Science on the web: Students online in a sixth-grade classroom

Publications from newspapers to research journals are filled, with claims about the Internet and its value for education, yet research is just beginning to evaluate uses of these new information resources in the classroom. As part of the University of Michigan Digital Library Project, this research was undertaken as a first step in designing tools for secondary students to access a digital library. The Web offered an initial site for learning how students interact with digital resources and use standard tools. The Web can be seen as a site for student inquiry in science, using it as an information resource that opens the boundaries of the classroom and creates the possibility for students to pursue questions of personal interest. This study looks at students in 6th-grade science classes as they use the Web to carry out an inquiry-based assignment. Their understanding and enactment of their assignment to do research on the Web, their engagement in information seeking, and their use of Web technologies are explored and analyzed. Findings include evidence that students use Web technologies easily but simplistically; that information seeking is a complex and difficult process for these students, who seek to reduce the task to finding an obvious answer or finding a good Web site; and that developing students' understanding of content through use of the Web is a challenge for students and teachers.