Search Engines:

Ready, Set, Search

Module Created By: Jennifer Hey-Lewis Kenwood Academy High School

IIT Research Mentor: Dr. Wai Gen Yee

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Illinois Institute of Technology Contributions also made by: Ori Rawling, Student Illinois Institute of Technology

Table of Contents

What is Technology.2 Engineering as a Career ..7 Code of Ethics....11 Ethical Decision Making, Can You make the Right Decision?.....14 Are All Search Engines Created Equal?........................................16 Search Engine Design....32 You Be the Engineer.35 Pre-Test / Post Test36 Additional Resources.40 Assessment Rubric.41

What is Technology?
Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8.
1

Time Requirements This activity can be completed in one class period and
finished for homework if necessary

Goals/Objectives- The first activity involves classroom discussion and a short

scenario to allow students to develop a sense of what technology is and to dispel the notion that technology relates mostly to computers. After completing this lesson, students will be able to explain what technology is and understand that technology is a way of solving problems through the application of knowledge from multiple disciplines.

Connections to State/National Standards

1.B.3.d 5.A.3.a 13.B.3.a

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet to complete this activity

Background Material for the Teacher

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/trinity/watistec.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_technology http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Technology&sa=X&oi=glossa ry_definition&ct=title

Activity
Technology is a body of knowledge used to create tools, develop skills, and extract or collect materials. It is also the application of science (the combination of the scientific method and material) to meet an objective or solve a problem. 1. Begin by asking the class, How do you define technology? Accept all answers and write student responses on the board. Do not attempt to have students refine their definitions of technology at this point. They will revisit their definitions and refine later. Students may harbor the preconception that technology relates mostly to computers. Through advertisements and media articles, they are familiar with the terms information technology and computer technology. 2. Ask students, In general, what does technology do for us? This question may help students understand that technology helps us solve problems, makes our lives easier, and extends our abilities to do things. Technology is used to develop skills or tools, both in our daily lives and in our occupations. 2

3. Focus discussion on technologies that are relevant to each students life. Ask students to look around the room. What technologies do they see? How do these technologies solve problems and make their lives easier? Accept all responses and write them on the board. Students may mention any number of items. Some may be school-related, such as binders, backpacks, pens, pencils, paper, and paper clips. Other items may be more personal, such as water bottles, personal stereos, and hair clips. Students may neglect items such as shoelaces, zippers, buttons, fabric, eyeglasses or contact lenses, makeup, and bandages. Discussion should reinforce the notion that humans develop technology with a specific objective in mind. A related concept is that a given task requires the right tool or tools. 4. Pick a technology that students have mentioned. Ask them what types of knowledge were required to develop that technology. Students may not realize that technologies are generally developed by applying knowledge from multiple disciplines. For example, producing todays audio devices, such as a portable MP3 player, requires knowledge obtained from engineering, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and computer science. 5. On the basis of previous discussions, ask students to rethink and refine their definition of technology (from number 1). Students should mention that technology is a way of solving problems through the application of knowledge from multiple disciplines. 6. Written Assignment: With a partner, have students address the following scenario and complete the worksheet. Allow students to use the internet. Students can present their responses to the class. Tell students to imagine that they live in the Stone Age. Their only garment has been ripped and requires mending. How would they do it? Students first should recognize that the ripped garment is a problem requiring a solution. They should consider what technologies they have available. The Stone Age was a period early in the development of human cultures when tools were made of stone and bone. Clothing consisted of animal skins or fabrics woven from threads derived from plant fibers. Bones and sharp reeds were used to make needles.

Ask students how their approach to mending the garment would change as time advanced from the Stone Age to the present. What new knowledge would allow the development of new technology? Student responses will vary, and some students may want to jump directly from the Stone Age to the modern sewing machine. Slow them down and have them consider incremental changes in knowledge and technologies. They may cite the use of metals to fashion repair tools, like knives and finer needles. New knowledge of metals and chemistry would help here. Later advances in engineering and mechanics would lead to the development of human-run machines for assisting with repairs. Eventually, advances in physics (electricity) and engineering led to the invention of modern sewing machines. Similarly, advances in agriculture, chemistry, and engineering produced better fabrics and threads. Students should derive an understanding that technology advances through interactions among multiple disciplines. While a problem may remain basically the same over time (for instance, the need to make or repair clothing), advances in technology change how the problem is solved.

Source: http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih4/technology/guide/lesson1.htm

Assessment- Teacher will review responses to worksheets and will observe verbal responses given in class.

Names____________________________________________

What is Technology
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1. Based on our classroom discussion and further research, what is your definition of technology? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 2. Imagine that you live in the Stone Age. Your only garment has been ripped and requires mending. How would you do it? How would your approach to mending the garment change as time advanced from the Stone Age to the present. What new knowledge would allow the development of new technology? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

Engineering as a Career Introductory Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnu12hl_XeE

Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in several class periods
and finished for homework if necessary.

Goals/Objectives- Objective: Students will research various a field of engineering

and its related careers. and present their information in the form of a Power Point presentation or a movie to the class.

Connections to State/National Standards

3.C.3.a 3.C.3.a 4.B.3.b 5.a.3.a 13.B.3.C 1.B.3.b (Social Emotional) 1.C.3.a (Social Emotional)

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet as well as Microsoft Power Point and/or Windows Movie Maker to complete this activity. If Windows Movie Maker is not available, a Power Point
Presentation can be substituted in its place.

Knowledge and Background Material for the Teacher

Internet, Microsoft Power Point, Windows Movie Maker

Internet Resources: Students should use a variety of search engines to search for
information. Students may use this link as a starting point for their research: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm. http://www.black-collegian.com/career/career-reports/engineering2005-2nd.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_of_engineering http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/What_Is_Engineering/Engineering_Alphabet/de fault.php For those students who are not familiar with Windows Movie Maker, they might start here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx Help with Power Point presentations: http://www.actden.com/PP/ http://www.bcschools.net/staff/PowerPointHelp.htm 7

Searching for colleges and Universities that offer Engineering Majors US News and World Try Engineering

Activity: As an introduction, students should complete worksheet A-7 independently.

Either in small groups or as a whole class discuss the results and come up with a working definition of what an engineer does in general. There should be a distinction made between designing and creating something as opposed to operating or building things. Students should work in groups of 2-3 depending on class size. Each group should select a field of engineering or be randomly assigned a field to research. Their final product must be a Power Point presentation or a movie created using Windows Movie Maker. The following items must be included in the presentation: General description of field and potential occupations Salary (students should calculate monthly salary, and weekly earnings as well) Education prerequisite classes to be taken during high school, top college/universities offering a degree in the field, required high school g.p.a. and ACT/ PSAT scores Connections to mathematics-how does this type of engineer use mathematics?

Possible fields (students can research other fields as well): Aerospace Engineering Agricultural Engineering Architectural Engineering Bioengineering/ Biomedical engineering Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Computer/Software Engineering Electrical Engineering Engineering Management Environmental Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Engineering Mining Engineering Nuclear Engineering Petroleum Engineering Systems Engineering

Assessment: See Attached Rubric

Engineering as a Career
Teacher Name: Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY Cooperation

4
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all of the time.

3
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most of the time.

2
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some of the time.

1
Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing responsibility.

Content Accuracy

All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors.

Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate.

The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate.

Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error.

Text - Font Choice & Formatting

Font formats (e.g., color, bold, italic) have been carefully planned to enhance readability and content. Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the type of material that might be on the next card.

Font formats have been carefully planned to enhance readability.

Font formatting has been carefully planned to complement the content. It may be a little hard to read. Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional card or item of information seems out of place.

Font formatting makes it very difficult to read the material.

Sequencing of Information

Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One card or item of information seems out of place.

There is no clear plan for the organization of information.

Contains all Required Information

Information is Information is mostly At least half of the complete and complete, only one required information contains all required thing missing. is present. parts.

Information is grossly incomplete. Presentation does not make sense.

Copyright 2000-2007 Advanced Learning Technologies in Education Consortia ALTEC 9

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Code of Ethics
Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in one class period and
finished for homework if necessary

Goals/Objectives- Students will create a Code of Ethics for members of the PreAlgebra class. Students should take into consideration environment inside the classroom, elements of group work as well as individual expectations. Students will also explore ethics as it relates to other fields as well.

Connections to State/National Standards

4.B.3.b 4.A.3.a 1.B.3.a (Social Emotional) 2.A.3.a (Social Emotional) 2.A.3.b (Social Emotional) 3.A.3.a (Social Emotional) 3.A.3.b (Social Emotional)

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet to complete this activity

Background Material for the Teacher

Source: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/

Activity Students will complete Code of Ethics Worksheet during this lesson.
What is Ethics? Simply stated, ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves-as friends, parents, children, citizens, businesspeople, teachers, professionals, and so on. Source: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html Begin class with a discussion on ethics. What is ethics? Who needs them? Who uses them? Why are they important? As a class, come up with a working definition on ethics. Next, have students create a Code of Ethics for the class (in this case, Pre-Algebra) that will guide class members for the remainder of the school year. This is a good activity to do during the first few days of the school year or semester. Be sure to include entries in the code for individual work as well as group work. Students can work alone, with a partner or in a group; give them about 15 minutes to create a list of approximately 5 11

entries. After 15 minutes, conduct a class discussion and agree on a Code of Ethics for the class. Post a copy of the Code in the classroom for students to reference all year long. If there is time remaining in class or for homework, have students research 3 occupations that use a Code of Ethics to guide them. One of these must be a field of Engineering. Ask students to explain why this code of ethics is so important to the occupation.

Assessment
RET Summer 2008
Class Code of Ethics

Name: ________________________ Date : ___________________ 1 2

Teacher: Title of Work: ___________________ Criteria 3 4 Points

Comments shared with the Contributed Offered minimal Participated in Did not contribute to class demonstrate inappropriately to comments to Class class discussion. complete class discussion. class discussion. Discussion understanding of the topic. Understands Has a basic Has a complete Has a limited the concept of understanding of understanding of ethics and can Cannot apply concept understanding of ethics and how it ethics and can of ethics to anything. ethics and how to apply it to can be applied to apply it to all apply them. different the real world. situations situations Completed Completed Did not do any Only researched Only researched research on Research on research. one occupation. two occupations. ethics. Research Ethics and was thorough. Occupations

____

____

____ ____

Total----> Teacher Comments:

____ ____

Powered by TeAch-nology.com- The Web Portal For Educators! (www.teach-nology.com)

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Name ________________________________________________

Code of Ethics Worksheet

1. Define ethics ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

2. Class Code of Ethics ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 3. Research 3 other occupations that use a Code of Ethics to guide them. One of these must be in a field of engineering. Explain why this code of ethics is important each occupation.

Occupation: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Occupation: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Occupation: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

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Ethical Decision Making Can You Make the Right Decision?

Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in one or two 45 minute
class periods and finished for homework if necessary.

Goals/Objectives- People are faced with having to make decisions every day. Students too, must make important decisions that can affect themselves as well as others. How do we know what rules to go by when we have to make a decision? Having a set of rules which to go by, helps in guiding us to make decisions. Engineers have a code of ethics that help guide them in their professional lives. Students will use a format for making ethical decisions when faced with an engineering related dilemma.
I would take the time to explain that personal ethics helps us make decisions. In addition, in mathematics we use a problem solving plan that utilizes multiple strategies to help us solve everyday problems.

Connections to State/National Standards

4.B.3.b 2.A.3.b (Social Emotional) 3.A.3.a (Social Emotional) 3.A.3.b (Social Emotional) 3.B.3.b (Social Emotional)

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet to complete this activity.

Background Material for the Teacher

Codes of Ethics in Engineering http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/codes_index.php Format for Ethical Decision , see attached

Activity
Optional Introductory Video YouTube Ethical Concerns with Genetic Engineering Students can work in groups of 3 or 4. Either assign or have the group select a video to watch. Each group should apply the ethical decision making process to the situation. Each group will present their results to the class. In their presentation, the process for making the decision must be clear to the audience. We should understand from watching your skit that you went through all of the steps for making an ethical decision. They can either role play the process or just report out. More than one group can select the same scenario. There can be discussions around how each group worked through the process. An alternative to the videos are written case studies involving ethics. The same activity ca be used with the written case studies. http://ethics.sandiego.edu/resources/cases/Detail.asp#PageCite

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1. Plan Stamping, 2. Slacking Off at Work 3. Double Overhead 4. Known Hazard 5. Environmental Issue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RujS_98n8rE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_OW3Xmd2zI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDvPQl7jM6k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPE9ZxtvKPg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8QSC9BBqYg

A Format for Ethical Decision Making

Source: Michael Davis, Center for Study of Ethics in the Professions, IIT, Chicago 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. State the problem- what is wrong or what make you feel uncomfortable? Check the facts of the situation State specifications look at laws, professional codes Develop a list of options Test your options, for example a. Harms test- does this option do less harm than the alternative b. Publicity test- would I want my choice of this option published in the newspaper? c. Defendability test could I defend my choice of this option before a Congressional committee, a group of my peers or even my parents? d. Reversability test would I still think that this choice was good if I were one of the people affected by it? e. Professional test- what would my professions ethics committee say about this option? f. Colleague test- what do my colleagues say when I describe the problem and my solution?

6. Make a choice based on steps 1-5. 7. Review steps 1-6

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Are All Search Engines Created Equal?

Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in about 3 45-minute class
periods and finished for homework if necessary.

Goals/Objectives- Students will learn how search engines work, compare the
effectiveness of two different search engines and apply mathematical concepts to the searching process. Student will use the Spearman Foot Rule Distance to compare the results of their two searches. Students will complete a precision at N graph to measure the percentage of search results that are relevant (close to 1). Students will post their work to a class wiki page and be responsible for peer-reviewing another groups work.

Connections to State/National Standards

4.B.3.b 5.A.3.a 6.A.3 6.B.3.a 8.D.3.a 8.C.3 8.B.3 8.A.3.a 10.A.3.a 10.A.3.b 10.A.3.c 11.A.3.C 11.A.3.d

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge

Students should know how to use the internet to complete this activity. Students should know how to do simple computations using absolute value. Students should know how to use excel to create a graph. Introduction to the Spearman Foot rule distance. .

Background Material for the Teacher

Power Point Presentation created by Ori Rawlings, Student, IIT, Chicago - see additional materials. 16

PB Wiki sample page - http://ret2008summer.pbwiki.com/

Features of search engines http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html

Google basics: http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=searchguides.html&ctx=basics &hl=en Googling to the Max http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Googling_MaxExercises.pdf Term Frequency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tf-idf Ethical Issue and Search Engines C:\Documents and Settings\techco\Desktop\RET 2008 H\Ethics Updates - Esse est indicato in Google Ethical and Political Issues in Search Engines by Lawrence M_ Hinman.htm Search Engines: www.google.com www.yahoo.com www.ask.com www.altavista.com www.aolsearch.com www.dogpile.com www.webcrawler.com www.alltheweb.com

Assessment Students written work will be graded for accuracy, in addition, students must post their work on pwiki.com. The wiki will be open for all class members to view. Students will also be responsible for peer-reviewing a classmates work. Activity
1. Review background information with students on how search engines work. Include crawling, indexing, searching, query, popularity, Spearman Foot Rule Distance, page 17

rank, and term frequency. This can be done as a lecture or given as a homework assignment and then discussed in class. 2. Students work with a partner. They should select a topic to search. They should complete their query using 2 different search engines. Students should answer the questions on pages 17-18. 3. Student will use the Spearman Foot Rule Distance to compare the results of their two searches. They should complete page 20. 4. Students should complete a precision at N graph to measure the percentage of search results that are relevant. 5. The components of this assignment should be uploaded to a class wiki (pbwiki.com). Class members can review as well as edit items contained in the wiki.

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Search Engine Assignment

1. In your own words, explain how a search engine works. Use a diagram if necessary. _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

2. What are the ethical issues involved in the search engine industry? Do all web pages have a fair shot at being ranked first? _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 3. Select 2 search engines, select a topic and complete a search. Run your search a second and even third time to compare your results. Meaning, if I use Google to search for beaches in Florida, will I get the same results if I search an hour later?

Topic selected _________________________________________________ Key Word(s) used ______________________________________________ Remember, this must remain consistent for both searches. Search Engines Selected _______________________________________

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COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING CHART

Key Words:
How large is the database of all of the documents that the search engine has? How often does the search engine crawl the internet to keep its information up-todate? What types of documents does the search engine offer? PDF, WORD, EXCEL, PPT, How fast was your search complete? Avg. for all 4 Trials How consistent is it. If you searched at different times, would you get the same results? What types of advanced search options are available? How are the results displayed? Are they displayed by popularity or relevancy or both? How many results did you get?

Trial 1: Trial 2: Trial 1: Trial 2:

Trial 1: Trial 2: Trial 1: Trial 2:

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Spearman Foot Rule Distance Example

Search: Florida Beaches
List first ten results

Google
1. www.floridabeachesguide.com 2. www.floridasbeach.com/ 3. www.beachhunter.net

Yahoo
www.floridasbeach.com www.visitflorida.com/beaches www.florida.com

4. www.visitflorida.com/beaches www.visitflorida.com 5. www.visitflorida.com/articles/best-beaches-for. 6. goflorida.about.com/od/beaches/Florida_Beaches_Coasts.htm goflorida.about.com/od/beaches/Florida_Beaches_Coasts.htm

7.

www.sffb.com
goflorida.about.com/od/beache1/Floridas_Beaches.htm

8. www.travelchannel.com/Travel_Ideas/Beach_Vacations/ www.awesomeflorida.com www.beachesofsouthwalton.com 9. www.beachdirectory.com 10. www.getaway4florida.com www.fortmyers-sanibel.com www.beachdirectory.com

Spearman Foot Rule Distance using absolute value

| placement in first list placement in second list | There were 15 different sites, therefore the value 16 was given to a site that only appeared in one list. It does not matter which list you use as the first value since you are using absolute value

|1-16|+ | 2-1| + | 3-16| + |4-2| + |5-1| + |6-5| + |16 - 16| + |8-16| + |9-10| + |10-16| =51
Minimum distance = 0 Maximum distance = 120 There is a distance of 51 between 2 lists in this example. 51 is a little less than halfway to 120 with 15 entries. There is an average of 120/51 distance between each item.
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Spearman Foot Rule Distance Worksheet

1. List the first ten unsponsored results from your query for each of the two search engines. Then use the Spearman Foot Rule Distance to calculate the distance between the results in each list.

2. What is the average shift or distance between each result? (sfd divided by # of results will give the average). __________________________ 3. Is your distance bid or small or insignificant? Does make a difference for your query if there is a large difference or not? _____________________________________________________________ 4. What can have an effect on the size of the difference? _____________________________________________________________
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Precision at N Graph
Search engines return a list of documents for a query. Typically there are some good documents in the list and some bad ones. The quality of a search engine is measured in terms of the proportion of good hits in the list, the positions of good hits relative to bad ones, and the proportion of good documents missing from the list. Ideally, a search engine must return all the good documents and only the good documents. Such an engine has very good quality and is said to have high precision, recall, and utility. Good is determined by whether or not the result is relevant. For example, if you did a query for Cinderella, the fairy tale, your results would include those related to the fairy tale and then some related to the rock band Cinderella. The results related to the rock band are not relevant. To create a precision at N graph, take the first 25 results for your query. Assign each result either a 1 for relevant to your query or a 0 for not relevant. Example: A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

C
1 2 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7

D
1 1 1 1 0.8 0.833333 0.714286 0.75 0.777778 0.7

Here are the first 10 entries for a query. Column A represents N, Column shows 1 if the entry was relevant to my query and 0 if it is not relevant, Column C represents the sum of Column B, Column D represents the sum of C divided by A at N. Then I made a line graph.

What is the highest value shown on the graph? What do you think that represents? What would a value of 0 represent? Select a topic to search. Do a query and create a Precision at N graph for the first 25 results.

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How Do Search Engines Work?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine A search engine operates, in the following order 1. Web crawling 2. Indexing 3. Searching Web search engines work by storing information about many web pages, which they retrieve from the WWW itself. These pages are retrieved by a Web crawler (sometimes also known as a spider) an automated Web browser which follows every link it sees up to a certain point (called depth). The contents of each page are then analyzed to determine how it should be indexed (for example, words are extracted from the titles, headings, or special fields called meta tags). Data about web pages are stored in an index database for use in later queries. Some search engines, such as Google, store all or part of the source page (referred to as a cache) as well as information about the web pages, whereas others, such as AltaVista, store every word of every page they find. This cached page always holds the actual search text since it is the one that was actually indexed, so it can be very useful when the content of the current page has been updated and the search terms are no longer in it. This problem might be considered to be a mild form of linkrot, and Google's handling of it increases usability by satisfying user expectations that the search terms will be on the returned webpage. Increased search relevance makes these cached pages very useful, even beyond the fact that they may contain data that may no longer be available elsewhere. When a user enters a query (search for information) into a search engine (typically by using key words), the engine examines its index and provides a listing of best-matching web pages according to its criteria, usually with a short summary containing the document's title and sometimes parts of the text. Most search engines support the use of the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further specify the search query. The usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance (how well the results meet your needs) of the result set it gives back. While there may be millions of webpages that include a particular word or phrase, some pages may be more relevant, popular, or authoritative than others. Most search engines employ methods to rank or evaluate each item in the collection in such a way that any two items can then be compared to see which should come higher in the ranking to provide the "best" results first. Important to note, how a search engine decides which pages are the best matches, and what order the results should be shown in, varies widely from one engine to another. The methods also change over time as Internet usage changes and new techniques evolve. Most Web search engines are commercial ventures supported by advertising revenue and, as a result, some employ the controversial practice of allowing advertisers to pay money to have their listings ranked higher in search results. Those search engines which do not accept money for their search engine results make money by running search related ads

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alongside the regular search engine results. The search engines make money every time someone clicks on one of these ads. The vast majority of search engines are run by private companies using proprietary algorithms (owned exclusively by that company) and closed databases, though some are open source. Term Frequency (TF) is a measure of how often a term is found in a collection of documents. TF is combined with inverse document frequency (IDF) as a means of determining which documents are most relevant to a query. TF is sometimes also used to measure how often a word appears in a specific document.

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Additional Background Information for Teachers

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Search Engine Design

Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in one class period and
finished for homework if necessary.

Goals/Objectives-.Students will design their own search engine. Connections to State/National Standards
4.B.3.b 5.A.3.a 5.A.3.b 10.A.3.c 11.B.3.a 11.B.3.b

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet to complete this activity

Background Material for the TeacherWhat Makes Search Engines Good? See attached.

Activity
Students will work in groups of 2-3 to design their own search engine. First, they should review the attached document What Makes a Search Engine Good? Think about the many times you have searched the Internet, did your results come out the way you wanted them to? Does the advertising bother you? Is it ethical? How should Page Rank be determined? How fast does it deliver results? How can a user be assured that their query will yield the results that they are looking for? Can you draw a diagram of your search engine? Does it have a name? What does it look like on the internet? Prepare a poster to present to the class. Try to persuade us that your new search engine is the best one out there.

Assessment: See next page

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Making A Poster : Search Engine Poster

Teacher Name: Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY Use of Class Time

4
Used time well during each class period. Focused on getting the project done. Never distracted others.

3
Used time well during each class period. Usually focused on getting the project done and never distracted others. All required elements are included on the poster.

2
Used some of the time well during each class period. There was some focus on getting the project done but occasionally distracted others. All but 1 of the required elements are included on the poster.

1
Did not use class time to focus on the project OR often distracted others.

Required Elements

The poster includes all required elements as well as additional information.

Several required elements were missing.

Knowledge Gained

Student can accurately answer all questions related to facts in the poster and processes used to create the poster. The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.

Student can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the poster and processes used to create the poster. The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.

Student can accurately answer about 75% of questions related to facts in the poster and processes used to create the poster. The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.

Student appears to have insufficient knowledge about the facts or processes used in the poster.

Attractiveness

The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.

Date Created: Jul 29, 2008 07:20 am (CDT)

Copyright 2000-2007 Advanced Learning Technologies in Education Consortia ALTEC

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You Be the Engineer

Grade Level This activity can be used with students in grades 6-8. Time Requirements This activity can be completed in one class period and
finished for homework if necessary

Goals/Objectives- Students will select an everyday object and redesign it to make it

work better.

Connections to State/National Standards

4.B.3.b 5.A.3.a 5.A.3.b 11.B.3.a 11.B.3.b

Assumed Pre-requisite Knowledge Students should know how to use the

internet to complete this activity.

Background Material for the Teacher this activity was adapted from the
website www.alifetimeofcolor.com . Have students bring in one or two household items from home. Bring a few spare items for those students that forget.

Activity
Ask students brainstorm a list of products that they used today. Have them think about who made them. For example, inventors and engineers think of the idea and make it work. Industrial designers are concerned with the look, feel and usability of the objective. Have students examine the examples of products that you gathered. Ask them to think like an engineer and consider the following questions:

Functionality
What is it? Is it obvious what the object is or does? Is it easy to understand how it works? Does it work as expect? (Have them try it out.) What would happen if the user used it incorrectly? What visual clues does the object have about how to use it?

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Ergonomics
How has the object been shaped to fit the human body? Is it comfortable to use? Who is it for? (size, age, ability of the person) Are there people with different body types and and/or abilities that couldn't use it? Safety Is it safe? Can they anticipate any safety problems? Is it ethical?

Durability and Affordability

Will it last as long as it needs to? Can the product's intended user afford it?

Aesthetics
Is it appealing to look at? Is it pleasant to touch? Does its appearance suggest how to use it? How do they feel when looking at the object? Does it look appealing to use?

Improvements
What would they change to make it a better product?

Designing a better product

1. Ask students to think about the object they brought from home or to chose one from your collection. It could be a kitchen utensil, a door, a chair, a pen, a toy or any other mass produced object. What is it supposed to do? Is it attractive? Does it make you want to use it? What are the problems? This is a plan for the Paper Mate PhD pen. It shows all the shapes and sizes for all the pen parts.

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2. Divide a sheet a paper in half and make two lists. On one side list all the things the object does well--the things they like about it. On the other side, list the things the object does poorly--the things they dislike about it. 3. Think about the two lists. What could they change to improve the object? Have them jot down ideas on the back of their paper. 4 Next, have students draw their redesigned object. 38

7. Have students write a paragraph about their redesigned object and how their changes improved it. Have students present their industrial designs to the class. They can show their classmates the changes they made and why. Students can give feedback on the changes and suggest other ideas they have about how to improve the product. Source: http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/main.taf?p=2,2,4

Assessment

Rubric
Beginning 1 Accomplished 2 Exemplary 3 Made full use of class time. Score Did not use class Did some work in time effectively class.

Used Class Time Effectively

Reviewed at Least One Classmates Design

Did not review classmates design

Reviewed classmates design, but gave no constructive comments.

Presentation

No eye contact Incomplete drawing Incomplete or no comments

Reviewed classmates design, and gave thoughtful Constructive comments. Maintained excellent eye contact Complete drawings Excellent Explanation to the class

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Pre-Test / Post Test

Short Answer
1. What is ethics?

2. What is a code of ethics and why is it important to have an ethical standard of behavior in general or in a specific profession?

3. Describe a way to test whether or not a solution to an ethical dilemma is a good solution.

4. Explain what engineers do in general.

5. How is scientific inquiry, solving problems in mathematics and what engineers do very similar? How is it different?

6. What is a search engine and how does it work?

7. What is the Spearman Foot Rule Distance and how is it used?

8. What is a Precision at N graph and how doe it relate to search engines?

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Additional Resources
1. ASEE Engineering K-12 2. Teachengineering 3. PBS Design Contest 4. A to Z Teacher Stuff 5. PBS Building BIG 6. Ethics 7. NY Times Lesson Plans 8. PreK-12 Engineering 9. Institute for Global Ethics 10. Additional Resources on Search Engines 11. Comparison of Search Engines 12. Glossary of Internet Terms 13. More on Searching the Web 14. How Google Works 15. Kids Search Tools 16. Codes of Ethics in Engineering 17.

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Assessment Rubric
Illinois State Goals What is Technology Engineering as a Career Code of Ethics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Social Emotional

1.B.3.d

5.A.3.a

13.B.3.a

3.C.3.b 4.B.3.b 5.A.3.a 3.C.3.a 4B3b 4A3a

13.B.3.c 1B3b 1C3a 1B3a 2A3a 3A3a 3A3b 2A3b 3A3a 3A3b 3B3b

Ethics Scenarios

4B3b

Search Engine Comparison Search Engine Design

4B3b

5.A.3.a 6.A.3 6.B.3.a

4.B.3.b 5.A.3.a 5.A.3.b

10.A.3.c 11.A.3.c 10.A.3.b 11.A.3.d 10.A.3.c 11.B.3.a 11.B.3.b