Google Custom Search

There are so many times when I want to restrict student searching to a set of several good resources and not allow them to use Google. However, when I've done this in the past I've had to post each site individually on my website, or even in a resource such as LiveBinders, and students need to search each site separately. It works, but not as efficiently as I'd like.

However, if I open up all of the web and just have them search on Google, they are apt to run into so many resources they don't know which one to choose - or they run into inappropriate material, or they simply can't find what they need.

Creating a Google Custom Search is one answer! In order to create a custom search in Google one must have a Google account - and if that account is a school g-apps account, your administrator must allow the use of custom searching.

I attached a video here to show you just how easy it is to create a Google Custom Search. That setup is made even easier if you already know what sites you'd like students to head to for their research. I have created custom searches for researching states for their state projects, animals for the North American animal project, inventors for that project, and biographies for their biography project.

The following search box is for North American animals. Give it a try by typing in an animal for which you'd like to find information.

Rather than write out how easy a custom search can be, I'll leave you with a custom search link here, as well as a video that I created to show you how to create your own Google Custom Search.

This is a quick and easy alternative to searching the whole web. Try it out today!