What Do You Search For?

11/21/2008

While working with teachers in netTrekker, we are always “searching” for information that goes along with the curriculum. Millions of students work at their computers and are typing keywords into the different search engines available to them. I, along with the teachers, are eternally hopeful they are searching for information that will help them with their schoolwork. Since we can’t keep up with every word they search, we can guide them to a safe search engine and get an idea of the top keyword searches through a new index launched by Thinkronize (http://www.thinkronize.com/).

Thinkronize is the developer of NetTrekker and compiles the data from all K-12 student searches within the NetTrekker search engine. An index of the most active student search terms is compiled and released at www.nettrekker.com quarterly. The population of student searches includes over 20,000 schools and 11 million students within the 50 states using NetTrekker. This index helps us teachers understand what our students are questioning, learning about and wanting to know more about.

 The top-searched word in NetTrekker was “games.” Children will be children and do searches for what they are interested in the most and by using the features of NetTrekker, we can incorporate their interests into what they are studying. Below is a listing of the top 15 keyword searches from the spring quarter index which includes “animals,” “weather,” and “plants.”

Although other search engines provide lists of the most popular keyword searches, Thinkronize’s NetTrekker puts a different spin on the results. According to the CEO Randy Wilhelm, their report shows “a real-time, school-based mirror of what our children are searching for – both for academic purposes and out of genuine curiosity.”