The current generation of internet-addicted students, accustomed to the instant gratification that it provides, are becoming more adept at navigating the internet that the previous generation. From a young age children are exposed to and trained in the efficient use of the web. The implication of this for teachers is that students are computer-smart. They can find ways around firewalls put in place by the Board of Education that many computer-science teachers would have never even thought of. Why wouldn't they be able to? They have years of experience by the time they are school-aged, many of whom used the computer before they had even begun learning to read. So even with websites being blocked, their will be one child who finds away to get around them, and soon enough, so will the rest of the students.
One way to combat this is to limit their internet searches to a custom search engine, such as the ones that can be created through Google. A teacher can not only prevent students from going to undesirable sites, but they actually can dictate exactly what sites they can access. By creating a custom Google search engine, only the sites a teacher chooses will be displayed in the results. This also benefits the students because they do not have to wade through an exorbitant number of results to find the information you want them to find. Using custom search engines can benefit everyone involved. This is definitely a tool worth incorporating in the classroom.
Cameron's Custom Search Engine for the Revolutionary War:
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