Kuiper, E., Volman, M., & Terwel, J. (2005). The Web as an information resource in K–12 education: Strategies for supporting students in searching and processing information. Review of Educational Research, 75, 285–328.
Kuiper, et al. discuss how internet use and the WWW, in particular, has increased in our K–12 school system. “The Web is increasingly used as an information resource in K–12 education.” The authors see the web as a tool that can be used in the learning process of students. Discussed is how children use the web for research and how do they assess the information they find. The high demand of hypertext on critical reading skills is one factor in the author’s conclusion that children need to be taught how to use the web and how to critically evaluate the information they discover.
The authors perform a literature search and review of articles from 1997 to the beginning of 2003 with specific limits. All aspects were covered including empirical studies as well as theoretical and philosophical publications. Research reviews included various subjects, different numbers of students, and various age ranges, but focused primarily on the 6-12 grade range. How students search the web as well as how they assess the information they find were studied as well as the characteristics of the students, their tasks, and the web itself.
This was a very in-depth article that discusses the use of the internet (web) and the difficulties therein for students in the K-12 school system. The research was quite extensive and thorough, but I’m not sure how much has changed between the timeframe of the study and now. The premise that students need to be educated on the proper use of the internet is still very relevant today. Students are ahead of adults for the most part but the types of things the know how to do are not necessarily relevant, or provide relevance, to what they may be assigned to complete.
Another study performed the same as this one but with newer dates, may provide some additional insight into the questions posed originally. I’m curious if the information obtained would show that we are better at training our students to use the web. From my personal experiences, I think that the students today have upgraded technology, but they still don’t have upgraded training in using that technology.
This is a very interesting article and I think it will be relevant to my future research.
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