scott h_inquiry project 1

8/14/2019 Scott H_Inquiry Project 1

1/15

The Quest for Speed Vs. The

Need for Knowledge.

Scott Hanson

CEP806 Team 3Inquiry Project 1


2/15

Burning Question How Do

Students Access Information on

the Internet?Theory 1: the quick and dirty students go for the

first sites they find, do the bare minimum, and

only look for the answer once. A style similar tothe exegetical surfer (Bruce, 2001).

Theory 2: the thoughtful and thorough studentstake their time and read sites carefully. They then

pick the best information that is confirmed bymultiple sites. A style that is similar to theagnostic or dialectic surfer (Bruce, 2001).


3/15

Realistic Expectations

My expectations were to see the use of

theory 2.

My better judgment told me that theory 1

would be how they work.

Reasoning: students look to minimize their

homework time, not maximize theirlearning potential.


4/15

Phase 1 Initial Search, Low

DirectionWeb assignment Topic 1:

Atomic Theory

Students web browse to find 3

web pages that relate to thetopic and rank them 1-3 on howwell they think it coveredAtomic Theory. They wereasked cursory questions on theweb browser they used, as well

as where the page was found. Students handed in the

assignment and reported backon how they searched in aclassroom debriefing.

60 student responders to theassignment and debriefing.


5/15

Phase 2 Second Search, High

DirectionWeb Assignment Topic 2:

Size of a Molecule

Students once again had to web

browse over a weekend, onlythis time their search was goaloriented. They have a basictopic again, only three goalquestions are given that theirwebsites must answer.

Students handed in theassignment and reported backon how things were different

between the two searches.

60 student responders to theassignment and debriefing.


6/15

Phase 1 Time Comparison

What I observed here wasexactly what I expected Phase 1to look like. More studentswould do a quick search of 20

minutes or less, and accept thefirst few sites they found. Theywouldnt read through theinformation that carefully

because of the lack of guidingquestions.

This showed me that they werenot looking deeply into the sitesand analyzing it. They were

being more dogmatic orexegetical in their searching.

(Bruce 2001)

Time Used to Complete the Web Assignment

15 Minutes or Less

Between 15 and 20

Minutes

Between 20 and 30

Minutes

Over 30 Minutes


7/15

Phase 1 Location in Search

Engine As suspected with exegetical

and dialectic style searchers,

they look for the quick answers

and few pages to search (Bruce,2001). They trust that the

information they find early is

good enough for the

assignment.

Very few people decided to digdeeper into their search engines

data base, looking only at the

popular sites in Google (Bruce,

1999).

Location in Search Engine of the 3 Web Sites Used

First 3 Sites

First Page

First 2 Pages

More than 2 Pages


8/15

Phase 1 Search Engine

Selection Without the proper instruction

on web searching and an

understanding of how

information is stored in thesearch engine databases (Bruce,

2000), students will just go

back to their old standards or

use just one search engine as

displayed in this graph.

This will cause students to find

the most popular information,

but not always the best. (Bruce,

2000)

Search Engine Used for Assignment

Google Searchers

Used Other Search

Engines


9/15

Phase 2 - Time Comparison

Once again we observe inthis chart how a small

portion of instruction on

good web searchingpractice and informationon other sites extend theamount of time that istaken on a internet

assignment. It is also note worthy that

only 40% of the studentscompleted the goalquestions.

Time Used to Complete the Web Assignment

15 Minutes or Less

Between 15 and 20 Minutes

Between 20 and 30 Minutes

Over 30 Minutes


10/15

Phase 2 - Location in Search

Engine With the addition of goal

questions that were not asambiguous as the first

task, the students had abetter sense of directionon the assignment. Thiscould translate to what isseen here.

As students were lookingfor answers to specificquestions, they had to godeeper in the popular sitesto find the answers.

Location in Search Engine of the 3 Web SitesUsed

First 3 Sites

First Page

First 2 Pages

More than 2 Pages


11/15

Phase 2 - Search Engine

Selection This graphs shows a trend that I

was hoping to see after our firstclassroom discussion. Whenyou open the students mind to

the fact other browsers exist,along with a more pointedquestion, they will seek out thesites that give the answers totheir questions. If Googledidnt work, they would goelsewhere.

One student doing webbrowsing and finding nothingstated I didnt know therewere other search engines.

Kartoo searching is so mucheasier than Google.

Search Engine Used for Assignment

Google Searchers

Used Other Search Engines


12/15

The Internet as Babels Library

With the resurgent idea that the internet is getting closer toresembling the amount of information that could be foundin Babels Library (Bruce, 1998), the understanding by

those who use it should fall in the realm of informationversus misinformation.

As more instructors begin to rely on the Internet as asource of information, the instructional quality of how toread a web page for content, how to use a variety of search

engines, and how search engines perform their searchesneeds to be increased. No longer can teachers just give anassignment to look something up, but a better discourse

between students and instructor needs to occur so thatquality over speed will become the new norm.


13/15

How Students Use the Internet

If a student is not trained at how to find accurate information, or to

double check their information and sources, then they will fall into the

trap of popular search engines and quick answer searches.

When a student is trained in techniques off web site analysis, to verifyfacts, and proper browser selection, more time is taken on assignments

and in getting accurate information and they value the information

attained more than earlier searches.

I have found that in my classes, when I instruct my students on a

variety of searching techniques, we analyze the usefulness of differentsearch engines, or when we actually discuss how to find information,

the students has a more meaningful web browsing experience and they

get less frustrated when I ask them to do specific tasks.


14/15

Questions That Need to be

Addressed in the Present, not the

Future. With the wealth of knowledge available on the

internet, how can students be steered away fromthose sites that give poor information and showthem how to access the good information?

Would there be a way, or is there a search engineavailable, to filter out this poor information and

popular sites and get us into the good informationsites?

Is it possible to make the norm of searchingsociety not based on a popularity based searchengine like Google, but on a factual database site?


15/15

Literature Cited

Bruce, B. C. (1999-2000, December/January). Searching the web:New domains for inquiry. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States

Bruce, B. C. (1999, April). Digital content: The babel of cyberspace.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States.

Bruce, B. (2001, February). Credibility of the Web:Why We NeedDialectical Reading. Journal of Philosophy of Education (specialissue), 34(1), 97-109.

Bruce, B. (1998) found as "Current Issues and Future Directions" in J.

Flood, S. B. Heath, & D. Lapp (Eds.), A handbook for literacyeducators: Research on teaching the communicative and visual arts(pp. 675-684). New York: Macmillan.

scott h_inquiry project 1

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