Seventh graders look under the hood of the search box they use every day, discovering how bots crawl the web, how an index is built, and how results get ranked, then learn to search smarter.
Students will be able to…
You type a few words and get millions of results in under a second. The engine did not read the whole web just now, so how does it work so fast, and why is one result ranked above another?
Project this and open each card to explore how a search engine crawls, indexes, and ranks the web.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
You type a few words and a search engine returns millions of results in under a second. It did not read the whole web just now. So how does it work so fast?
Students explore how a search engine works.
Students improve a search.
Students judge search results.
Students reflect on search engines.
Aligned to the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards and ISTE Standards for Students.
Model how information is broken down, sent, and received across networks.
Collect data and transform it so it is more useful for a purpose.
Compare tradeoffs associated with computing technologies that affect people.
Knowledge Constructor: evaluate the accuracy and relevance of information sources.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students run a real search, rank the top results, and say what makes one trustworthy, so searching becomes a skill, not a reflex. A printable search-engines worksheet is in the Computer Science library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.