Accessing Information

Without a definite decision on topic I went ahead and looked at Task 1: Accessing Information. I started in each search engine with science fair topics, then science fair topics narrowed with no .com sites, the narrowed to 5th grade, then narrowed further to Earth Science. The greatest thing was to get rid of the .com sites that simply wanted to sell students a science kit or book to find a project. It was amazing how much easier it was just to sift through the edu, org, and net sites. With each qualifying word my result number became much simpler to handle. I found good ideas on Google, Bing, and then was very disappointed by Yahookids. I couldn't find a way to get rid of the .coms, tons of non=related topics were stirred in, it was just a mess. Then at Kidsclick.org I found peace. I used it this year and found it a little narrow at times but it was that very point that made it manageable for my students. I think someone said it is manage by school librarians or such but that could just be rumor. I got databases of topics that were actually very kid friendly. I wonder how this would pan out if I were looking for science fair research for a report rather than the topic itself?