A study sponsored by Google and developed by the University of Maryland and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center focused on determining the differences between how children and adults search the Internet and find the barriers children face when trying to find information. Children often try entering whole questions into search engines and can become frustrated when the search engine fails to return an answer. Researchers say that more could be done to make it easier for young people to retrieve information. For example, University of Maryland human-computer interaction lab director Allison Druin suggests expanding the concept of keywords, such as allowing children to click on an image or video instead of typing words into a search box. Druin says search engines should do more to imitate the role of a parent by providing prominent suggestions for related content or an automated chat system to enable the search engine to help a child in the same way a parent would. Druin also points out that the bottom of the screen is “valuable territory” for young users, as children often focus on their hands and the keyboard when searching and the bottom of the screen is the first thing they see when they look up. Google is using the research to develop better search technology for all users, says the company’s Irene Au. “The problems that kids have with search are probably the problems adults experience, just magnified,” Au says. “It’s helped highlight the areas we need to focus on.”

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