Finding an answer online is usually easy. The real skill is finding a good one quickly with a short search, and knowing which results were paid for.
There are five rounds. You score points for the fastest correct answer, the shortest search that still works, spotting a paid result, and fixing a search that is not working.
In round five you choose your own topic, and you will use what you write down next lesson.
A search box will answer almost anything, but what comes back is only as good as what you ask. Compare these two searches.
Vague: stuff about phones and sleep
More precise: teenagers smartphone use sleep quality research
A results page usually shows three kinds of thing:
- Sponsored or ad: someone paid for it to be there. It has a label such as Sponsored, Ad or Promoted.
- Ordinary (organic) result: nobody paid for it, and the search tool chose it because it matches what you asked.
- Extra block: a map, a row of shopping items or a short answer box. It can be useful, but it is not a checked source.
Sort the examples in the activity below, and notice what gives each one away, because the game at the end uses them. Each card turns green in the right box or red in the wrong one, with a line saying why.
Ad, result, or something else?
Work with a partner on one device, and your teacher will keep each table's points on the board. Write down every search exactly as you typed it, because two of the rounds are scored on the words you used.
| Round | Time | Your job | Search or question |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Fastest | 2 min | Find an answer and a source you trust. The first three tables to do it win points. | Do gaming headsets damage hearing? |
| 2. Shortest | 3 min | Answer the same question with as few words as you can. The shortest search that still finds a real answer wins. A search that brings back junk scores nothing. | The same question as round 1 |
| 3. Spot the paid result | 2 min | Search without opening anything. Point out one result someone paid for: what gave it away, and where was it on the page? If your school hides adverts, say what one would look like and where it would be. A point for each table that names the label and the place. | best running shoes for beginners |
| 4. Fix a dead search | 3 min | This search only brings up shopping. Change it once, by adding words, taking words away or both, so it finds out whether football boots need to be broken in before a match. A point for each table whose one change finds a real answer. | best boots |
| 5. Your own topic | 4 min | Choose a topic and fill in the four lines in Enter Your Work under this step. Press Save, so you have them next lesson. A point for each line, and one more for a search under six words. | Your own topic, or one from the list below |
You can pick your own idea, such as sport, music, gaming, a hobby, a school subject or something local.
Or choose one of these: how sleep affects focus, safe strength training for beginners, practising an instrument, common birds in Ireland, what drains a phone battery.
The four lines are already in Enter Your Work: your topic, your best search (the exact words you typed), one ordinary (not sponsored) result worth keeping, and who published it. If you share a device, your partner copies the lines into their copybook.
The race runs from the board. Your pair calls out the exact words, the teacher types them without editing, and every round is scored the same way. The shortest working search still wins. Write round 5's four lines in your copybook.
This last round is Class Play. Your teacher will put a game code on the board: type it in on your device to join. Everyone answers on their own device. You put each thing into one of the three boxes from the sorting activity: sponsored or ad, ordinary result or extra block.
Before you answer, you also choose how sure you are. The surer you are, the more points you win if you are right, and the more you lose if you are wrong.
Class Play: ad, result, or something else?
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