Google for teens and students

October 9, 11:32 AMNY Parenting Teens ExaminerJennifer Wagner

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the NY Parenting Teens Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Teenagers today spend a great deal of time online. Although many teens may have excellent skills in downloading music and Instant Messaging, in many other ways they are not very Internet savvy. This is especially the case when it comes to using search engines.

Google has made online search very easy. By offering a simple box that only requires a word or two to be entered, few people other than researchers and librarians realize that they can get much better results with more refined searches. While this might not be important to the average person, it should be important to teens. They are still in school and need good research skills for reports and projects. Also, as this group of millennials that grew up on computers enters the work force, they will be expected to be computer savvy, and this includes being skilled in online search techniques.

There are websites that aim  to help teens and students learn better search skills. The Google Guide for Teens is a great cheat sheet of examples of advanced searches. What differentiates the Teen guide from Google's "Search Features" page is that it uses examples that teens can relate to. The Teen Guide also includes a link at the bottom to a page of Google Exercises for Teens.

Google also offers its own resources to help students. Google Education Resources has links to websites to aid students, educators and administrators. One of the best ways for students to keep current is with the Google Student Blog.  There is also a link to Google Scholar which is a great place for students to search when working on academic papers. 

If teens are going to learn to search effectively, search skills need to be a part of the high school and college curriculum. Teachers and professors need to excel at these skills and pas them on to their students. Google for Educators and the Google Teacher Academy are great places for them to begin.

See also:
Homework help website for NYC students
Wounded by School - Are outdated school policies hurting our children