Adolescents' Internet Search Strategies: Drawing upon Familiar Cognitive Paradigms When Accessing Electronic Information Sources

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate and describe the Internet search strategies of adolescent learners. Participants were 161 middle and high school students. Collected data included students' descriptions of the search process, observations of student searching behaviors, and audit trail lists of search strings used by students. The students demonstrated three approaches for locating information on the Internet, seven methods for constructing search strings, and four techniques for recovering from unsuccessful search attempts. The results suggest that when conducting research on the Internet, adolescents tend to resort to familiar cognitive schemata: starting with what they know, maintaining paradigms from the physical world, and adhering to time-tested practices. This information can be used to develop scaffolded instructional environments for adolescents that support more effective Internet searching.

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