Googleable Or Not Googleable

Yesterday when my daughter and I was looking for some information in a book, I gave up and said, “It’s quicker to google than to search for the answer in the book.”But what is a quick qoogleable question? How do you define it?This may seem like a non-important question. But why spend time to think and search for information when you can quickly find the answer by using a search engine? This way you can spend more time to explore non-googleable questions, which may require creative skills and thinking.

• The whole question may be googleable?
• Part of the question may be googleable?

But googling is also an activity that requires creative skills and involves thinking.The question may be googleable:

• If you re-phrase it? For example – How did Napoleon coming into power affect women in France? Could be rephrased as: A women’s role during Napoleon’s regime?
• If you use different search word – synonyms
• Search for similar question phrases and words
• Use different search engines

You can pin up three headings in the classroom or at home, where you can put up post-it notes for each question that can be searched quickly, questions that took some time to find an answer to, or questions that you did not mange to google at all.You can find the answer to many questions by using search engines, yet sometimes it takes a long time to find the answer. Learning when it is better to use other methods and to rely on the brainpower is a skill that takes time to develop.Go here to see how a school in Brisbane, Australia used Googleable and Non-Googleable questions in the classroom.

Photo: “Children Turning On Computer” by marin