Blog on helping elementary students develop their search skills

I followed a link from

http://21cif.com/

to a blog post about ways to provide elementary students with search experiences that are well suited to helping them develop their skills. It's at
http://internetsearchchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/10/for-elementary-students-challenge-is.html

One big challenge for younger students is vocabulary. On average there are 5 words to describe an object or action, so it's common not to initially think of the same one that the author used. Younger students may have trouble thinking of lots of synonyms. Also, 2-word searches are much more effective than one-word searches, but can also lead you astray faster if you don't pick the "right" two words.

Older students often don't try looking for different keywords either, though.

You can create a "stocked pond" for kids to practice in using Nettrekker.com or creating a custom search engine. They will have an "authentic" search experience with a high likelihood of success.