Sweet+Search

BY: ELIZABETH RAU

__What is Sweet Search?__ Sweet Search is a search engine for students (and teachers!) that has credible websites approved by research experts. Besides searching for a specific topic, person, event, etc., students also have the following options to choose from:
 *  [|SweetSearch4Me] is asearch engine for emerging learners.
 *  [|SweetSearch2Day] is where students Learn Something New Every Day.
 * Visit [|SweetSearch for School Librarians] for content that helps students use the Web effectively.
 * Visit [|SweetSites] for teachers and students, organized by subject and academic level.
 * Visit [|SweetSearch Biographies] for profiles of 1,000+ significant people.
 * Visit [|SweetSearch Social Studies] for the best social studies content.
 * Take ** [|Ten Steps to Better Web Research] .**

__How Can Sweet Search Be Incorporated Into Classrooms?__  Overall, this website is an excellent tool for students in any course. Obviously, the "SweetSearch Social Studies" tool can be used for students in Social Studies a class, giving them a seemingly endless amount of information and available research for projects, papers etc. The same can be said for the "SweetSearch Biographies" tool, if those projects centered around a particular individual. Additionally, this tool can be used in an English class to better students' understanding of a particular author or central character of a book they may be reading. Students in a Comm Arts class can use tools such as the "SweetSearch for School Librarians" option to properly gather information for any activities. I think this works particularly well, because when I think of Comm Arts, I think of a class that engages in activities that can be characterized by an interaction with a community. The internet itself is a massive interaction with the outside community, so this tool works well for that. Now, Science seems a bit tricky, but this is where the "SweetSites" option really helps a lot. This site has an immense amount of information and even teaching tips for just about any subject out there. The second subject addressed on this site is none other than Science. Of course, with all of those subjects on "SweetSites," it can also be said that this option can be appropriately utilized for any of the aforementioned classes as well as the final one that must be address; Math. However, that is not to say that this is the only option available on Sweet Search for Mathematics. In fact, I'd like to make a case that the "SweetSearch Biographies," could lend a helping hand as well. When I was a student, one of my favorite things to learn in math class was how it is that the Mathematics we have were developed. I really enjoyed reading about who discovered and came up with the formulas that we use in class every day. I remember one of my favorite assignments was a biography I wrote on Isaac Newton. It was extremely rewarding and I felt as though my understanding of the material he discovered was expanded. So in the end, I can see how Sweet Search can be an extremely powerful tool for educators and students in any course, it is just a matter of how you want to use it.