sensei.com.au Teachers

Lesson Plans

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Classroom Aids

Go Aussie

Teaching kids about the internet and search engines is now easy, with sensei.com.au.

sensei.com.au is a search engine rich in Australian content. It’s focused on helping primary and secondary teachers teach their students about the internet and how to use the internet to research their school work and assignments.

In the Class Room and in the Staff Room

At sensei.com.au, we understand that teaching the internet is sometimes something new for teachers. So we’ve made it easy by providing you with information about the internet and search engines that you can teach directly from.

VELS Lesson Plans

We’ve also created relevant lesson plans and student activities around search engine training and education. These lesson plans conform with Victoria’s Essential Learning Standards (VELS).

These Standards (VELS) form the basis for curriculum and assessment in Victorian schools and have been developed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).

“The Victorian Essential Learning Standards describe what is essential for students to achieve from Years Prep to 10 in Victorian schools. They provide a whole school curriculum planning framework that sets out learning standards for schools to use to plan their teaching and learning programs, including assessment and reporting of student achievement and progress.” - Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority

For further information about VELS please visit http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/.

These lesson plans have been designed specifically for Victorian learning standards, but can easily be adapted for other states who are currently using ELS. In the coming year, more states will be specifically catered for on sensei.com.au.

Discussion Forums and ‘Cheat Sheets’

Teachers can access their own forums where they can discuss with other teachers current topics and issues related to curriculum and the VELS lesson plans.

Teachers can also download lesson plans and “search cheat sheets” in A4 formats to use as hand outs or posters.

Sensei for Students

With sensei.com.au, students can access websites, wikipedia content, images and news as well as handy tools like a calculator and converter and tailored information about the internet and search engines.

Researching assignments is easy with sensei.com.au’s scrapbook – students can book mark websites in their own scrapbook and access them anywhere, anytime!

At sensei.com.au, we’ve tried to make searching as easy as possible by creating a toolbar and Mac widget for students to download to their browser or desktop, so you can get to sensei.com.au fast!

Safe Searching

How do I know I can trust the content?

Any type of information can be posted on the Internet. It doesn’t need to be verified or authenticated. Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s true. Anyone can put information onto the Internet and appear to be an expert. That means great care must be taken when using information sourced from the Internet. The best strategy is to ask the right questions;

Who is the source of the information – are they credible?
When was it created – is it current and up to date?
What are you getting – is the information biased in any way
Where is the document located – is it part of a credible site or linked to a well known organisation?
Why would I use this information – can I verify its accurate?

Adult Content Filter

Sensis applies a filter to sensei.com.au to remove pornographic content and hate-related content from your search results.

This filter is, by default, automatically switched on. The filter screens keywords, meta-tags and content in the site and removes any identified offensive content from your search results.

Please be aware that the filter will only apply to material written in English. The filter may not be 100% accurate or error-free so it’s important that you set rules around how your students search.

Safe Surfing Suggestions

You may wish to use filtering software to provide a safer experience for your children. NetAlert is Australia's Internet safety advisory body, set up by the Australian government to provide independent advice and education on managing access to online content, as well as advice on filtering software.

Additionally, visit these websites for more tips and suggestions for safe internet searching:

Tell us what you think!

We’re always keen for your input into sensei.com.au to make sure it’s the best site it can be. Feel free to send us your comments: