Instagrok Visual Search

Instagrok is a fantastic visual search tool that can be used safely by students and teachers. With traditional search engines, your search results are often overwhelming, irrelevant, or distracting. The MIND MAP format of Instagrok serves as a great way for students to get started on a topic.

How it Works:

Typing in a search string and clicking “Grok” will search the web for resources, and seems to filter out the “extra” stuff, and focuses only on research quality material. The results are given to you in a mind map format, allowing students to explore beyond their original search topic, and make connections they may not have otherwise made. Each topic within the mind map results gives students access to a set of Key Facts, Website Resources, Videos, Images, and Concepts. There is also an area that students can keep notes right on their Grok mind map. If students sign up for the free account, they can save their result and notes, and even share them with peers or the teacher.

Great Features:

Difficulty settings allow searchers to adjust the level of complexity of their results. For example, a search on “photosynthesis” on a medium difficulty setting will give you related topics such as Chlorophyll and Pigment. Set the difficulty slider higher and you will get results such as photosynthetic pigments and  adenosine triphosphate, lower and you get plant and sun. This really makes for a great tool for all levels.

Sharing allows you to share your Grok results on a wide variety of social media platforms, email, or even embed it into your website. (See embedded Grok below)

Quizzes are created from the search results, and are a nice quick way for students to instantly test their understanding of their search results. These tests are custom for each search and students love quizzing themselves.

photosynthesis | Learn about photosynthesis on instaGrok, the research engine:http://www.instagrok.com/results.html?query=photosynthesis&share_id=_&result_id=Nj0uUDsCZi5zJ8EbJkoM&action=view