Endangered mammals (using a custom filter)

Use this lesson as an example to learn how Search Coach can turn a list of your preferred resources into a custom filter. When students use your custom filter, search results will be limited to resources from the sites you selected. Custom filters can be created for a specific assignment, a larger unit, or with trusted sites you'd like students to use throughout their time with you.

This lesson pairs well with "If You Take Away the Otter" by Susannah Burhman-Deever.

Tip: When curating your own custom filter list, be sure to choose broad sites that host a range of articles rather than a specific article. For example, instead of kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/snowy-plover choose the umbrella site kids.nationalgeographic.com.

Create a "Biodiversity" filter:

1. Open Search Coach and select Class settings, then select the Filters tab.
2. Scroll to Create your own and select Create.
3. Enter a title, we chose [Biodiversity].
4. Enter [kids.nationalgeographic.com] into the Sites box.
5. Select Add another site and repeat with [mmc.gov] and [ocean.si.edu].
6. Select Save then find your new filter under Optional filters and toggle it on. Select Apply. You and your students will now be able to see the filter on your Search Coach screen.

Lesson plan: Endangered mammals

Biodiversity keeps ecosystems in balance. When an animal goes extinct, or no longer has any living members, other species are also deeply impacted. Any living thing can become extinct, but we'll focus on some of the biggest and most popular examples—mammals.

After hearing about biodiversity and extinction in class, you're curious about mammals that are at risk of extinction, or endangered. Your educator has created a filter to help you find out!

Questions to think about:

• Why did your educator select these sites? What do you notice about them that could tell you if they're reliable?
• You're searching for eight mammals that are endangered. What ecosystems would be impacted if those mammals do go extinct?

Try it

1. Open Search Coach.
2. Enter [endangered mammals] in the search bar.
3. Select the Biodiversity filter. This will help you find results from reliable sites your educator has selected. - What was added to the search bar?
4. Select Enter to run your search.
5. Look at the first page or two of results.
   - Did you get results from all three sites?
   - What are the NewsGuard ratings and reliability indicators below the results?
6. Use this filter to find four land and four marine mammals that are endangered.

Think about it

• How does it help to have a limited number of sites to find information on?
• How did your educator choose reliable sites?
• How would you search for answers just from National Geographic Kids on another search engine? (Tip: what was added to the search bar when you selected the filter?)

Teacher resources

• Create a custom filter in Search Coach