Child-safe+portals

Child-Safe Web Portals

Kelly Hedrick Ashley Schuchardt Kyle Wieczynski



Description: Child safe web portals are search sites that children can use in replace of the standard Google, Yahoo!, bing, etc., in which all of the websites that are available have been pre-screened for inappropriate or unsafe websites. Google, Aol, and the ask.com sites have also developed safe search portals for children that give them homework help, games, and other websites that are safe and have been screened for appropriateness and security. media type="youtube" key="ZNbHGrGJu8Q?fs=1" height="385" width="640"


 * Websites like "google" are doing their best to crack down on safe sites for young children. (see above)**

Integrating this topic into Daily Instruction:

This issue is an important one for schools to pay attention to, because filters don't always block everything that children can find either by accident or on purpose while searching the web. Having students only be allowed to use a child-safe web portal can prevent any accidents from happening and save the school from getting in trouble. Many people rely on websites like "google" or "yahoo" to protect their child from things that may be inappropriate. Most search engines have a filter integrated into their search engines. BUT, they don't always work! One website is quoted as to saying, "ISP's and online services generally do everything they can to provide their subscribers with an enjoyable, safe, and rewarding online experience, but it's not possible for these companies to police everyone who uses their service.(Family Safe Search)" Relevance:
 * What is the impact of this issue on K-12 schools, educators, and students?**

The topic of Child Safe portals is important in any grade! It is important to have our students only find information on safe sites so that they don't come across any unappropriate age information, like sexually explicit information, violence, or any other material that is not safe for students to see. As the teacher you need to provide and explain different safe portals to the students so that they can safely search the web. Depending on the grade level, you can change the search engine to allow different information and activities to be seen. For example, in the lower grades, you can use search engines made for very young students, like KidZui or NoodleNet, to help find information or play fun educational games online. For Middle School aged students more information can be found, like Zoey's Room which helps for Science and Math, to help students with different subject areas in school. For high school and college a site like GoogleScholar can be used to find an abundance of safe research information.

Additional Links: Ivy This site provides multiple search engines for kids that have been pre-filtered. It also provides pre-screened websites for children and their families.

Dvorak Has links posted just for kids for homework help, games, and even a safe email system.

[] This website gives a list of helpful sites that children can use to search for information. It also tells how to change the search settings on Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

[] Here's a perfect link for children who want to play games, email, color, search for animals etc....

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