June 2008 — News/In Brief
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Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships
What Do 'Games,' 'George Washington,' and 'Sharks' Have in Common?
They can all be found on new rankings of the most frequently searched keywords by K-12 students.
EVERY SCHOOL DAY, MILLIONS OF K-12
students throughout the US sit at computers and
enter keywords into internet search engines--
but what, exactly, are they searching for? While
educators may hope that their students
are using search engines to stay on
track with schoolwork, they can't keep
tabs on every word or phrase that's
searched. But thanks to a new index
launched last spring by Thinkronize, they will get
some answers.
For its Top 15 In-School Search Index, Thinkronize is compiling data from all of the K-12 student searches that occur on its netTrekker d.i. search engine. Currently, more than 20,000 schools and 11 million students across all 50 states use netTrekker. Each quarter, an index of the most active student search terms will be released here.
Top Keyword Searches in K-12 Schools
(February-April, 2008)
- games
- dogs
- animals
- Civil War
- George Washington
- Holocaust
- Abraham Lincoln
- multiplication
- math games
- weather
- frogs
- fractions
- planets
- sharks
- plants
Source: netTrekker d.i. search data, compiled by Thinkronize
The quarterly index serves as an avenue for educators to gain insight into what their students are learning about, care about, and want to know more about-- important information coming at a time when internet filters have become an increasing presence on school computers in response to growing concerns about students' access to pornography, violent images, and other potentially harmful web content. In the spring quarter (February to April) index this year, "games" was found to be the most-searched keyword on netTrekker, proving that kids will be kids, but also indicating why incorporating gaming into education is a wise move. Among the Top 15 mostsearched terms were "animals," "Civil War," and "fractions."
"Search engines like Google and Yahoo! pull together lists of the most popular keyword queries, underscoring our nation's interests and fixations and showcasing trends and patterns," said Thinkronize CEO Randy Wilhelm upon the release of the rankings. "Our report offers a different view-- a real-time, schoolbased mirror of what our children are searching for-- both for academic purposes and out of genuine curiosity."
