Teaching+Boolean+Logic+for+Internet+Searches


 * 6th grade **
 * Teaching Boolean logic and Search Engines **


 * Overview ** : This lesson will help teach students basic Boolean logic.


 * Purpose ** : It is important that educators teach students about the use of Boolean logic to refine web searches.


 * Objectives ** : Students will learn about three different Boolean operators: “and”, “or” and “not”. Students will see models of the operators, and then translate their modeling into a visual search engine (Boolify).


 * Website: [|http://www.boolify.org] **

Then, jump to the website, Boolify. Describe that a search engine works the same way.
 * Activities ** :
 * Spend several minutes describing Boolean logic to students, including “and”, “or” and “not.
 * Model the difference between Boolean operators by asking:
 * AND
 * All students wearing blue jeans stand up
 * All students wearing blue jeans AND who are girls stand up
 * All students wearing blue jeans AND who are girls AND with a name that starts with “A” stand up
 * OR
 * All students wearing blue jeans OR t-shirts stand up
 * All students wearing blue jeans AND t-shirts OR caps stand up
 * NOT
 * All students wearing t-shirts but NOT jeans, stand up
 * All students who are boys and NOT wearing sandals, stand up
 * For instance, if you want to find all web pages with “dolphins”, you can search for just “dolphin”.
 * But, if you want to refine search to include only info about dolphin “migration patterns”. You need to add either +”migration patterns” or AND “migration patterns”.
 * USE boolify to practice using AND and NOT.
 * Other examples: eagles but NOT the football team
 * Fall 2011 shows on Sunday night but NOT on HBO.

** Further ideas ** :
 * Have students work in pairs, pick a favorite topic (i.e. a favorite animal, band, sport, food, etc.), and search for pages related to that topic. One student should propose keywords, and the other suggests Boolean operators to limit and refine the search results.


 * Have students model Boolean logic on the web, recording the number of results to illustrate how they limited or widened their query, and finally got relevant results.
 * Have students tell you their research topic (if applicable) and explore their thoughts about how to generate searches that will get them detailed, relevant information.


 * Wrapping up ** :
 * Have students share the results of their activity or favored topic (above) and talk about how the use of “and”, “or” and “not” changed their results. What combination worked best? Why?
 * Spend several minutes discussing how these exercises relate to the research students are doing for class work.