Searching for Knowledge, not for Answers

 

A Project about “Searching” for the Correct Information.

 

Beatrice B

 

March 11,15,17 2016

 

Green Group

 

This is a quiz that was found in the Sunday January 3 2010 Concord Monitor newspaper…. Answers are there, too.  You need to read the question, and… if you KNOW the correct answer, that’s good… but you must still VERIFY that correct answer.  And write out your source for that correct answer.  And, MOST importantly, I want to you also write out your thinking process- especially for the questions you do NOT know the answer to.  Can you eliminate any of the answers?  How?   And how did you search for the correct answer?  Did you search the QUESTION, or did you search the possible answers? 

 

Write it out!  Be complete.  A good paragraph per answer is what we are after here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1.      What are the three places that make up the points of the Bermuda Triangle?

 

    1. Bahamas, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico
    2. Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Tortola
    3. Miami, Bermuda, Puerto Rico

 

This is a map of the Bermuda triangle and here is where I got it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle

 

I am going to use Bing for my search engine. I am going to use Bing because I don’t use it a lot and I would like to learn more about it. I am going to use the search terms Bermuda, triangle, and corners. I found 1,910,000 results, and then I scrolled through the first few snippets until I found a website that I wanted to read. It was… http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/bermudat.htm  and I found a map with the correct answer. It is answer c, Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico.

 

 

  1. Recife is the popular, pretty capital of Pernambuco state in what country?

 

    1. Italy
    2. Spain
    3. Brazil

 

 

I am going to use DuckDuckGo for my search engine. I am going to use this search engine because I have never used it before, and it has a catchy name. I am going to use the search terms Pernambuco, Recife, and capital. DuckDuckGo didn’t give me the total number of search results. I scrolled through the first few snippets until I found a website that I wanted to read. It was… http://www.britannica.com/place/Pernambuco and I found the right answer in the first sentence. It is c, Brazil.

 

  1. Historic Nara, Japan, celebrates a huge anniversary in 2010.  How old is the country’s first capital city?

 

    1. 570 years  (in 2010)
    2. 1,300 years   (in 2010)
    3. 4,000 years   (in 2010)

 

 

I am going to use Dogpile for my third search engine. I am going to use this search engine because I have never use it before, nor had I heard of it before now. I have no idea what the correct answer, but I will make a guess that it is not a, because I know that Japan is much older than that. I am going to use the search terms Nara, Japan, 2010, and anniversary. As soon as I typed Nara Japan Anniversary, 2010 popped up in the suggestion box. I found many snippets, but could find no “total number”. I scrolled through many snippets until I found the correct answer at this site… http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/travel/03headsup.html?_r=0. The correct answer was b, 1,300 years  (in 2010).

 

  1. The Northern Pacific Gyre lies in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and the west coast of the United States. What does it contain?

 

    1. A huge pod of an estimated 2,000 endangered gray whales
    2. A giant debris field of garbage trapped in a spinning circle
    3. An underground sea mountain 7 miles tall

 

I think I will use a fourth search engine. I will use the search engine ixquick because it does not track your searches. I do not know enough about this question to even eliminate an answer. I will use the search terms Northern, Pacific, and Gyre. No suggested search terms popped up, which makes sense because ixquick doesn’t track searches. I scrolled through the snippets and this site… http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html. I trust this site because it is a .gov site, which means it was made by the U.S. government. I found the correct answer which is b, a giant debris field of garbage trapped in a spinning circle.

 

  1. This year (in 2010) a mosaic of an angel was discovered under the floor of the Hagia Sophia.  Where and what is the Hagia Sophia?

 

    1. Istanbul, Turkey.  It’s a museum that previously was a Byzantine Christian Church and a mosque.
    2. Luxembourg.  It’s a cathedral built to honor St. Sophia, the country’s patron saint.
    3. Mexico City.  It’s a traditional market where the image of the angel is said to have healing powers.

 

For number 5, we are going to do this very, very, very differently for sure. We are going to use four different search engines, and we are going to compare the results. I am using the search engines Google, Bing, ixquick, and Web Crawler. I don’t know what the answer is. I am using the search terms Hagia Sophia. Google gave me very easy-to-read and understand answers as soon as I typed in my search terms. Bing brought up a lot of pictures, videos, and general information on the side and top of the page as soon as I hit enter. Web Crawler gave me a whole bunch of ads, and then some links to information if I scrolled down a bit. Ixquick brought up a bunch of ads as well, and links when I scrolled down a bit. All sites gave me a snippet from Wikipedia in the first five snippets shown. I found that the correct answer is a, Istanbul, Turkey.  It’s a museum that previously was a Byzantine Christian Church and a mosque. The web site I ended up clicking on to find this was Live Science, http://www.livescience.com/27574-hagia-sophia.html. I think I like Bing the best because it gave me very easy access to the information I needed, and I like the format of it.

 

  1. If you want to go whitewater rafting on the Kampar River, where do you have to go?

 

    1. Wheeling, West Virginia.
    2. Gopeng, Malaysia
    3. Johannesburg, South Africa

 

We are going to use Google as a search engine but we are going to do an advanced search… but not the gear! We are going to limit the domain results. I am going to use the search terms Kampar, and River. I limited the domain results to just edu sites by typing site:*.edu after my search terms. Because I did this, the only sites that showed up were edu sites. Google only showed me snippets from sites that didn’t really answer my question. Many of the snippets on the first page of results were from the Cornell University Library, and were images. Although these snippets weren’t ideal for answering my question, the words Malaysia, and Indonesia kept coming up, so I could guess the right answer. However, just to be sure I was correct, I added the word Malaysia onto my search. I then clicked on a new snippet that popped up, because it said Gopeng in it, which caught my eye because it is part of one of the possible answers. The link on the snippet opened to a page that said something along the lines of River Sediment Transport Gopeng, Malaysia. This is that page: http://www.academia.edu/5063601/Rivers04_-_Sediment_Transport_Penang_Malaysia . I then determined that it was not a coincidence that I kept seeing Malaysia, and that the right answer is b, Gopeng, Malaysia.

 

  1. Most tourists love Devonshire cream tea – scones, clotted cream and raspberry jam with tea.  But where in England is Devonshire?

 

    1. In dairy country east of London
    2. Southwest England
    3. Near the Scottish border

 

I am going to use Bing as my search engine, because Bing is my new favorite search engine, and is easy to use. I am going to use the search terms Devonshire, and England. I am going to limit the domain results this time to only .com results. Since I am using Bing, I will remove the asterisk I scrolled through the first few snippets, and came across this link: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/england/devon/. It contained a map that showed Devonshire, and a little of its surrounding areas. I noticed that it was on the coast, being surrounded by the English Channel, the British Channel, and (almost, sort of) the Atlantic Ocean. Keeping this in mind, and that it was next to Cornwall, I opened a link to a map of all of England from the same site, and determined that the answer was b, Southwest England.

 

  1. What and where are the Adirondacks?

 

    1. The Amish region in Indiana where craftsmen make chairs
    2. Mountain range in New York state
    3. American Indian reservations in the Florida Everglades

 

Before I even begin to look for the answer to this, I know that the answer is b, Mountain range in New York state. Regardless, I will search on ixquick (because it doesn’t track my searches) for the search terms Adirondacks, and New York. I will also filter my search so that I only get snippets of .gov sites. I scroll throught the first few snippets, and soon find this site: http://visitadirondacks.com/about/adirondack-park, which I click on. This site confirms that I am correct, and that the answer is b, because it is a website for the Adirondack Parks in New York, USA.

 

  1. Most people just call the region the Caribbean, but what is its formal name?

 

    1. The West Indies
    2. The East Indies
    3. The South Indies

 

I know from our unit on Christopher Columbus that the correct answer to this question is a, The West Indies. However, I will still so a search because this is a project about searching, not answers. I will use the search engine Google because I am most familiar with it. I am using the search terms West Indies, and formal name, because I am very confident in my answer, and I just want to check if it is correct. I filtered my search so that I will get only .com sites, and Google came up with 1,230,000 results. There were a number of snippets from Wikipedia and other sites, but the one I chose to click on was from Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/place/West-Indies-island-group-Atlantic-Ocean. This site confirms that a is the correct answer, because it refers to numerous islands that I know to be part of the Caribbean as being islands of the West Indies.

 

  1. Almost all tourists who visit the Galapagos Islands leave for their trip from what city?

 

    1. Quito, Ecuador
    2. Santiago, Chile
    3. La Paz, Bolivia

 

I don’t even think I can make a good guess on this question, so I won’t. I am going to use the search engine Bing for this question because I love looking at all the pretty pictures on their home page. I am going to limit the domain results to .org sites this time, and use the search terms Galapagos, Travel, Destination, and City. I found many snippets, but the one I chose to click on was http://www.galapagos.org/travel/travel/planning-a-trip/. This site told me that the correct answer was a, Quito, Ecuador. The site said that most people fly to the Galapagos through there.

 

  1. What was the United States’ first national park?

 

    1. Great Smoky Mountain
    2. Yellowstone
    3. Yosemite

 

 

  1. Of Hawaii’s six major islands, which is the smallest and least developed?

 

    1. Lili’uokalani
    2. Kauai
    3. Lanai