| This study examined the information-seeking processes of four middle school students. Two boys and two girls were observed individually during a search on the World Wide Web as part of a classroom assignment and library research project. Their activities were categorized according to a classification scheme developed from Ellis's (1989, 1993) studies of information-seeking patterns displayed by academic researchers in the physical and social sciences: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. Data were collected through verbal reports as the participants searched for information. Comparison of the four participants suggests that each developed unique strategic patterns, yet all also used iterate patterns of behavior. Starting with keywords and starting at prepared indexes and directories were analytical strategies displayed by all participants. Chaining, the follow-up of pointers to other materials for browsing, appeared inherently easy on the Web. Browsing consistently followed starting and chaining as students directed their attention to careful skimming and scanning of a potential listing or document. In fact, browsing was revealed to be the central activity of information seeking on the Web. Differentiating allowed students to filter carefully the material being examined before continuing onward to more starting or chaining. This prioritizing emerged as an important step along the way to selecting particularly relevant locations. Monitoring occurred less frequently, but referred to attempts to return to select locations to receive updates or to review items again. The use of bookmarks played an important role when monitoring on the Web. Extracting, the identification of material directly related to student's question and its selection for printing, was considered the successful outcome and was displayed by all four participants. Ellis's classification scheme for the study was confirmed as a starting point in the development of understanding about children's information seeking on the World Wide Web. Information seeking appears to be highly dependent on the interplay between the specific problem and individual characteristics and knowledge of the seeker. The think aloud method provided a glimpse at the cognitive mechanisms involved and has potential in future research on the information-seeking process. |
