A Google a Day 1.

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KS2: Use search technologies effectively,

appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be

discerning in evaluating digital content

A Google a Dayhttp://www.google.co.uk/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

http://www.google.co.uk/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

http://www.google.co.uk/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

Geography

Explorers from Kushiro, Pevek and Namsos arrive at the North Pole and check their watches.

If they arrived at 11:42 a.m., 12:17 p.m. and 3 a.m.,

respectively, which team was first?

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HintsThings to think about as you get started

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What time is it at the North Pole?

What are the time zones for Kushiro, Pevek, and Namsos?

How to find the answer

Answer The team from Pevek, Russia

Search Search [time at North Pole]. Learn that groups traveling to the North Pole often use the time zone of their country of origin (thus the reference to their watches). Taking this into account,12:17 p.m. in Pevek, Russia, is the earliest time.

Geography

If you were a ferry passenger traveling from Continental Europe to the country with twice as many sheep as people,

in what town would you most likely dock?


1 What is the country that has twice as many sheep as people?

2 How do you search for transportation?


Answer Seyðisfjörður

Search Search [country with twice as many sheep as people]. Various results show that the answer is Iceland. Next, search [ferry to Iceland]. The first result will give you the answer: Seyðisfjörður. To be totally sure, check the next several results, which all yield the same answer.

World History

If you were in the basin of the Somme River at summer’s end in 1918,

what language would you have had to speak to understand coded British communications?


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Where is this place (the Somme River)?

What is special about the year 1918?

Is it important that you “speak” the language?


Answer CherokeeSearch [Somme river basin 1918]. Discover that’s when the Second Battle of the Somme (a WWI battle) took place. Searching [second battle of Somme code language] reveals the Cherokee served as code talkers in battle. They relayed messages in the Cherokee language that Germans couldn’t decipher.

Two parts of the answer

Strategy Tactics

Break the question apart to first identify the location (the Somme River is in France), then figure out why it’s important (1918 is WW1), then search for the code language used.

This is called “chaining” because you use a series of queries in a chain to get the answer.

Putting a date in the first query.

Using a very specific query for the final step of the chain.

History

This invention was initially created as a walking machine and then was tweaked in 1932 to become amphibious. But neither of these are its main purpose now.

What is the invention?


1 What can you find about the invention of a walking machine?


Answer Cyclomer.

Search Searching [walking machine invention] leads you to a few inventions. One of the inventions listed is the bicycle, which was created in 1817 by Baron von Drais. Searching [bicycle 1932 amphibious] confirms that in 1932 the amphibious "Cyclomer" debuted in Paris.

Maths

If a man has two swallows tattooed on his chest,

how many inches has he sailed?


1 What is the meaning of a swallow tattoo on one's chest? It sounds like it has something to do with sailing.

2 Once you have that information, you just need to convert the value to inches.


Answer 729,133,858 inches

Search Search [meaning of swallow tattoos on chest]. Results will show it means that a sailor has sailed 10,000 nautical miles. Convert nautical miles to inches using the search bar to discover that a man with two swallows tattooed on his chest has sailed 729,133,858 inches.

Maths

If you came home from a trip with 150 South African rand, 350 Kuwaiti dinars and 200 Japanese yen,

how much would you have in U.S. dollars?


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To solve this problem you need to know about a special Google feature that helps with conversions.

Can you find that feature and then use it to solve the problem?


Answer $1,298.84 USD

Search Use Google Currency Converter. Your query of [150 rand in USD] gives you $22.23, [350 Kuwaiti dinars in USD] gives you $1274.11 and [200 yen in USD] gives you $2.50. Use Google Calculator. Find you would have returned home with $1,298.84 USD.

Science

This is a close-up photo of the heaviest boneless animal.

What gives the skin its slightly yellowish tinge?


1 First, figure out what the heaviest boneless animal is.

2 Can you check that this is the same animal in the picture?


Answer Diatoms.

Search Search for [heaviest boneless animal] and find that it’s a whale shark. An Image Search will confirm that the mottled skin in the picture is from a whale shark. Searching [whale shark yellow skin] yields the diatoms, a type of algae.

Science

There's a particular kind of bird that's often used to go fishing. It typically perches with its wings spread out wide.

Why does it do that?


1 Start by trying to figure out what kind of bird this might be.

2 Then go on to figure out why it has this unusual posture.


Answer Their wings get wet and heavy, so they hold them out to the side to dry off.

Search Searching for [bird fishing] leads quickly to finding that Cormorants are often used by fishing people in China, Japan, and Macedonia to dive for fish. Reading a bit about these birds tells us that people still debate the exact function why cormorants often stand on a perch with both wings held out to the side, but most agree that cormorant feathers (unlike those of ducks) actually get wet and heavy, so they hold them out to the side to dry off.

A Google a Day 1.

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