Lesson Plan - Your Guide to Googling

Watch a Video

Play “Inventing the Internet,” then ask: What need did the first search engines address? 

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• reliable
• relevant

Set a Purpose for Reading

As students read, have them think about why it’s important to know how to find good search results.

1. Based on the article, why can two people use the same search terms and get different results? The article explains that two people searching the same terms from different places would get different results because Google’s results are based on your search history, location, and settings.

_{(RI.4.5 Cause/Effect)}

2. What is the section “Searching for Answers” mainly about? The section “Searching for Answers” is mainly about how the research process has changed over time. At one time, people had to rely on information in library books. They were able to start searching the internet in 1990, and in 1998 they began to use Google, which was faster than other search engines.

_{(RI.4.2 Main Idea)}

3. What are two facts you can learn from the sidebar, “Google Like a Pro”? Sample response: From this sidebar, you can learn that the first results you get in an internet search are often ads from companies. You can also learn that sites with .gov in their address are run by the U.S. government.

_{(RI.4.7 Text Features)}

FEATURED SKILL: Research

Give students a topic to search, or if you’d prefer, provide a list of sites to choose from. Have students use the skill builder “Evaluate a Website” to assess the site’s reliability and write a review.

_{(W.4.6 Internet Research)}