The Entire Guide to Google Search Features for Teachers ...€¦ · Discover Amazing Tips to...

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The Entire Guide to Google Search Features

for Teachers and Students

Discover Amazing Tips to Improve your Students Search Skills and Prepare them for The 21st Century Digital World

By: Mohamed Kharbach

3/29/2012

“ I am hoping that by having access to and reading this guide teachers and students will be able to discover, develop their search skills and use some of these features included here. The purpose of this guide is purely educational ”

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The Entire Guide to Google Search Features for Teachers and Students 2012

w w w . e d u c a t o r s t e c h n o l o g y . c o m

Table of Contents

About the author

Re-use of this guide

Disclaimer and or/ legal notices

Part One: The Basics:

Spelling

Web History

Start Simple

Use We-Friendly Words

Less is More

Use Descriptive Words

Don’t Worry about Cases

Don’t Worry about Punctuation

Part Two : Advanced Tricks

Search by file type

Find related pages

Fill in the blanks

Exact phrase search

Specific site search

Include or ignore words and characters

Advanced image searching

Numbers in a range

Search all languages

Get recipes

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Part Three: Fast Facts

Convert any measurement

Real-time stock quotes

Track your packages

Get definitions

Calculate anything

Sports scores and schedules

Locate earthquake activity

Get the time

Convert currencies

Get sunrise and sunset times

Part Four: Local

Zip and area codes

Shop and compare

Discover local businesses

Search with location

Get movie times

Check the weather

Get flight schedules

Flight Times

Map your location

Part Five: Research

Public domain books

Home in on a particular range

Health conditions

World news

Similar termd

Filter by reading level

Public data

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Medication information

Part Six: On your Phone

Google Goggles

Voice Search

Interactive financial services

Instant Mobile

Instant previews on mobile

Search nearby

Places open now

Interactive weather

Part Seven

Links to Articles about Google Search Tactics

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About The Author

Mohamed ( Med ) Kharbach is a Canadian Certified Teacher working at the Yarmouth Tri-county Regional Schoolboard. He has been teaching for nine years now. He is also a master student in Mount Saint Vincent University, department of education in Halifax. He is working on a thesis about the educational use of emerging technologies in education. Mohamed is also a SEO ( Search Engine Optimizer ) and web designer. He is the editor and owner of two educational blogs. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning is where he writes about web 2.0 revisions and provides tips for both students and teachers on how to better implement technology in their classrooms. Educational Mobile Technology is his second blog where he reviews the best free mobile apps for both iOS and Android. You can contact Med at [email protected] or use the

contact form at his blogs.

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/


http://www.freemobiletech.com/


http://www.educatorstechnology.com/p/contact-me.html

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Reuse of this ebook This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.. I do grant you the full permission to print and use the content of this ebook as you see fit provided that you do not charge participants for it. You can also publish it on your blog or website with proper attribution and provided you do not charge visitor’ access to it.

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES The author of this work does not accept any liability or responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information, ideas, opinions or other content in this transcript. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided

here, the author and his referrals cannot assume any responsibility for

errors, inaccuracies or omissions.

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Introduction

Google is such a bottomless well that the more you dig into it the

deeper it gets. It provides all kinds of resources to all types of

users from a layperson to a tech geek. Over the last couple of

years Google has exponentially expanded that it engulfs now

some huge sections dedicated for single causes. There is now

Google for Education, Google for Businesses, Google Adwords,

Google Adsense, and the list is too long.

Part of the success of this Internet guru is its dedication and love

of what they do and the other part is the interaction of internet

users from all around the globe with its services. Google is a

business after all and no business would ever survive if there are

no gains. But the secret of success lies in which one takes priority,

in other words which one comes first the gains or the quality of

services offered to clients. This is the equation whose key answers

Google has miraculously monopolised for almost a decade now. It

does has its own flaws and sometimes we get annoyed by its

distractive ads displayed as the first links in a search result or on

the side bar in our Gmail yet the filled part of the cup is way

bigger than the empty one.

As educators Google is the backbone of our online activities. Think

of how many times you use it to perform a search whenever you

are looking for something. Besides using it for search queries , it

is also used as a dictionary, unit and currency converter,

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calculator, zip code finder and many more. It is great we have all

these options all accessible from a single platform but do all

teachers and students know how to use these and other features

Google has to offer them? Well probably some of you are already

familiar with many features in this guide but the majority of our

students do not. It is our responsibility to teach them the search

skills they will definitely need to survive in the 21st century digital

world. Isn’t schooling goal revolves around preparing our students

for tomorrow’s jobs ? Knowing how to use the number one

search engine online is part of our job. In this regard, I have

prepared a comprehensive guide about the Google search

features we the teacher and students need to know. In fact I did

not do a hard job for everything is provided in Google Inside

Search page and all I did is organizing this wealth of information in

such a way that is easy to download and share with others.

I am hoping that by having access to this guide teachers and

students will be able to discover, develop their search skills and

use some of these features included here. The purpose of this

guide is purely educational and pleas keep it so. If you want to

learn about all the tools Google has to offer to educators then I

would recommend that you check out The Comprehensive Guide

to Google Free Tools for Teachers and Students.

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features.html

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/03/comprehensive-guide-to-google-free.html


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Before you delve into Google’s search features I would like you to

read this inspiring little story about how a teacher has helped a

student in a distress situation just via using educational web tools.

The story is taken from a blog post in Google Offical Blog.

“One teacher who has taken advantage of the web as an

educational tool is Cheryl Oakes, a resource room teacher in

Wells, Maine. She’s also been able to tailor the vast resources

available on the web to each student’s ability. This approach has

proven invaluable for Cheryl’s students, in particular 16-year-old

Morgan, whose learning disability makes it daunting to sort

through search results to find those webpages that she can

comfortably read. Cheryl taught Morgan how to use the Search by

Reading Level feature on Google Search, which enables Morgan to

focus only on those results that are most understandable to her.

To address the difficulty Morgan faces with typing, Cheryl

introduced her to Voice Search, so Morgan can speak her queries

into the computer. Morgan is succeeding in high school, and just

registered to take her first college course this summer.”

http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/learning-independence-with-google.html

http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1095407

http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1095407

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/voicesearch.html

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Part 1: The Basics

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Spelling Google uses an advanced spell checker that automatically defaults

to the most common spelling of a given word, whether or not you

spell it correctly.

Web History This is where you can check out the websites you have visited. It

also provides a timeline of actions and lets you search your history

log. Try it out at www.google.com/history.

Keep it Simple Try to keep your search queries very simple. Start by entering just

a name or word and if you are looking for a place or product in a

specific location, type in the name together with the town or zip

code.

Use Web-friendly words A search engine works by matching the words you enter to pages

on the web. So using words that are most likely to appear on

pages will yield the best results. For example, instead of saying my

head hurts, say headache, because that's the term a medical

website would use.

http://www.google.com/history

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Less is more Simple, one or two word search terms will usually give you the

broadest results. Start with short search terms, then refine your

results by adding more words.

Use Descriptive Words The more unique the word, the more likely you are to get relevant

results. So [celebrity ringtones] is probably better than [celebrity

sounds]. Keep in mind though, that even if the word has the

correct meaning, if it's not the one most people use, it may not

match the pages you need.

Don’t worry about cases Search isn't case sensitive. A search for new york times is the

same as a search for New York Times.

Don’t worry about prunctuation Search ignores punctuation. This includes @#%^*()=[]\ and other

special characters.

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PART 2:

Advanced Tricks

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Search by File Type Search for specific types of files, such as PDFs, PPTs, or XLS, by

adding filetype: and the 3-letter file abbreviation.

Find Related Pages Use the related: operator to find pages that have similar content

by typing related:followed by the website address. For instance, if

you find a website you like, try using related:[insert URL] to locate

similar websites.

Fill in the blanks Put an asterisk * in a phrase or question you want completed and

we'll fill in the blanks. For example, you can find the lyrics to a

song even if you only remember a few words.

Exact phrase search Put quotation marks around words "[any word]" to search for an

exact phrase in an exact order. Keep in mind that searching with

quotes might exclude relevant results. For instance, a search

for "Alexander Bell" will miss pages that refer to Alexander G.

Bell.

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Specific site search Precede your query with site: if you know you want your answer

from within a specific site or type of site (.org, .edu). For

example: site:edu or site:nytimes.com.

Include or ignore words or characters Highlight common words and characters such as the and & if they

are essential to your search (as in a movie or book title) by putting

quotation marks "the" around them. You can also use the minus -

sign to specify particular items you don't want in your results, like

ingredients in a recipe.

Advanced Image searching Use Advanced Image Search to find an exact size, color or type of

photo or drawing. With the tools in the left panel, you can filter

your search to include only photos with faces, clip art, high-res

images or only images that are available for commercial use.

Numbers in range Stay within your budget by searching only for items within a

number range by putting a string .. between amounts.

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Search All Languages When you're searching, click "More search tools" on the left panel

of your results page, then select "Translated foreign pages." The

feature will choose the best language in which to search and

deliver results translated back in English.

Get Recipes After searching for a specific recipe or ingredients, select

"Recipes" in the left panel to see recipe results

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Part 3: Fast Facts

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Convert any measurement After searching for a specific recipe or ingredients, select

"Recipes" in the left panel to see recipe results.

Real Time Stock Quotes Typing any ticker symbol into the search box will get you real-time

stock quotes that update live in your search results. Click the link

on the results page for a detailed market analysis from Google

Finance.

Track your packages Track your UPS, FedEx, or USPS packages by typing the tracking

number directly into the search box. The results will show you the

status of your shipment.

Get definitions Put define: in front of any word to get its definition.

Calculate Anything Enter any math equation into the search box and we'll calculate

your answer.

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Sports Scores and Schedules Get scores and schedules for your favorite NBA, NFL, NHL and

MLB teams simply by typing the team or league into the search

box.

Locate Earthquake Activity Type earthquake in the search box and your results will feature

U.S. Geological Survey info showing the time, place and

magnitude of recent earthquakes.

Get the time To see what time it is anywhere in the world, search time and the

city or country.

Convert Currencies Get current exchange rates by searching [currency 1] in [currency

2].

Get Sunrise and Sunset times To see the exact times of sunrises and sunsets in cities around the

U.S. and the world, search sunrise or sunset followed by the city

name.

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Part 4: Local

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Zip and area codes Want to know where a given zip code or area code is located? Just

type it into the search box.

Shop and Compare Use the "Shopping" link on the left panel on the results page to

shop for products and compare prices across the web.

Discover Local Businesses To find a store, restaurant or other business in a given

neighborhood, enter the type of business and the location and

we'll deliver a list of nearby places, along with a map, reviews and

contact info. If you don't include the location in your search, we'll

just find locations close to you.

Search with locations Add a zip code to the end of any place search like barbecue

ribs and get results showing the nearest rib joints, along with

phone numbers, a map, and even reviews. If you don't include

your zip code, we may suggest places near you.

Get Movie Times Search on a movie name or just movie to see theater locations

and showtimes in your area.

Check the weather

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Search for Weather

Search weather followed by a U.S. zip code or the name of any

city in the world to get the current weather and forecast.

Enter weather by itself to get the weather report for your current

location.

Get Flight Schedules To see flight schedules to or from a particular destination,

type flights from or flights to followed by the city or airport of

interest. You can also add another location with to or from and

view the schedule for a specific route.

*Flight schedule data is provided by OAG and QuickTrip by

Innovata.

Flight times View live arrival and departure information for U.S. flights just by

searching the name of the airline and the flight number.

Map your Location To map any location, type in the city name or zip code followed by

the word [map], and you'll see a map of that location. Click on the

map to see it on Google Maps.

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Part 5 : Research

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Public Domain Books Read the complete texts of public domain works like Moby

Dick for free by selecting "books" in the left panel of your search

results.

Hone in on a particular range To specify a particular number range, type .. then a space, then

the numbers in your range. For example, if you're searching for

cars with over 300 horsepower, search cars "300.. horsepower".

Here are some other examples: "220.. V" or "1.. RPM" or "8000..

mAh" battery

Health Conditions To see information about a common disease or symptom, enter it

into the search box and we’ll return the beginning of an expert

summary. You can click through to read the entire article.

World News Search any topic and then click the "News" tab in the left panel to

get news results from sources around the world.

Similar Terms Get results that include synonyms by placing the ~ sign

immediately in front of your search term. A search for Christmas

~dessert recipes, for instance, will return results for desserts,

along with candy, cookies and other treats.

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Filter by reading level Sort your results by reading level by clicking on Advanced Search

and filtering the results into basic, intermediate and advanced

reading levels.

Public Data Search demographic terms like population or unemployment

rate, followed by a county, state or country, and you'll get instant

data about your chosen location directly from the U.S. Census

Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From there, you can

click through to compare rates in different locations.

Medication information Search the name of a generic or brand-name prescription drug

and we'll display its summary and description. You can also click

through to more info about side effects, dosage and precautions

from the National Institutes of Health

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Part 6:

On your phone

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Google Googles On an Android, open your Google Goggles app (on an iPhone,

open the Google Search app and select Goggles), snap a picture of

the item you want to search for, and wait for your results. No

typing necessary.

Voice Search To search the web by speaking, tap the microphone button on

the Google search box on your home screen, or press down for a

few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to

activate the "Speak Now" screen. Voice Search for Android

supports Voice Actions on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above.

Interactive financial searches To get this service go to Google on your phone or Android-

powered device (2.1 or later) and search for your favorite stock

symbol. You'll see an interactive graph shown on a card; you can

switch views to different date ranges by tapping on the buttons

below the graph.

Instant Mobile This one makes search faster by displaying not just predictions but

actual search results as you type. The beta version is available for

most iPhone and Android devices in the U.S. To try it, go to

google.com in your phone's browser and tap the Google Instant

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"Turn on" link beneath the search box (if you don't see the "Turn

on" link, try waiting a moment and then refresh the page).

Instant previews on Mobile

Google Instant previews is available on mobile in Android 2.2+

and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages. Like the desktop

version of Instant Previews, you can visually compare search

results from webpage snapshots, making it easier to choose the

right result faster.

Search Nearby If you want to find sushi nearby go to google on your smartphone

and type "sushi". If you've chosen to share your location with

Google, you'll get business results near your current location. If

you want to search somewhere else, specify a location in the

query, like pizza Kansas City.

Places Open Now Go to Google on your Android or iOS devices and search for a

restaurant or place. The "open now" feature lets you filter local

search results to show only businesses that are open right now,

based on their listed hours.

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Interactive Weather To see a weather search results snippet that lets you actually play

with the results just go to google.com on your iPhone or Android-

powered device and search for weather.

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Part 7 : Links to Great Artilces on

Google Search Tactics

1- The Comprehensive Guide to Google Free Tools

for Teachers and Students

2- Useful Tips on how to use Google to Improve your

Search Skills

3- Google Search Tutorial

4- Google Social Search

5- Searching Multiple Google Services Using What Do

You Love Tool



http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/01/useful-tips-on-how-to-use-google-to.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/01/useful-tips-on-how-to-use-google-to.html

GOOGLE%20SEARCH%20TUTORIALS%20PART1

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2011/05/google-social-search-socialized-search.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/01/search-multiple-google-services-using.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/01/search-multiple-google-services-using.html

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Here are some other free resources for teachers and students:

1- 80 Educational Alternative Tools to YouTube 2- Free Kids-safe Websites: Learning Tools for Young Learners 3- The Comprehensive Guide To Google’s Free Tools for Educators

and Teachers. 4- A List of Free Educational Android and iOS Apps. 5- 21 Educational Infographics 6- Free URL Shortner Tools 7- Free Math Resources: Lesson Plans, Activities and Games. 8- 16 Free Typing Resources. 9- Free Apps for Students with Visual and Hearing Impairment. 10- A List of Free Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students.

Find more of similar educational presentations at this page. For more reviews of educational web tools and technology tips on how to learn and teach using technology I invite you to explore the free resources included in: Educational Technology and Mobile Learning www.educatorstechnology.com Educational Mobile Technology http://www.freemobiletech.com

Thank you.

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/03/80-educational-alternatives-to-youtube.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/03/great-free-educational-kids-safe.html



http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/02/list-of-great-free-educational-android.html

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/01/list-of-great-educational-infographics.html

http://issuu.com/medkh9/docs/freeurlshortenertoolsforteachers?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

http://issuu.com/medkh9/docs/freemathresources?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

http://issuu.com/medkh9/docs/16freeresourcestodeveloptypingskills?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

http://issuu.com/medkh9/docs/freeappsforstudentswithvisualorhearingimpairments?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

http://issuu.com/medkh9/docs/freegraphicorganizersforteachersandstudents?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/02/list-of-educational-slideshows-and.html



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