Browsing the internet to solve information problems: A study of students’ search actions and behaviours using a ‘think aloud’ protocol (original) (raw)
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Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2014
Middle-school students' online information problem solving behaviors on the information retrieval interface With the near-overload of online information, it is necessary to equip our students with the skills necessary to deal with Information Problem Solving (IPS). This study also intended to help students develop major IPS strategies with the assistance of an instructor's scaffolding in a designed IPS course as well as on an Online Information Management (OIM) interface. Explicit strategies that students employed to organize information for final projects were identified and hierarchically leveled based on the cognitive complexity they required. Results from a correlation analysis showed a significantly positive relationship among students' project scores, IPS strategies (e.g. organizing information in a logical way), and explicit strategies (e.g. search terms), but no significant relationship involving implicit strategies. Further examinations showed the students with higher project scores had advanced IPS and implicit strategies, while those with intermediate or lower scores likely over-or under-estimated their utilisation of implicit strategies. That is, self-efficacy surveys can be discriminative instruments if students have good self-monitoring abilities. Another feature of the students with high proficiency on IPS was the use of full sentences when using search engines, which implied less demands for the exactitude in search term selection due to the advances of search engines.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 2019
Research shows that students face a range of difficulties when using the Internet to solve information problems. Using a quasi-experimental design, we tested a strategy to improve Chilean 10th graders' skills for information problem solving using the Internet (IPS-I). The intervention was based on a workshop in which students learned IPS-I strategies and solved information problems using a customized Internet search software package. Results showed that members of the experimental group changed their search behavior and improved the quality of their products. However, no correlation between the number of search actions and product quality was found. Based on this, we highlight the potential of combining teaching strategies to improve specific search skills and the use of customized search tools with embedded functionalities that foster good search techniques.
How students evaluate information and sources when searching the World Wide Web for information
Computers & Education, 2009
The World Wide Web (WWW) has become the biggest information source for students while solving information problems for school projects. Since anyone can post anything on the WWW, information is often unreliable or incomplete, and it is important to evaluate sources and information before using them. Earlier research has shown that students have difficulties with evaluating sources and information. This study investigates the criteria secondary educational students use while searching the Web for information. 23 students solved two information problems while thinking aloud. After completing the tasks they were interviewed in groups on their use of criteria. Results show that students do not evaluate results, source and information very often. The criteria students mention when asked which criteria are important for evaluating information are not always the same criteria they mention while solving the information problems. They mentioned more criteria but also admitted not always using these criteria while searching the Web.
Designing Internet-based Inquiry lessons: an analysis of students' Internet search practices
2005
In recent years increasing emphasis has been placed on the appropriate use of the Internet in schools. However pervasive use of Internet technology alone does not guarantee positive gains in pedagogical strategies, nor does it automatically translate into meaningful learning. Inefficient, haphazard, and disorganized searching for information results in students either becoming disorientated or retrieving information from unreliable sources. Often this problem has become further compounded due to most Internet-based student activities being poorly guided and students are left on their own to locate and sift relevant information. This paper discusses the findings of a major study conducted in Singapore to assess student Internet literacy skills and practices. The findings provided the basis for developing a framework of heuristics on which to design and teach Internet-based multidisciplinary, inquiry lessons. This framework enables teachers to build a rich repertoire of cognitive reas...
Journal of Documentation, 2006
Purpose-A common criticism of research into information seeking on the internet is that information seekers are restricted by the demands of the researcher. Another criticism is that the search topics, are often imposed by the researcher, and; particularly when working with children, domain knowledge could be as important as information-seeking skills. The research reported here attempts to address both these problems. Design/methodology/approach-A total of 15 children, aged 11 to 16, were each set three "think aloud" internet searches. In the first, they were asked to recall the last time they had sought information on the internet, and to repeat the search. For the second, they were given a word, asked to interpret it, then asked to search for their interpretation. For the third, they were asked to recall the last time they had been unsuccessful in a search, and to repeat the search. While performing each task, the children were encouraged to explain their actions. Findings-The paper finds that the factors that determined a child's ability to search successfully appeared to be: the amount of experience the child had of using the internet; the amount of guidance, both from adults and from peers; and the child's ability to explore the virtual environment, and to use the tools available for so doing. Originality/value-Many of the searches performed by participants in this paper were not related to schoolwork, and so some of the search approaches differed from those taught by teachers. Instead, they evolved through exploration and exchange of ideas. Further studies of this sort could provide insights of value to designers of web environments.
Searching the Web: Expert-Novice Differences in a Problem Solving Context
The purpose of this exploratory study was to compare three experts and three novices in a Web-based problem solving context. The task was to search and evaluate Web sources for writing a research paper on a topic (inquiry based instruction, or IBI) that was unfamiliar to the users. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What type of navigational strategies do experts and novices employ to search for information on the Web?; (2) What are the novices' and experts' attitudes and feelings during the search?; and (3) What type of metacognitive strategies do experts and novices use during the Web search? Lessons learned from studying novice and expert Web users have significant instructional implications for educators and designers. Study emphasized that searching information on the Web is a complex phenomenon that requires developing a Personal Information Structure. An appendix presents a list of categories and scores for all novices and experts; and a list of si...
2009
This study investigates the role of search context played in university students' online information searching strategies. A total of 304 university students in Taiwan were surveyed with questionnaires in which two search contexts were defined as searching for learning, and searching for daily life information. Students' online search strategies were evaluated by the "Online Information Searching Strategy Inventory" (Tsai, 2009b). The results of paired t-tests indicated that university students' online search strategies utilised for searching daily life information were significantly better than those utilised for learning activities, especially in behavioural and metacognitive strategies. This study also drew a subsample of 20 students from the participants for in-depth interviews, to explore further the reasons for these findings. We suggest that educators need to pay more attention to helping students develop online search strategies for academic activities. In addition, only female students' metacognitive strategies were significantly different between search contexts. There may be an effect of the interaction between search context and gender on students' online searching strategies. Based on the above, suggestions are provided for future design and implementation of online information searching activities.
On-line search in the science classroom: Benefits and possibilities
1997
The rapidly increasing quantity of free, readily available information on the Internet and in on-line 1 digital libraries creates unexplored possibilities for education. One of the most compelling of these possibilities, we believe, is the chance to allow students to engage more easily in inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning in the classroom has been difficult to accomplish for many reasons, one of which is the limited amount of materials available to the teacher. Now, students can find information on-line that would be difficult to obtain any other way: current scientific data, new ideas from research, and information from obscure sources not normally available in schools. With the enormous resources of the World Wide Web and digital libraries, students can have more opportunities to select topics in which they are truly interested. Students may become more engaged as they gain more control over their own learning. Inquiry-based learning has many components, and it is not the purpose of this paper to go into a thorough discussion of inquiry. One strength of on-line resources is information, and this paper will focus on the related component of inquiry, information seeking.