Symbolab - Science and Math Search Engine - search with symbols too

Symbolab is a site I learned about from David Kapuler on his blog. It is a "Science and Math Search Engine" and makes it easier to find science content online. It specifically searches for science content using semantic search tools.

You can search from the site, or use a free download for Chrome and Firefox.

The other unique feature that truly sets it apart is that it lets you use math and science symbols and equations to search. This is especially helpful when searching for topics that are related to a formula or symbol, vs. just a word.

Share this with your science and math educators and students.


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Google launches free online classes to help you learn better internet search skills

Google is having a lot of announcements today at the Google I/O conference with lots of updates and new products. (Go to Android Central to get updates on all the news).

But yesterday they announced something that is a great resource for educators and students alike. "Power Searching with Google" is a free, online community based course that helps participants learn how to do better searches and use some of the cool features of Google, such as using the search box as a calculator and finding data right from the search box itself.

The course contains six 50-minute classes, interactive activities to practice your new skills, community integration and connections with Google Groups, Google+, and Hangouts on Air (with search experts) and Googlers will be available to help. You can even get a printable Certificate of Completion upon passing the post course assessment.

Lessons will be released daily starting on July 10th and participants can take them on their own schedule during a 2 week window.

Registration is open from June 26, 2012 to July 16, 2012. We recommend that you register before the first class is released on July 10, 2012!
New classes will become available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting on July 10, 2012 and ending on July 19, 2012.
Course-related activities will end on July 23, 2012.

Teachers can take the course and then share what they learn with their students next school year.

You can also go to the Google Inside Search page for other tips and help with better searching that can be used by students and educators.


Source: Official Google Blog

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Lots more great, free resources from Google (especially for education)

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Get Your PhD in Googling - interactive tool for learning better search tips

Google is a very powerful tool. You can find pretty much anything online these days. The trick is knowing how to find exactly what you are looking for.

Here is an interactive infographic with some great tips for better internet searching (specifically with Google).

UPDATED 11/14/13
It seems the animation is no longer available, so here are some other search resources and a couple of images from it:

http://www.missionimblogable.co.uk/2012/06/get-your-phd-in-googling.html

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/fa/ICTFalkirkPrimaries/2012/03/13/primary-research-skills-tools/





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Google Search Guide

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Introducing Google Knowledge Graph - better search results

Today Google is announcing a new tool in search: The Knowledge Graph. It will be phased in over the next few days for all users. The Knowledge Graph adds new results to your search. You will see panels on the right side of the search results page with additional, factual, information about the search topic. This will have more relevant, factual information about your search (like historical, biographical, news, etc.) and list related topics. Google will also have you clarify exactly what you are looking for to help you better find what you need.

From Google Official Blog:

The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.

Google’s Knowledge Graph isn’t just rooted in public sources such as Freebase, Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook. It’s also augmented at a much larger scale—because we’re focused on comprehensive breadth and depth. It currently contains more than 500 million objects, as well as more than 3.5 billion facts about and relationships between these different objects. And it’s tuned based on what people search for, and what we find out on the web.

This is a huge improvement in searching and can help teachers and student find better results and better information in their searches.

Here's a video describing it in detail:





Source: Google Official Blog

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Google Search Education - teach your students to search better

Google Search Education is another great educational resource from Google. The site has lesson plans and even live training to help students, and teachers, learn how to search for academic sources, as well as develop critical and independent thinking skills. Students will be able to become skilled searchers and be able to analyze and critique the search results.

The lesson plans are a great resource for teachers to use in their classroom to help their students search better. The live training sessions are also archived so that you can watch them at any time.

Effective internet searching is a critical skill for our students to have.

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Tips for More Effective Google Searches

ZDNET has a great article with 10 Google Search Secrets that can help you and your students search more effectively and efficiently.

Knowing how to do effective internet searches is a very important skill for all of us to have, so share these resources with your students and help them learn this valuable skill.

Google - free posters with search tips for teachers

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Tips on better searches on Google, from Google

Infographic on better searches using Google

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