3 Ways to Use Google Trends in Your Classroom Today!!!

I first heard about Google Trends in a Freakonomics podcast where they were discussing the idea that we as humans are more honest when searching Google than we are to other human beings. It is behind the doors of Google which we as humans feel most comfortable with our most burning questions. While the podcast itself went beyond questions we would ask in the classroom, it got me wondering: how could I best utilize this tool in the classroom?

So naturally I began to investigate, what I found is that there are innumerable ways to utilize this tool! You do need to understand however that the nature of the site is that these topics are "trending" meaning they will be ever-changing. I think this is awesome because it then gives our students the option to really interact with real-time data in a number of ways.

Students can hypothesize about the data presented or they can did into other research to figure out why the data looks the way it does. They can view bar graphs, interactive maps, time lapses, charts and a number of other ways to view the data! ALWAYS encourage them to click on a chart or piece of date to learn more because the data just keeps on going!!!

HOW WOULD YOU USE GOOGLE TRENDS IN YOUR CLASSROOM???