tech.life@school | Subscribe to services to help with searching

In the last column, we examined subject directories for children. Subject directories use human editors to select and organize Web documents for children. Here we examine two other searching options: search and metasearch tools and, the cream of the crop, subscription services.

Search and metasearch tools for children fall into two categories. Some crawl the Web with robots and spiders, filtering out inappropriate content. Most of the children's metasearch tools search across directories that have already selected the best of the Web for youngsters.

KillerInfo's Kids Channel, at http://kids.killerinfo.com/, searches across multiple sources, and filters out unsafe results. Students will see clusters of results on the right of their screen, suggesting subtopics for narrowing their searches.

Ithaki 4 Kids metasearch, at http://kids.ithaki.net/, searches across several student tools - DmozKids, Yahooligans, FactMonster, ArtKIDSRule, AolKIDS, AwesomeLibrary and KidsClick!

Dibdabdoo.com, at www.dibdabdoo.com, developed by a father of four and Web developer, searches across KidsClick!, Yahooligans!, Education World, and Awesome Library.

KartOO's metasearch, at http://kartoo.com/, is not filtered for children, but its visual display interfaces, representing results in series of interactive maps, are intriguing and inspire discovery and connections as children search.

Most of the major search engines offer filtering. Google, for instance, offers two levels - strict or moderate - in its SafeSearch, located through Preferences. AltaVista and Yahoo offer a family filter in their Preferences and Settings areas.

Subscription databases: The best research tools for children are those we pay for. Your tax dollars allow public and school libraries to support high-quality reference sources made available in classrooms, libraries and at home through password access. Some of the databases are part of a large state-library purchase; others may be bought by your own school to meet specific curricular needs. Visit and bookmark the Children's Resource page of the ACCESS PA POWER Library, at www.powerlibrary.org/Interface/POWER.asp, for information on databases available in many Pennsylvania schools and libraries.

These rich tools include:

AP Multimedia Archive, which presents more than half a million photographs and graphics searchable by date, place, and subject.

EBSCO Animals, which provides information on the nature and habitat of animals.

EBSCO's Primary Search and Middle Search Plus, which pull full-text content from age-appropriate magazines.

EBSCO's Searchasaurus, which combines the three EBSCO products, as well as an encyclopedia, dictionary, photos, maps and flags in an engaging adventure interface for elementary and middle school research.

Facts for Learning, which offers two separate reference interfaces for elementary and middle grades. Content is gathered from the World Almanac; Gareth Stevens' nonfiction book series; Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia; such magazines as Weekly Reader, Current Health, and Current Events; hot topic and science news materials, maps, and time lines linked to historic news stories.

SIRS Discoverer's child-friendly database, which assembles articles, graphics and maps from more than 1,600 magazines, newspapers, and government documents, selected by a professional research team for their educational content, interest and readability. Result lists may be sorted by reading level. Students may do keyword searches or browse through the 15 broad category buttons that are further narrowed by subheadings.

Make it easy for your children to be successful researchers. Create a search page, a file of bookmarks, or a simple hyperlinked word-processing document to guide them.

For an example of a children's search page, visit http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/kidsearch.html.