Two professors from the University of Alabama in Huntsville have developed an internet search engine specifically for schools and will deliver content matched to student ability.
Their project, the Complexity Engine, is an effort to increase reading abilities in challenged students and help motivate intellectual development in gifted students, while saving schools money on textbooks.
The search engine sifts through Websites for content and delivers free, customized and age-appropriate reading materials to a user's computer. According to a press release, the engine also promises to give teachers, parents and students an efficient, affordable way to promote reading.
"What we're developing is a way to get through the nonsense and junk online and get to the learning material," developer Dr. Philip Kovacs said in a statement.
Teachers and administrators can set parameters for the search results, and the reading experience can be either student self-directed or guided by the teacher.
"The reason the school system wanted to use it is because they have a hard time finding challenging material for their gifted students," Kovac said. "The second issue with this group of students is that if you go and search the web for 'submarine,' you will get thousands of results that are all over the place compared to what you want to find. With our search engine, you will get around 150 results that are more closely about what you were searching for."
The developers of the new search engine see it as a replacement for textbooks that offers "a less regimented, more varied and interest-driven educational model to students," according to a press release.
"The information a student gets is no longer generic, like it is from a textbook," developer Ryan Weber said in a statement. "The individual students can search for reading material that matches their interests, so they can be more self-motivated readers."
Complexity Engine is currently in testing with 500 gifted fifth and sixth grade students at a mid-sized regional school system. It recently received a $10,000 development grant from the UAH Charger Innovation Fund and is in the final round of vying for an Alabama Launchpad grant. Launchpad is a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama to promote, reward and increase the pipeline of high-growth, innovative ventures that have the potential to grow and thrive in the state.
