Why Use Boolify:
Librarians, teachers and parents have told us how hard it is for students to understand web searching. Boolify makes it easier for students to understand their web search by illustrating the logic of their search, and by showing them how each change to their search instantly changes their results.
It's simple, immediate and easy to use with your class or in your library.
Search results are presented through Google's "Safe Search STRICT" technology. There are two important caveats: a) no filtering technology is 100% secure, as this blog posting astutely points out and 2) we are unable to control or modify the results that we provide, beyond the filtering settings available through Google.
Bloggers: please read this special note!
More Background:
Dede (2000) astutely remarked that “children must learn how to sift vast quantities of information through their fingertips” and “thrive on chaos”. In our lifetimes, the quantity of information available for sifting-through has increased exponentially. Yet, the tools for “learning or teaching how to sift” have not maintained pace with the need for sifting.
With this challenge in mind, the Boolify Project offers a piece of software that helps model Boolean operators. Its primary audience is Elementary and Middle School children, but it may find relevance with others. Ultimately, its goal is to increase a learners’ ability to perform effective web searches. Just how will it accomplish this?
It is hypothesized that the visual cues Boolify provides will help learners build a mental model of the search that they are performing. A mental model is an internal visualization that can be used to guide practice and, in the case of Boolify, the software helps make explicit and graphical the formation and the results of their search.
The mental model is visualized as puzzle pieces that fit together, demonstrating how search terms and operators are linked, and a table that provides real-time feedback to the learner about the efficacy of the search.
Additional information on: Mental Models, 21st Century Skills
Dede, C. (2000, March). Emerging influences of information technology on school curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 32(2) 281-303. http://www.virtual.gmu.edu/ss_pdf/DedeJCS.pdf
Credits:
Each technology developed by The Public Learning Media Laboratory brings together production staff with a wide range of educators and other volunteers. We would also like to thank the MIT Media Lab's Scratch Project, whose work served as an initial reference for Boolify.
Contact: Write To Us Online
Public Learning Media Lab Participants:
Dave H. Crusoe
Erfan Mojjadam
Peter Pinch
Robert Sibley
Shane Tutwiler
Yue Zhang
Programming & Graphics
Juxsen Chamling
Tucker Connelly
Ali Rahmoun
Jason Wallace
Language Translation
Laila Flores, Facundo Scalia, Spanish
Alma Taawo, Swedish
David Harsany and Paulo Silva, Portuguese
Additional Volunteers and Supporters:
Sandra Carswell
Susan Farr
Karen Field
Sue Giffard
Jean Gustafson
Sue Hendry
Kevin Kaland
Judith Oakes
Ralph Sandbrand