Assignment #3- An Information Seeking Observation

On Monday, Oct. 5 and Tuesday, Oct. 6 I had between 10 and 15 sixth grade students in
the library working on a project during the 40 minutes of lunchtime. Their assignment consisted
of doing research on early agricultural methods in small groups (3-4 students) and presenting the
information in a poster format. For the most part, students were seeking information to answer
the teacher’s assigned questions. The project was due on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
As students came in to the library, they walked right to the computers. No students asked
to use print sources. I let them know that since several groups had research to do, each group
could use one computer (I only have four PCs with internet access). One student per group sat at
the keyboard, and other group members either surrounded that student or sat at a table to put
their poster together. When searching the internet, the majority of students Googled the teacher
provided questions in their entirety or close to it. For example, they would type: “How did early
farming techniques lead to the development of cities?” Technology allowed them to type the
question in a search engine directly, without having to think critically about how to search
efficiently using keywords. One group of students focused on key terms and plugged those into
the search engine (“early farming techniques” or “farming and development of cities”). Then, as
a group, students looked through the different search results in search of sites that would answer
the project questions. All groups seemed to browse through search results in order that they
appeared on the results page. For the most part, students did not read the brief descriptions of
sites to select those that most appropriately would meet their needs. They clicked on the first one,
and went on right down the page until they found a site they “liked”. That is a word several
students used to describe sites they selected. Technology allowed students to quickly find several
sources of relevant information to meet their task. The impact being that students didn’t seem to
critically analyze of the information provided in the sites themselves. Once they saw that a
source “answered” their questions they would select the site to use for their assignment, and then
ask to print the article. No students looked for site sponsorship to evaluate accuracy or quality of
information. No students were observed citing internet sources. When I asked about references,
students said they were told to “just find the information and put it in a poster”.
Much of what I observed correlated with findings in Weiler’s (2004) focus group study of
information-seeking behavior in Generation Y students. These students went to the Internet first
without even asking about print sources. They focused on expediency and were not concerned
much with validity or accuracy. Time was a main concern and thus information was accepted
without evaluating quality. A contributing factor for this might be, as noted by Weiler, that often,
faculty will accept Internet assignments without criteria on “the accuracy or quality of the Web
sites students used” (p. 50).
Based on my observations and using the Information Literacy Standards for Student
Learning provided by the American Association of School Librarians, I recommend several
interventions as to information literacy skills that need to be taught. To begin with, although
students knew where to seek information, they did not use successful strategies to find the best
information to meet their needs (Standard 1). Thus, I need to teach students how to formulate
effective keyword searches based on information needs. Secondly, students did not evaluate the
information they found critically and competently (Standard 2). So, another skill I must teach is
how to determine accuracy and relevance by thinking about information critically to determine
quality as well as how to search for and evaluate sponsorship of sites. Finally, students did not
demonstrate ethical behavior with regards to information use (Standard 8). I need to make sure to
engage students in discussions on why and how to use information technology responsibly by
properly citing sources of information in order to respect intellectual property rights. It is
essential, that for these students to be information literate they are not just able to locate the
information, but are also able to evaluate it, use it and share it effectively.

Weiler, A. (2004). Information-seeking behavior in generation Y students: Motivation, critical

thinking, and learning theory. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(1), 46-53.