The short answer is that Google has changed the way their search engine prioritizes its answers. Finding that most users prefer answers from real-life experience, Google has bumped up the results from sites like Quora and Reddit. You can read more about the change in this article.
This is great news if you’re trying to decide whether to purchase an induction or gas cooktop. It’s terrible news if you’re a teacher trying to help your students learn how to find factual information.
If you just want to keep using a search engine that works like Google used to, try SweetSearch.
SweetSearch is the search engine built for students. It conducts a Google search - but only on a set of sites that were vetted and “whitelisted” by teachers, librarians, and researchers.
If your students are more advanced, you could use Google Scholar. Google Scholar returns academic research articles. The articles are too difficult for younger students or those who have difficulty reading.
Another option is to limit Google yourself (or teacher your kids to do it). If they’re doing research on the ocean, for example, they may want to search the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration site (noaa.gov). They can limit a Google search by adding the words site:noaa.gov to their search, like this:
ocean currents site:noaa.gov
Only results from noaa.gov will appear in the results.
Utah’s Online Library is a free resource for K12 education. It gives students access to a number of databases that would otherwise require payment.
Access inside the school is automatic, but students can also access it at home with the username and password. They change it every year, but it’s available under Home Access at the bottom of the library’s homepage.
Resources are especially good for science and social studies.