Lesson Title: The Deep Web
Grade Level: 5th Grade
Duration: 45 minutes
Materials Needed: Smartboard with laptop,internet connection, laptop for each student, and
a list of deep web search engines and meta-search engines.
Georgia Performance Standards
ELA5W3/The student uses research and technology to support writing. The student (a)
acknowledges information from sources; (c) uses various reference materials (i.e. dictionary,
thesaurus, encyclopedia, electronic information, almanac, atlas, magazines, newspapers) as aids
to writing.
S5L2/Students will recognize that offspring can resemble parents in inherited traits and learned
behaviors. (a) Compare and contrast the characteristics of learned behaviors and of inherited
traits. (b) Discuss what a gene is and the role genes play in the transfer of traits.
AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
1.1.4/Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions
Lesson Details
Essential Question: What is the “Deep Web” and how can it help me with a research project?
Procedure
1. Show the Prezi, “Diving Deep – The Deep Web and Search Engines” to give an
overview of the deep web/invisible web versus the surface/visible web, which we usually
access through search engines such as Google or Bing.
2. Explain that there are metasearch engines (Dogpile, Mamma) that search multiple search
engines at the same time to retrieve results. These do go deeper than a standard search
engine, but are not the same as deep web search engines (USA.gov, Scirus) that are
searching databases, social networks or non-html pages.
3. To show the differences between a standard search engine, a metasearch engine and a
deep web search engine, conduct a search on all types using the search term
“elementary genetics.”
 Use Google as the standard search engine. There are 2,510,000results found.
 Use Dogpile as the metasearch engine. There are 40 results found. You can see
which search engine the result was retrieved from, as well as which results are
sponsored ads. Google has ads, but they are on the sidebar, instead of being
included in the results list.
 Use USA.gov as the deep web search engine. There are 58, 700 results.
 Compare and discuss the different results found – are there similarities in the
search results? Does the deep web search (USA.gov) give more appropriate
resources for the students?
Assessment
Give students the task of conducting their own search for “elementary genetics.” They should
be able to use the list of deep web search engines and meta-search engines (if needed) to find
resources that would be appropriate for their research project on genetics.
~Prepared by Sherri Kenworthy
Provide the list below on a separate piece of paper for students or create links from the media
center’s Destiny Homepage. This is not an extensive list, but these were chosen as they
seemed most appropriate for this particular topic and age group.
Deep Web Search Engines
http://www.usa.gov
From the United States Government
http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/
Searches scientific content
http://www.picsearch.com
Searches for images
Meta-Search Engines
http://www.dogpile.com
Dogpile
http://www.mamma.com
Mamma
http://www.metacrawler.com
Meta Crawler