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Specialized Google Research Tools That Are Powerful, Easy, and Free

Mark Wagner, Ph.D.


Discover tools that help educators and students access relevant information, locate timely research, and share meaningful resources. Learn powerful easy-to-use features of Google Books, Scholar, News, Blogsearch, Alerts and more.
Google Books makes the full text of the worlds greatest libraries searchable from any computer - and makes it possible to share relevant books with colleagues or students. Google Scholar provides meaningful access to scholarly research over time. Google News aggregates and filters thousands of news sources so the important information rises to the top, and Google Blogsearch helps make sense of the social web as it happens. This session focuses on the best strategies to put these tools (and others) to use in support of educators and students, including stragies for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), Inquiry-Driven Learning, and Project Based Learning... as well as other more traditional applications, such as research papers. Online resources for the session include links to each tool, real-world examples, and screencasts illustrating key elements of the session for later reference.

Quick Reference:

Specialized Google Research Tools



The Tools:

Web Search
Activity: Use these advanced search techniques to locate PLC resources.

Specialized Search (Killer Research Tools)
Activity: Use these specialized search tools to locate Project Based Learning resources.

Multimedia Search (Time Permitting)
More Search Tools for Educators
Activity: Create a Custom Search Engine for Your Site (Time Permitting)
  • With a small group, choose a topic to research - preferably something relevant to your staff or students.
  • Create a custom search engine focused on the topic.
  • Use the other specialized search tools above to locate quality resources related to the topic.
  • Populate the custom search engine with the quality resources you find.
  • Share the custom search engine with the Lead Learner. A link to each CSE will be added below.

Online Evaluation (A Google Form)