Search Engine Goodies

Boolify - a graphical search tool powered by Google; creates a visual representation of a Boolean search; focused on the logical relationship between words (chocolate and ice cream not frozen yogurt); uses images of puzzle pieces to show how these words fit together; shows the result of changing the words in the search with the modifiers
 
Google:
12 Ways to be More Search Savvy from Google - Teach students how to be more search-savvy, how to efficiently find and research information, how to judge its authenticity, and when to ask for an adult's assistance.
Is Google Making Us Stupid? - great read by Nicholas Carr

Quintura for Kids - visual find engine; search term yields the Quintura Cloud; visually navigate and easily refine in order to find relevant information faster and more efficiently

Qwiki - Visual Search Engine - MUST-SEE - Look up places, people, anything, and get a whole multimedia definition. This is a cool way to watch a multimedia definition. You may explore topics by searching or browse a worldwide map highlighting landmarks, monuments, cities, towns, and more.
"Qwiki (Alpha Version) is working to deliver information in a format that's quintessentially human – via storytelling instead of search. We are the first to turn information into an experience. Our goal at Qwiki – to advance information technology to the point it acts human. Currently, Qwiki's technology has been applied to describe millions of popular topics - but soon we'll do much more. Our team needs your help in reaching our goal: join our alpha now to help test Qwiki and shape the future."

Search-Cube - a visual search engine that presents web search results in a 3-dimensional cube interface; view up to 96 websites, videos, and images; Javascript and Flash Player version 9 or higher required; note directions for flipping cube, dragging & rotating cube, and opening a site

spacetime3D - allows you to see your searches; enter your search term for pictures of web page results from your search; works in any browser; no download; Mac and PC

Tag Galaxy - type search term; drag to rotate; mousewheel to zoom; click earth for photos

Lexipedia - Where Words Have Meaning

With  Lexipedia,  simply type in a word, select a language (English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish), then Submit. You may narrow the results by Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Fuzzynyms, Antonyms, or Synonyms for a web of results, all color-coded.

A Teacher's Guide to Using Facebook

This guide is available on Scribd and is attributed to Bernadette Rego.  Her introduction to the guide:
"Welcome to the Teacher's    Guide to using Facebook! As educators, social networking can carry tremendous potential benefits in one's professional development as well as staying in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. Facebook is one of many social networking tools available which is considered popular due to its versatility in what can be shared-everything from installing and creating fun applications (e.g. movie quizzes) to posting photos of your recent family reunion. However, as educators we also have a professional image to uphold and how we conduct ourselves online holds no exceptions. As you may have already heard, there have been instances reported by media in the past of teachers demonstrating professional misconduct while engaging in inappropriate dialogue about their schools and their students, posting pictures and videos of themselves engaged in inappropriate activity, and the likes. Some feel that being online shields them from having their personal lives exposed. On the contrary, how we establish our online identity can carry far greater repercussions than we could ever have imagined.It is, nonetheless, reassuring to know that there are ways of protecting ourselves from being exposed while online. This guide is intended to help you set up a profile using Facebook which best suits your personal and professional lives. This guide was written to educate you on ways of establishing your profiles which uphold your professional image."

STEM Collaborative

STEM Collaborative.org offers four online adventures in math and help middle school students make real-world math connections. Each interactive project includes: teacher guides/educator resources, lesson plans and interactive activities, standards alignment chart, rich multimedia and video, and helpful tips and hints for classroom integration. Key math concepts within geometry, pre-algebra, Algebra I and II are covered. Interactives with measurement, proportional reasoning, balance, scale, weight,, volume, and others encourage active learning, strengthen students' core understanding of middle school math concepts and reinforce reasons to love math. (description from their site)

Hippo Campus for High Schools & Colleges

HippoCampus - FREE - Subjects: Arithmetic, Algebra & Geometry, Calculus & Advanced Math, Statistics & Probability, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Economics, History & Government, Psychology, and Religion; multiple topics, links, simulations, and resources under each content area; browse by subject, standard, and/or textbook; no assessments, but you may add your own

"HippoCampus is a project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE). The goal of HippoCampus is to provide high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge.
HippoCampus was designed as part of Open Education Resources (OER), a worldwide effort to improve access to quality education for everyone. HippoCampus content has been developed by some of the finest colleges and universities in the world and contributed to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC), another MITE project. NROC makes editorial and engineering investment in the content to prepare it for distribution by HippoCampus. Both HippoCampus and NROC are supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation."

Teachers Pay Teachers - An Open Marketplace for Educators

Founded by Paul Edelman, a former NYC public school teachers in 2006, TeachersPayTeachers is the world's first open marketplace where teachers buy and sell original teaching materials.
From their site:
"TpT's mission is to make teachers lives easier by bringing together those who create curricula with those who are seeking fresh new approaches in the classroom. Teachers work hard and deserve extra compensation for all those hours spent lesson planning. Newer teachers and those looking for ideas can save time and leap ahead in competency by learning from veterans. We strongly believe that the ensuing exchange lifts all boats and leads to the better sharing of best practices. In the end everyone wins, especially our students."
Expect more than 17,000 FREE items (just click on the FREE button), all categorized according to type, grade level, subject, or state. This is definitely worth Prices on other items start as low as 50 cents. Items do not have to be shipped, as they are digital downloads. You will find almost 10,000 lesson plans, 50,000 activities, 5,000 exams/quizzes, 19,000 worksheets, 5,500 whiteboard activities, 15,000 PowerPoints, 9,000 novel studies, and more than 90 additional types of resources. Grade levels go from Pre-K to Adult and staff in all content areas. You may browse by category, subject, grade level, price, or state. You will be surprised how many teachers from Tennessee participate!
You will also find great resources on the teachers' blogs.
Read excerpts of news stories relating to those using the site.