Wonder Wheel and Visual Searching
Appealing to Visual and Kinesthetic Learners
Doug Henry
Source:
Classroom 2.0 Webinars by Shelley Rodrigo of
Maricopa County Community College
URL: tinyurl.com/googleatmcccd
Link to this talk: learningforever.org
Tinyurl.com/googleatmcccd – Webinar Schedule
Searching on the Internet
Volume of data
• Data is still exploding
• Internet: 5M Terabytes, increasing by 100 Tb/Mo
• Brain: 10Tb stored data - maybe more, because of better
compression and indexing
Quality of the data
• "There are four kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, statistics and the Internet" Mark Twain (if he were still around)
• Goal:
Data-(organize)->Information-(Analyze)->Knowledge
Student Searching Problems
• Search term/keyword selection - wrong
keywords, extraneous words, inexperience
with advanced searching
• Shallow searching - only looking at first page
of hits
• Searching too widely, too deeply, or in the
wrong direction
• Searching in the wrong dimension
• Clustering and organizing hits
Search Engines and Browsers
• Different algorithms - Google (crawlers and
keywords/tags) vs Yahoo (human indexing)
• Ordinary search interfaces appeal to
read/write learners
• Visual search engines appeal to visual and
even kinesthetic learners
Example: Google Wonder Wheel
• Introduced 2009
• Wheel display of related searches
• Based on keywords, similarity
• Simple interaction
Using Wonder Wheel
• Run Google search – look on left
• Turn off Search Settings>instant search
• Browser-dependent (IE may not work)
• Several videos on Youtube (listed at end)
Google Image Swirl – Wonder Wheel for Images
Timeline – Adding a Search Dimension
Google Squared – Building a Spreadsheet
Google Adwords – Formerly Google Keyword Tool
Applications of Visual Searching – Keyword Highlighting
Yolink
Applications of Visual Searching
1. Appealing to different styles of learning
• Read/write learners - ordinary search engine results
• Visual - search "visual search engines" - e.g.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/top-visual-search-engines-the-mostinteresting-ways-to-visually-explore-search-engine-results/ (2009)
Applications of Visual Searching
• Visual and kinesthetic learners – moving and interaction
http://diplomaguide.com/articles/30_of_the_Best_Educational_T
ools_for_Auditory_Visual_and_Kinesthetic_Learners.html (2008)
Search-cube
Surfity
Applications of Visual Searching - Kinesthetic Learners
Touchgraph
Applications of Visual Searching - Kinesthetic Learners
Visuwords
learning
Applications of Visual Searching - Kinesthetic Learners
DoodleBuzz
Applications of Visual Searching
2. Organizing and clustering hits
• Group work – e.g. assign each group a "spoke“ from Wonder Wheel
• Suggest new topics for assignments to group members
Quintura
Applications of Visual Searching - Organizing Hits
Queens Library Aqua – words only…
In Summary:
• Visual searching with tools like Wonder
Wheel can engage and assist visual and
kinesthetic learners
• Automatic detection of related searches can
suggest new or different topics and assist in
group work
• Clustering and organizing of search hits can
aid in the transformation of data into
knowledge
Some Youtube Links:
Wonder wheel keyword + timeline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGxOPUNzBj4&feature=related
Wonder wheel + timeline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDnmQ9Mmj1Q&feature=related
Google keyword tool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDB6
Visual search engines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RrWoNKy-WI&feature=related