Just over two years ago, Google used the Super Bowl to highlight a very cool tool they had created called Search Story that used their Search feature to, well . . . tell a story. I spent a few minutes sharing how you might be able to use Search Story to help kids summarize all sorts of information and to discuss historical people, events, and ideas. I thought about how you could use it to create hook activities or have kids create end of unit type products.
The bad news? Google is no longer supporting Search Story.
Sigh.
But . . . they’ve created a replacement. Google’s latest fun tool called Story Builder is up and running.
It searches something like 97 bazillion web sites. Whatever you’re looking for is in there somewhere.
The bad news about Google search?
It searches something like 97 bazillion web sites. Whatever you’re looking for is in there somewhere.
Using Google can be a powerful tool but you and your students often spend way too much time trying to find what you’re looking for. The good news is that Google provides a variety of built-in search strategies that can assist in your search. These strategies deliver quality results while saving you time.
And recently Google has begun to dip its toe into the world of museum curation and archiving. I’ve posted some stuff about the awesome Wonder Wonders Project but Google has some other cool history/social studies related things going on:
I love Google stuff. For social studies people, tools like Google Earth and Google Tools for Educators are no-brainers. And it seems like their nerds are always coming out with something awesome.
Want to take a field trip to Independence Hall or the Palace of Versailles? Yeah, me too. But . . . it’s gonna be a little difficult getting admin approval on something like that. And so for the last few years, we’ve been using Google Earth to give kids at least a little bit of a sense of what these sorts of areas are like.
The project brings world heritage sites of the modern and ancient world online. Using Street View, 3D modeling, and other technologies, Google has made these amazing sites accessible to everyone across the globe. With advancements in camera technologies, Google can go off the beaten track to photograph some of the most significant places in the world so that anyone, anywhere can explore them. With videos, photos and in-depth information, you and your kids can now explore all sorts of very cool historical sites as if you were actually there.
So you can send your kids on virtual field trips where they get to “walk” around and through some very cool places using Street View technology. And with many sites, you also get additional info, videos, photos, and 3D images and buildings.
As teachers, we need to be providing historical context for kids and training them to analyze a wide variety of resources, including places. World Wonders provides a tool that helps us do that.
To give you even more help, the Google folks put together a very helpful Education page. You can find both elementary and secondary teacher guides as well as specific history and geography tools.
And just like that, the World Wonder Project is the latest Google non-brainer.
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But how did they do it? Go behind the scenes with cars, trikes, trains, boats, and cool technology.
No offense but your kids are doing it wrong. I’m just saying.
I’ve spent the last few months in a lot of social studies classrooms and I keep seeing the same thing. Kids who are wasting a lot of time searching for stuff. They can’t search effectively, ending up with results that aren’t useful.
Part of the problem is that we assume they know what they’re doing. The other part of the problem is that we hope they know what they’re doing cause we don’t have a clue. So teachers and students are banging around on the interwebs, grateful for whatever Google spits out.
And, yes, I know some teachers and kids who are search studs. But most struggle. We can do better. Start here – a quick article I put together for the TeachingHistory folks that outlines a few very simple things that can have a huge impact on your search results.
Then take yourself and your kids over to the very new, very cool, very useful Google Search Education site and get ready to learn some new skills.
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners.
With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers – whether they’re just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training.
Thanks for dropping by! I'm Glenn. I work as a curriculum specialist for ESSDACK , an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, and love talking about social studies and technology. Feel free to poke around!
