From this week, we are supposed to use two different search engine to do research on our group topic. As a result of my collecting as many search engine as possble, I had pretty much choices to choose from. First I tried NIKOS search engine. Do you want to try?
As always I typed in my topic, "parenting." And I got a list of
information transferred. Unlike other search engines I have tried, they
didn't have no introduction about the links that came out as the result.
I found the information hard to figure out what it is all about. At
first, I was little puzzled by its ambiguity but as I read through the
list, I figured out that it is not that bad.
Among the links, I choose one link called, "parent involvement." It was
the list of resources on parent involvement. Most of them were books. I
could see that the topics were all related to parenting and parents'
involvement with kids. I found one book called,
"101 ways to help
your child learn to read and write."
It says that the book provides 101 practical and enjoyable suggestions for parents to help their children develop reading and writing skills in the home environment--at bedtime, while watching TV, in the car on vacation, at the grocery store, and in the kitchen. Parents discover how to incorporate literacy learning into everyday activities--anytime, anywhere! I felt that the information was pretty interesting and practical in a way it approaches to parents with really practical informations on parenting. However, as far as the search engine is concerned, I realized that LIKOS was not an excellent search engine because of its lack of categorized list of links. I thought it would have been much easier to choose any link with some basic information on what the contents are like. And also categrizing links with several topics or themes might have also helped with more efficient research.
For my sencond part of research, I used one of the search engines
called,"INKTOMI"
As I did as in the first part, I typed in the word, "parenting." And it gave me a list of 54305 documents. It was amazingly many number of links I thought. I began to look through them one by one and found out that it was not that different from the result of NIKOS research in its way of display. What I mean is that it was also only the list of links without any introduction or brief explanation about what the document is about. I couldn't figure out waht the content is about. However, I had to go on as I determine to use a search engine with brief explanation about each documents. I could see many of links that I have already visited before. I read throught the list and picked one site called, "Ten Things Teachers Wish Parents Would Do." I found the information very useful and educational. I realized again the importance of parenting never can't be exaggereated because the role of parents is most crucial thing in education and there is unique realm which only parents can deal with. The information seems to be very easy to understand and relable. It goes like this.
*****Ten Things
Teachers Wish Parents Would Do*****
Be involved in their children's education. Parents' involvement
helps students learn,
improves school and make teachers' jobs easier.
Provide resources at home for reading and learning. Parents
should have books and
magazines for their children and read to or with their children
each day.
Set a good example. Parents should show their children children
that they believe reading
is both enjoyable and useful. They shouldn't spend all their
time in front of the TV, either.
Encourage children to do their best in school. Parents must
indicate that they believe
education is important and that they want their children to do
the best they possibley can at
school.
Emphasis academics. Too many parents get caught up in athletics
and in preparing their
children for the world of work, when academics should be their
first concern.
Support school rules and goals. Parents should take care not to
undermine school rules,
discipline or goals.
Use pressure positively. Parents should encourage children to do
their best, but they
shcould not apply too much pressure, by setting unattainable
goals or by involving them in
too many activities.
Call teachers early if there is a proble (not wait for teachers
to call them), so there is still
time to improve the situation.
Accept their responsibility as parents, and not expect the
school and teachers to take over
this job. For example, parents should make it their
responsiblility to teach children basic
discipline at home rather than to leave this task to teachers.
View drinking by underage youth and excessive partying as a
serious matter, not a joke .
Drinking, partying and staying out late take a toll on students'
classroom performance.
While parents are concerned about drug abuse, many fail to
recognize that alcohol is the
drug most frequently abused by youngsters as well as adults.*****
I thought it was very practical in its way explaining every crucial aspects in parenting the school kids. However, as far as the search engine is concerned, I found that INKTOMI has more links than NIKOS because INKTOMI made all the links to every single documents while NIKOS only had the links to the home pages. Anyway, I thought it would have been much better if both search engines had brief description of each link and told what the document is all about. I again realized that the information on parenting in the information superhighway is very practical and real.