Search engines provide users with links to Web sites containing potentially relevant information. These search engines use keywords to locate relevant Web sites. The engine then displays sites that contain the keywords. If a keyword is very broad, a search can yield hundreds, sometimes thousands, of sites. With so many sites out there, kids need to know how to narrow down their searches by adding more specific search terms.
Most engines offer tips on how to refine searches.
As with any new skill, practice makes perfect. That's great, but my students have trouble using keywords. At both sites, users type in questions rather than only keywords. Assuming that kids would not be interested in Lincoln Continentals, Ask Jeeves for Kids rephrases their questions into more specific ones about Abraham Lincoln. Then kids can click on one question to learn about his presidency and another to find out about his part in the Civil War.