Great Reading: Bookmark It!
Volume 31, Number 5, June 2004
Ken Haycock
Kids’ Search Engines:
The Best for Grades 4-10
--excerpted with permission from The Neal-Schuman Authoritative
Guide to Kids’ Search Engines, Subject Directories,
and Portals, by Ken Haycock, Michele Dober, and Barbara
Edwards. Neal-Schuman, 2003. 1-55570-451-4.
Ranked alphabetically Best
Help/Search Instructions
ranked by number of stars and then alphabetically
Very
Good
Ask Jeeves for Kids
Fact Monster
Tek Mom
Good
Bigchalk
Internet Detectives
KidsClick!
Keyword Searching
Ask
Jeeves for Kids
Awesome
Library
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Bigchalk
Cool Network
Cybersleuth Kids
Discovery School
Fact
Monster
Homework
Planet
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
KidsClick!
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Lycos Zone
Tek
Mom
Yahooligans
Boolean Searching
Awesome
Library
Homework
Planet
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
Kid
Info
KidsClick!
Lycos
Zone
Hierarchical Subject Headings
Awesome
Library
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Bigchalk
Cool
Network
Cybersleuth
Kids
Fact
Monster
Great
Web Sites for Kids from ALA (Formerly 700+ Great
Sites from ALA)
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
Kid
Info
KidsClick!
Kids Konnect
Lycos
Zone
Yahooligans
Natural Language Searching
Ask
Jeeves for Kids
Awesome
Library
Bigchalk
Discovery
School
Internet
Detectives
Kid
Info
KidsClick!
Tek
Mom
Yahooligans
Advanced Searching Options
Awesome
Library
·
limiting to “star-rated” or highly rated
sites
· searching in following languages: Spanish, Italian, French,
German, Portuguese
Bigchalk
· limiting by grade
Fact
Monster
· limiting results by format: lesson plan, online course,
video, book, etc.
Internet
Detectives
· option to search within the Internet Detective site or
within the Madison Metropolitan School District site
· searching by subject heading
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
· limiting by length of record
· automatic truncation
KidsClick!
· truncation (using *)
· limiting by field: all fields, subject, title and description
· limiting by reading level
· limiting by number of illustrations: some or no pictures,
some pictures, many pictures
· searching by Dewey Decimal number
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Depending
on the search tool selected:
· limiting by reading level and by number of illustrations
via Kids Click!
·
searching within ThinkQuest Junior database or Tomorrow’s
Teachers via the ThinkQuest Library.
Lycos
Zone
· limiting results to a specific reference source
· limiting search to type of source: encyclopedia, almanac,
atlas, dictionary, photos, rhyme zone
Tek
Mom
Not specified – depending on the engine or search
tool used
Ease of Navigation through Different Layers
ranked by number of stars and then alphabetically
Very Good
Cybersleuth
Kids
Fact
Monster
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
Good
Ask Jeeves
for Kids
Awesome
Library
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Cool
Network
Discovery
School
Great
Web Sites for Kids from ALA (Formerly 700+ Great
Sites from ALA)
Homework
Planet
Internet
Detectives
KidsClick!
Yahooligans
Display Consistency through Different Layers
ranked by number of stars and then alphabetically
Very Good
Cool
Network
Cybersleuth
Kids
Great
Web Sites for Kids from ALA (Formerly 700+ Great
Sites from ALA)
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
KidsClick!
Good
Awesome
Library
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Discovery
School
Fact
Monster
Homework
Planet
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom
Yahooligans
Documentation for Sites Retrieved
URL
Cybersleuth
Kids
Great
Web Sites for Kids from ALA (Formerly 700+ Great
Sites from ALA)
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
KidsClick!
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Source
Fact
Monster
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Content Description
Awesome
Library
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Cool
Network
Cybersleuth
Kids
Discovery
School
Fact
Monster
Great
Web Sites for Kids from ALA (Formerly 700+ Great
Sites from ALA)
Homework
Planet
Internet
Detectives
Internet
Public Library KidSpace
Internet
Public Library TeenSpace
Kid
Info
KidsClick!
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Lycos
Zone
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Yahooligans
Rating
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Cybersleuth
Kids
Discovery
School
Homework
Planet
Internet
Detectives
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Yahooligans
Reading Level
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Homework
Planet
KidsClick!
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Lycos
Zone (reading levels only available for subject
browse results)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
File Size
Berit’s
Best Sites for Children
Internet
Detectives
Kid
Info
Kids
Search Tools (depending on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
File Type
Kid Info
Kids
Search Tools (depending
on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Date
Internet
Detectives
Kids Search
Tools (depending
on the search tool selected)
Tek
Mom (depending on the search
tool selected)
Best Documentation
Quality of Documentation for Ownership, Selection and
Privacy Policy
ranked by number of stars and then alphabetically
Very Good
Awesome Library
Internet
Detectives
Internet Public Library KidSpace
Internet Public Library TeenSpace
KidsClick!
Yahooligans
Good
Ask Jeeves
for Kids
Berit’s Best
Sites for Children
Fact
Monster
Homework Planet
--excerpted with permission from The Neal-Schuman Authoritative
Guide to Kids’ Search Engines, Subject Directories,
and Portals, by Ken Haycock, Michele Dober, and Barbara
Edwards. Neal-Schuman, 2003. 1-55570-451-4. |
