reliability of the author
Reliability of the publisher
Whether the information is subject to independent checks
Presentation of the information (simple/sophisticated)
Presence of distracting clutter
Usefulness of links to related information
Relevance of the information to the question
Amount of irrelevant information
Amount of interesting issues that are not the main point
Ease of access
Visual appeal
Requires little prior knowledge
Date of last update
Level of difficulty of the information
Total score:
_____ _____ _____
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Using the Internet to find information: briefing sheet 1
4 Join up with the other students in your group and discuss your evaluation of the web sites you
found. Take a look at each others’ web sites, and discuss the approach you took to searching for
them.
In your group, agree your top three web sites for the topic you are studying. How well do they
serve your particular purpose?
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Using the Internet to find information: briefing sheet 2
Activity
1 Use a Boolean technique to narrow your search on web sites which will help answer the
questions you identified in Part 1. When your search returns fewer than 10 records, have a look
in more detail at each one.
2 Discuss with your partner whether these are more useful than the web sites you found earlier.
You don’t need to complete another table, but refer to the criteria used before.
3 In your group, allocate one person to research each of the following. After 5 minutes, each
student should feed back to the group to demonstrate how these can improve the accuracy of
your searching.
i. Google Advanced Search techniques. Allocate two students to this area, so you can cover a
specific technique such as ‘inurl’ and the general advanced search page.
ii. Google Scholar
iii. Google Images
4 Identify which web site is the most useful of those you have looked at. Make notes so you are
ready to discuss with the class how you found the site, and what made you decide that this was
the most useful.
5 Discuss other techniques which can be used to narrow your searches.
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