Finding an answer online is usually easy. The real skill is finding a good one quickly with a short search, and knowing which results were paid for.
There are five rounds. You score points for the fastest correct answer, the shortest search that still works, spotting a paid result, and fixing a search that is not working.
In round five you choose your own topic, and you will use what you write down next lesson.
A search box will answer almost anything, but what comes back is only as good as what you ask. Compare these two searches.
Vague: stuff about phones and sleep
More precise: teenagers smartphone use sleep quality research
A results page usually shows three kinds of thing:
- Sponsored or ad: someone paid for it to be there. It has a label such as Sponsored, Ad or Promoted.
- Ordinary (organic) result: nobody paid for it, and the search tool chose it because it matches what you asked.
- Extra block: a map, a row of shopping items or a short answer box. It can be useful, but it is not a checked source.
Sort the examples in the activity below, and notice what gives each one away, because the game at the end uses them.
Ad, result, or something else?
Work with a partner on one device, and your teacher will keep each table's points on the board. Write down every search exactly as you typed it, because two of the rounds are scored on the words you used.
Find an answer to the question below and a source you trust. The first three tables to do it win points.
Do gaming headsets damage hearing?
Answer the same question with as few words as you can. The shortest search that still finds a real answer wins, and a search that brings back junk scores nothing.
Search the words below without opening anything. Point out one result someone paid for, and say what gave it away and where it was on the page. If your school hides adverts, say what one would look like and where it would be. Each table that names the label and where it was gets a point.
best running shoes for beginners
The search below only brings up shopping. Change it once, by adding words, taking words away or both, so that it finds out whether football boots need to be broken in before a match. Each table whose one change finds a real answer gets a point.
best boots
Choose a topic you care about, or one from the list below. Fill in the four lines and keep them for next lesson. Each line scores a point, and you get one more for a search under six words.
You can pick your own idea, such as sport, music, gaming, a hobby, a school subject or something local.
Or choose one of these: how sleep affects focus, safe strength training for beginners, practising an instrument, common birds in Ireland, what drains a phone battery.
Topic:
My best search (the exact words I typed):
One ordinary (not sponsored) result worth keeping:
Who published it:
The race runs from the board. Your pair calls out the exact words, the teacher types them without editing, and every round is scored the same way. The shortest working search still wins.
This last round is Class Play, and everyone answers on their own device. You put each thing into one of the three boxes from the sorting activity: sponsored or ad, ordinary result or extra block.
Before you answer, you also choose how sure you are. The surer you are, the more points you win if you are right, and the more you lose if you are wrong.
Class Play: ad, result, or something else?
Look at the scoreboard and think about two things.
- Compare the shortest search that still worked with the longest one. Which words in the long one did the search tool not need?
- Which round had the most people who staked high and lost?
A good search finds you better results, but it does not tell you whether you can trust them. Next lesson you will learn how to check that, and you already have a topic and a result ready.
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