Study results from Dulcinea Media showed that middle and high school students were not adequately prepared to effectively do research online. This covers the study results as well as steps through the process of teaching students proper online research techniques.

1. How to Improve Students’ Internet Research Skills

2. Overview Dulcinea Media provides free content and tools that help school librarians and teachers teach students how to use the Internet effectively, responsibly and safely. This presentation discusses some current research about students’ Internet research skills, and provides a framework for improving them. All text in blue is a hyperlink that, when clicked on while the presentation is in “Slideshow” format, opens a Web page with substantially more information about the topic. A list of all links is on the last page of this presentation as well.

3. Lesson Plans Available This Summer Dulcinea Media plans to create free lesson plans on teaching Internet research skills for the 2010-11 school year. To be alerted to the publication of these lesson plans, sign-up for our free email newsletter, which features our best daily content, educator interviews, and tips for incorporating the Web into your curriculum.

4. Today’s students are digital natives “ It is very likely that our students’ brains have physically changed – and are different from ours – as a result of how they grew up” - Marc Prensky 1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/225598357/

5. So are they effective researchers? The notion that young people are expert searchers "is a dangerous myth. Digital literacies and information literacies do not go hand in hand.” ”… little time is spent in evaluating information....faced with a long list of search hits, young people find it difficult to assess the relevance…and often print off pages with no more than a perfunctory glance...” - UCL: Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (January 2008) 2

6. A recent study: Researchers in the Netherlands studied 5 th graders “on and off-screen behavior” after the students had completed an information literacy program. Most students continued to use Google only, and “students never questioned the reliability of the Websites they accessed” basing judgment only on “relevance for the specific task.” 3

7. Students search but don’t find... “ Students high level of browsing [is] carried on at the expense of thinking about information need, planning for strategies, and evaluating obtained information.” 4 -- Shu-Hsien L. Chen

8. An overwhelming experience... “ Electronic media can “ov erwhelm youth with information that they may not have the skills or experience to evaluate.” 5 -- Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, March 2010

9. Dulcinea Media’s 2010 Survey... Surveyed 300 Students http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/images/usa/new-york.jpg

10. Survey methods Online survey included 27 multiple-choice and open-ended questions delivered through unique link. A link to the high school survey A link to the middle school survey

11. Our sample.... 95% of students surveyed said they used computers at home. http://www.fabulouslybroke.com/2009/07/you-dont-deserve-house/

12. Age at first online search experience http://www.flickr.com/photos/madmack/165933656/

14. Q: How do you begin your search? I type a question (natural language) -- 48.9 % of middle school students -- 21.4 % of high school students I use keywords --56.5% of high school students --31% of middle school students I use keywords, connectors such as AND and OR and sometimes use quotation marks. --13.7% of high school students --10.3% of middle school students

15. Q: If a search doesn’t give you good results, what do you do next? http://www.flickr.com/photos/sybrenstuvel/2468506922/

16. Sample responses: I try another search engine. I try different keywords but if I still can't find an answer, I just think real hard for an answer. I turn my focus on the encyclopedia. I click on something else or type in something else. I play games then use Ask.com.

17. Results:

18. How do you decide if an article you find on the Internet is a good source to use for a school report? http://www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/2260970300/

19. Sample responses: If it has the information I need then its good for me. If it sounds good, I know it’s right, and it has a good vocab. I don't know. I just go with it. If It gives me a lot of information it’s good. If it has footnotes.

20. Results:

21. Q: How often do you check the author of an online article? Most of the time: 14.7% & 7.1% (high school / middle school) Rarely or never: 57.4% & 71.8% Comment: “It doesn’t really matter who the writer is”

22. Q: How often do you check to see when an article was written or last updated ? Most of the time: 19.2% & 8.8% (high school / middle school) Rarely or never: 50.8% & 72.6% Comment: “I can’t find it.”

24. In other words... WE’RE LOST

26. Models & Resources for Web Research Review the Big6: excellent information for teachers. 8 Share the “Ergo” model for search with students. 9 Review SweetSearch Ten Tips for Better Searches, a continually evolving repository of research advice.

38. Works Cited: 1. Prensky, Marc. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” : On the Horizon. NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001 2. UCL. “Information behavior of the researcher of the future”: 11 January 2008. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf 3. Els Kuiper, Monique Volman and Jan Terwel. “Students' use of Web literacy skills and strategies: searching, reading and evaluating Web information.” Information Research: Vol. 13, No.3, (September, 2008.) http://www.informationr.net/ir/13-3/paper351.html 4. Shu-Hsien L. Chen. “Searching the Online Catalog and the World Wide Web.” Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, 41 1 (September 2003) 29-43 5. On “Empowering Parents and Protecting Children in an Evolving Media landscape” Berkman Center for Internet & Society. February 24, 2010. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/5951 6. Kasman Valenza, Joyce. “PowerSearching 501”: Springfield Township High School Virtual Library http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/jvles.html 7. Eagleton, Maya, Kathleen Guinee, and Karen Langlais. “Teaching Internet Literacy Strategies: The Hero Inquiry Project” Voices From the Middle, Vol. 10, No 3, March 2003. http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/class/edlf/345/humanities/readings/VM0103Teaching.pdf 8. Eisenberg, Mike. “What is the Big 6.” The Big 6: Information & Technology Skills for Student Achievement, (1997) http://www.big6.com/what-is-the-big6/ 9. “Research Skills.” State Library of Victoria. Ergo. (2010) http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ergo/research_skills

39. Other Links: Dulcinea Media: http://dulcineamedia.com/ Newsletter: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/info/newsletter.html Survey (High School): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/researchhighschool Survey (Middle School): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/researchmiddleschool SweetSearch 10 Tips: http://www.SweetSearch.com/tentips Schrock Boolean Machine: http://kathyschrock.net/rbs3K/boolean/ Can’t Cite Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/dlxX6i SweetSearch: http://www.SweetSearch.com Primary Sources: http://blog.findingdulcinea.com/2010/01/discovering-primary-source-material.html Who? Why? When? http://bit.ly/9dzELE Original Source? http://bit.ly/9k6a2v findingDulcinea http://www.findingdulcinea.com/ Beyond the Headlines http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news.topic__ss_categories_ss_top-stories.html On This Day http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news.topic__ss_categories_ss_on-this-day.html Happy Birthday http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features.topic__ss_categories_ss_Happy-Birthday.html Web Guides http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides encontrandoDulcinea http://www.encontrandodulcinea.com/inicio.html SwtSrch Biographies http://www.sweetsearch.com/biographies SwtSrch Social Studies: http://www.sweetsearch.com/socialstudies On This Day Challenge http://findingeducation.com/on-this-day-challenge/ findingEducation http://findingeducation.com/