Boolify

Boolify.org is a fantastic kid friendly search engine that has a easy to use interface, that allows kids to think about what answers they would like to get from their search. The site uses puzzle pieces that the students can grab to prompt them when entering the topics they would like to search. For example pick up the puzzle piece labeled "word", this will then prompt the student to write their topic. Then they can narrow their search by picking up the "and" piece which prompts them to enter another word to compliment their search. To narrow their results there is also a "not", "or" and "URL" puzzle piece that prompts them to write another word according to the prompt, to include in the results.

For example. Kangaroo "and" skippy "not" meat. This resulted in several sites including videos on You Tube and wikipedia.



Designed with students and teachers in mind, boolify appears to only brings up filtered results this is done by utilising the Google Safe system, this allows the teacher to relax a little whilst students are using it. The site has no ads so the children can not accidentally click on inappropriate material The engine teaches students how to efficiently and effectively perform searches through vasts amounts of web content, by clearly asking questions relating to information they want.

This search engine is a fantastic tool for teachers to use to teach students how to use the internet as a real resource for sourcing information. However, as a teacher I do not believe the results are as extensive as what would be found through google.

Teaching resource 8/10