search tools

In order to find out more on Information Literacy, I decided to locate my search through Google scholar and the results of my inquiry using the search terms "INFORMATION LITERACY AND SEARCH TOOLS" were about 880,000. 
Some of the links such as  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1097-4571%282000%299999:9999%3C::AID-ASI1038%3E3.0.CO;2-R/full  illustrates the need of developing research skills in students and it also covers various physical and cognitive emotions in children which is represented in Kuhlathau's inquiry model. Then I realized that, further inquiry on Google scholar  introduced me a variety of journals on information literacy and databases such as 'Science direct'. 


Sometimes,I could not locate information as it showed 'no hits' because some keywords could not locate specific information.  The research using several search terms  pointed out the need of changing keywords to get relevant and specific information.  So the research on information literacy, developed my skills in information seeking using different search terms and search strings such as Boolean operators-and, or etc.

Wonder wheel:  Then  I decided to experiment with Wonder wheel . I used the search terms"information literacy" AND "science classes",about 10,900 results were found.

Then I tried to refine my search by clicking on the link"information literacy and classes year science", 491,000 hits were found.

My further research hits include:

• "inquiry learning"AND "renewable energy" -3,800  hits

• "inquiry learning" AND "nuclear energy"- 1,690 results

Thus,we can see  that, further search with refined  keywords can  be  more effective  than using general keywords and the educators should be able to develop these research skills in order to provide efficient inquiry based learning. The changing information literacy era  also demands highly  web experienced educators with  excellent knowledge of different search engines and keywords that can be used in the information literacy.


Now I am thinking of finding out some the  links showing search tools for images and some links as follows provided a better understanding of different search strategies on guiding students on the effective selection and use of  images:


http://www.kidsclick.org/psearch.html
This is a great opportunity to locate images relevant to student needs in a simple and speedy manner.
http://www.pics4learning.com/ 
http://www.pictureaustralia.org/
my search results on Image search tools resulted in information on different images. for example,

AltaVista/Images AltaVista appears to be the best-protected search engine because of its 'Password Protection' option for its filter preferences.  Ditto.com Ditto.com is a visual search engine, enabling people to search the Web through pictures.  AlltheWeb/Pictures AlltheWeb has an Offensive Content Filter that can be turned on or off. When trialled, some images did slip through with the Offensive Content Filter turned on  Google/Images Searchers are offered the following options: • Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images) • Use moderate filtering (Filter explicit images only - default behaviour) • Do not filter my search results. It is recommended that each computer should be set to the Use strict filtering options

Reference:
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/search/search4.htm#searchengineimages