Computing · Year 3

Active learning ideas

Understanding Search Results

Get ready to become super search detectives! We're going to uncover the secrets of search engines and learn how to find the best information online.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• National Curriculum for England: Computing KS2 - Appreciate how results are selected and ranked

• 15–25 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Search Result Detectives

Provide pupils with a printed screenshot of a search engine results page. In pairs, they use different coloured pencils or highlighters to identify and label the key parts: title, web address (URL), description, and any advertisements.

Identify the different parts of a search result, such as the title and the web address.

Facilitation Tip

Model the activity first on the interactive whiteboard to ensure all pupils understand what to look for.

What to look for

Use an exit ticket where pupils must label a screenshot of a single search result with the terms 'title', 'URL', and 'description'.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Small Groups

Top vs. Best

Give small groups a simple research question, such as 'What do hedgehogs eat?'. They examine the top three organic search results and discuss which one they think is the most trustworthy and useful, providing reasons for their choice.

Explain why a search engine might show advertisements at the top of the page.

Facilitation Tip

Encourage pupils to look for clues like the website name, for example, a wildlife charity versus a personal blog.

What to look for

During group discussions, listen to pupils' reasoning for why they trust one link over another, assessing their critical thinking skills.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Whole Class

Ad Spotting

Show the whole class a series of search results, some with adverts and some without. Pupils vote on whether each result is a paid advertisement or an organic result, explaining how they can tell the difference.

Analyse why the first result might not be the most useful one for your research.

Facilitation Tip

Explicitly point out the small 'Ad' or 'Sponsored' text that is legally required to be shown.

What to look for

Provide pupils with a research question and a fake search results page. Ask them to circle the result they would click first and write a sentence explaining why, and also to identify the advertisement.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin by modelling a live search on the interactive whiteboard, using a 'think aloud' strategy to verbalise your thoughts as you analyse the results. Use the analogy of a supermarket, where some brands pay for the best shelf space, to explain how adverts work. Ensure you provide a mix of clear and less obvious examples to challenge pupils' thinking and encourage discussion.

By the end of this topic, your pupils will be able to dissect a search results page and start thinking critically about which links are the most trustworthy.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• The first result is always the correct or best answer.

  Search engines use a complex set of rules, called an algorithm, to rank pages. Sometimes the top results are paid adverts, or are simply the most popular, not necessarily the most accurate or suitable for your question.

• All the information on the internet is true.

  Anyone can create a website and publish information. It is important to check who has written the information and to see if you can find the same facts on other trusted websites, like those from museums, universities, or well-known news sources.

• The description under the link is always a perfect summary of the webpage.

  The short description, or 'snippet', is often automatically chosen by the search engine to show where your keywords appear on the page. It gives you a clue about the page's content, but you still need to click the link to see if it's truly useful.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share