7 Things you should know about…
21st Century Information Seeking Behaviors and
Information Literacy Skills of Adolescents
Scenario
Jessica, a high school junior, arrives home
from a long day at school during which she
was loaded down with homework
assignments. The teen retreats to her laptop
and begins to Google the topic for her
teacher assigned group research topic in
English literature. The Google search brings
up hundreds of thousands of hits. Too
overwhelmed with extracurricular activities
and homework from other classes, the teen
chooses the first five hits without checking for
credibility or relevancy to her research topic.
Using the books and non-print resources from
her school’s media center are not even
considered because she needs this
information immediately and feels those other
resources are too time-consuming to access
and use. Why should she spend extra time
searching for books and logging on to the
password controlled school database when
she can just Google it from the comfort of her
own home? Besides, the topic the teacher
assigned to her group is boring and irrelevant
to her life anyway. Jessica wonders when
and how she will find the time to meet with
the members of her group to work on this
assignment.
By Elizabeth Futch
1. What Is It?
Laverty (2009) addresses the convergence
between traditional information literacy with the
digital environment to define information literacy
as the ability to articulate a problem to be
investigated, locate and assemble information,
scrutinize gathered resources, process and apply
information toward a solution, and contemplate
the effectiveness of the entire process (as cited in
Warlick, 2004). According to the Standards for the
21st Century Learner in Action (2009), by the time
a student leaves high school, they should be able
to locate appropriate information resources in the
library and evaluate those sources as to their
relevancy and appropriateness. Students should
also be able to use technology resources, such as
the Internet and other online databases, to locate
and select appropriate and relevant information,
conduct keyword searches, collaborate with
others, and behave in a responsible and ethical
manner. Finally, students should be able to
transfer their knowledge to new situations.
2. Who Is Doing It?
One of the primary reasons adolescents access
information using the web is because it is
convenient, easy to understand, and readily
available. According to a study conducted by
Lenhart, Madden, Macgill, and Smith (2007), 93%
of teens have access to the Internet, 64%
between the ages of 12-17 have participated in
content-creating activities on the Internet, and
55% have created a profile in an online social
networking site. In a study by McClure and Clink
(2009), teens reported that using the Internet to
conduct research simply fulfills the majority of
their research needs. In an interview conducted
by Thomas and O’Sullivan (2005), one teen
stated that a major benefit of using the Internet is
the quantity of information available. It is apparent
from personal observation and current research
findings that a majority of adolescents have
access to the Internet either at home or through
school and are utilizing this vast tool for personal
and educational applications.
3. How Does It Work?
Several key findings are noted with regard to
adolescent use of the Internet, or virtual libraries, to
perform research. Rowlands et al. (2008) defines
the Google generation as those individuals born
after 1993. Information-seeking behaviors for the
Google generation are characterized as being
horizontal, bouncing, checking and viewing in
nature (Rowlands et al., 2008). In a study by Todd
(2003), it was noted that when adolescents utilized
the Internet for research, they were often
confronted by the following issues: too few or too
many hits, information overload, ineffective search
strings and use of search terms, superficial
evaluation of websites, preference to browsing
instead of systemic based searching, and
copying/pasting information with little regard to
ethical use. Rowlands et al. (2008) indicated that
while there are some differences in the searching
methods of the Google generation, adolescents of
any era have had difficulty in selecting appropriate
search terms. However, current adolescent
researchers fail to evaluate information from
electronic resources in terms of relevancy,
accuracy, and author authority (Rowlands et al.,
2008). Another problematic aspect of information
literacy in the 21st century has emerged as a result
of many school systems’ reluctance to utilize social
media networking as an educational tool with
regard to student collaboration. In a study
conducted by Dresang (2005), adolescents
indicated that the idea of ‘knowing together’ was
important in regard to both online and offline
learning resources. With the emergence of student
information-seeking behaviors in conjunction with
social media, it is all the more imperative that
students are being taught how to behave ethically
and responsibly when accessing the Internet.
4. Why Is It Significant?
Proper and sufficient skills in information literacy
are foundational to a student’s ability to conduct
successful research that will carry them through the
pursuit of higher education and into the workforce.
The implications for mastering information literacy
skills to secure employment are inevitable. In
Eisenberg’s (2008) recent article, he states that
successful companies are utilizing meaningful
applications of technology and are looking to hire
those individuals who are able to apply technology
in different situations. Foster (2006) reported that
students preparing to enter college do not have
the skills needed to retrieve, analyze, and
communicate their findings online. Preliminary
results from an information and communication
technology test (ICT) reported that only 13% of
the college and high-school students tested were
information literate (Foster, 2006). Thus, if
adolescents are not proficient in the application of
information literacy skills when utilizing the
Internet, they will lack the ability to apply and
transfer these skills to institutions of higher
learning and in the workforce.
5. What Are The Downsides?
One particular downside to teaching information
literacy skills to teens is that recent brain research
indicates that the areas in the brain responsible
for planning, setting priorities, organizing
thoughts, suppressing impulses, and most
importantly, problem solving are not developed
until into adulthood (Dresang, 2005). The brain
research provides serious implications to the
efforts and abilities to teach information literacy
skills to this age group. If they are not biologically
capable of mastering information skills in terms of
synthesis and analysis, then why focus on higher
order information literacy skills at this age level?
Another downside involves student interest level
in the topic they are researching, as well as their
level of motivation. Students who are extrinsically
motivated are apt to approach research using a
surface method which is characterized by fast
Internet surfing with little regard for source
accuracy and relevancy (Heinstrom, 2006). It
appears there are few school districts in the
county that provide a cohesive information literacy
program. Allen (2007) points out that many
educators have a limited view of information
literacy. In addition, educators are failing to teach
information literacy skills at the high school level
because they assume technology skills are purely
technical; therefore, neglecting to teach the
primary focus of information literacy - using
technology to analyze and understand information
more deeply (Allen, 2007). It is clear that the
educational system is failing to provide teachers
with proper training in the importance of teaching
information literacy skills in conjunction with the
Internet. The educational system must establish a
cohesive plan to integrate the teaching of
information literacy skills with emerging
technologies at the local, state, and national
levels in order to scaffold and provide
continuation of this important skill-set.
6. Where Is It Going?
The Internet is not going away; therefore,
students will continue to utilize this increasingly
prevalent tool as their primary method to locate
information. Information seeking will progress into
an increasingly social entity as social media
continues to gain a foothold on future
generations. As collaboration among learners in
online communities increase, the ability to
exchange ideas and share information in a social
context will require advanced information literacy
skills in effective collaboration. Both the increase
in available information on the Internet and a
focus on collaboration will require the learner to
gain advanced skills in source selection and
evaluation as well as practicing safe and ethical
behaviors when dealing with those sources.
7. What Are The Implications For
Teaching And Learning?
We, as educators and media specialists, need to
provide instruction and support to our students in
terms of teaching them more efficient search
strategies with regard to the Internet (O’Sullivan &
Thomas, 2005). The teaching of information
literacy skills must be a collaborative effort in all
areas of a school’s curriculum (O’Sullivan &
Thomas, 2005). We must emphasize to students
that the Internet is just another tool by which to
gather information and require students to use a
variety of print and non-print resources when
conducting research (O’Sullivan & Thomas,
2005). In addition to teaching students
information literacy skills, a study conducted by
Heinstrom (2006) indicated that students took a
deeper approach in researching topics if they
found their topics to be interesting and relevant;
therefore, assigning topics that are engaging to
students is key to teaching information literacy.
We must also recognize that in the same way that
students have varying learning styles, they have
varying information seeking styles and we must
teach to and allow for such differences (Dresang,
2005).
References
Allen, S. (2007). Information literacy, ICT, high
school, and college expectations.
Knowledge Quest, 35(5), 18-24. Retrieved
from http://bit.ly/cHsG3u
American Association of School Librarians.
(2009). Standards for the 21st-Century
Learner in Action. Philadelphia: American
Library Assn.
Dresang, E. T. (2005). The information-seeking
behavior of youth in the digital environment.
Library Trends, 54(2), 178-196. doi:
10.1353/lib.2006.0015
Eisenberg, M. B. (2008). Information literacy :
Essential skills for the information age.
Libraries Unlimited, 28(2), 1008-1009. doi:
10.1002/asi.20155
Foster, A. (2006). Students fall short on
'Information Literacy,' Educational Testing
Service's study finds. Chronicle of Higher
Education, 53(10), A36. Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/cp8NdZ
Heinström, J. (2006). Fast surfing for availability
or deep diving into quality - motivation and
information seeking among middle and high
school students, Information Research, 11(4),
228-247. doi: 10.1108/00220410510585205
Laverty, C. (2009). Our information literacy
heritage: from evolution to revolution. Feliciter,
55(3), 88-91. Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/9HpxYU
Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Macgill, A., and Smith,
A. (2007). Teens and Social Media. Pew
Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved
from http://www.pewinternet.org/
Reports/2007/Teens-and-Social-Media.aspx
McClure, R. & Clink, K. (2009). How did you know
that? An investigation of student research
practices in the digital age. Libraries and the
Academy, 9(1), 115-132. doi:
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Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P.,
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Tenopir, C. (2008). The Google generation:
The information behaviour of the researcher of
the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290-310.
doi: 10.1108/00012530810887953
Todd, R. J. (2003). Adolescents of the information
age: Patterns of information seeking and use,
and implications for information professionals.
School Libraries Worldwide, 9(2), 27-46.
Retrieved from http://www.iasl-
online.org/files/july03-todd.pdf