The Quest for Speed Vs.

The
Need for Knowledge.
Scott Hanson
CEP806 – Team 3
Inquiry Project 1
 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 to
the exegetical surfer (Bruce, 2001).
 Theory 2: the thoughtful and thorough – students
take their time and read sites carefully. They then
pick the best information that is confirmed by
multiple sites. A style that is similar to the
agnostic or dialectic surfer (Bruce, 2001).
 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 their
learning potential.
 Phase 1 – Initial Search, Low
Direction
Web assignment Topic 1:
Atomic Theory
 Students web browse to find 3
web pages that relate to the
topic and rank them 1-3 on how
well they think it covered
Atomic Theory. They were
asked cursory questions on the
web browser they used, as well
as where the page was found.
 Students handed in the
assignment and reported back
on how they searched in a
classroom debriefing.
 60 student responders to the
assignment and debriefing.
 Phase 2 – Second Search, High
Direction
Web Assignment Topic 2:
Size of a Molecule
 Students once again had to web
browse over a weekend, only
this time their search was goal
oriented. They have a basic
topic again, only three goal
questions are given that their
websites must answer.
 Students handed in the
assignment and reported back
on how things were different
between the two searches.
 60 student responders to the
assignment and debriefing.
 Phase 1 – Time Comparison
• What I observed here was
exactly what I expected Phase 1
to look like. More students Time Used to Complete the Web Assignment
would do a quick search of 20
minutes or less, and accept the
first few sites they found. They 15 Minutes or Less

wouldn’t read through the Between 15 and 20

information that carefully Minutes
Between 20 and 30
because of the lack of guiding Minutes
questions. Over 30 Minutes

• This showed me that they were

not looking deeply into the sites
and analyzing it. They were
being more dogmatic or
exegetical in their searching.
(Bruce 2001)
 Phase 1 – Location in Search
Engine
• As suspected with exegetical
and dialectic style searchers,
they look for the quick answers Location in Search Engine of the 3 Web Sites Used

and few pages to search (Bruce,

2001). They trust that the
information they find early is First 3 Sites
good enough for the First Page
First 2 Pages
assignment. More than 2 Pages
• Very few people decided to dig
deeper into their search engines
data base, looking only at the
popular sites in Google (Bruce,
1999).
 Phase 1 – Search Engine
Selection
• Without the proper instruction
on web searching and an
understanding of how Search Engine Used for Assignment

information is stored in the

search engine databases (Bruce,
2000), students will just go Google Searchers
back to their old standards or
Used Other Search
use just one search engine as Engines
displayed in this graph.
• This will cause students to find
the most popular information,
but not always the best. (Bruce,
2000)
 Phase 2 - Time Comparison
• Once again we observe in
this chart how a small
Time Used to Complete the Web Assignment
portion of instruction on
good web searching
practice and information
on other sites extend the 15 Minutes or Less

amount of time that is

Between 15 and 20 Minutes
Between 20 and 30 Minutes

taken on a internet Over 30 Minutes

assignment.
• It is also note worthy that
only 40% of the students
completed the goal
questions.
 Phase 2 - Location in Search
Engine
• With the addition of goal
questions that were not as
Location in Search Engine of the 3 Web Sites
ambiguous as the first Used
task, the students had a
better sense of direction
on the assignment. This First 3 Sites

could translate to what is First Page

First 2 Pages
seen here. More than 2 Pages

• As students were looking

for answers to specific
questions, they had to go
deeper in the popular sites
to find the answers.
 Phase 2 - Search Engine
Selection
• This graphs shows a trend that I
was hoping to see after our first
classroom discussion. When Search Engine Used for Assignment
you open the students mind to
the fact other browsers exist,
along with a more pointed
question, they will seek out the
sites that give the answers to Google Searchers
Used Other Search Engines
their questions. If Google
didn’t work, they would go
elsewhere.
• One student doing web
browsing and finding nothing
stated “I didn’t know there
were other search engines.
Kartoo searching is so much
easier than Google.”
 The Internet as Babel’s Library
• With the resurgent idea that the internet is getting closer to
resembling the amount of information that could be found
in Babel’s Library (Bruce, 1998), the understanding by
those who use it should fall in the realm of information
versus misinformation.
• As more instructors begin to rely on the Internet as a
source of information, the instructional quality of how to
read a web page for content, how to use a variety of search
engines, and how search engines perform their searches
needs to be increased. No longer can teachers just give an
assignment to look something up, but a better discourse
between students and instructor needs to occur so that
quality over speed will become the new norm.
 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 verify
facts, 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 different
search 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.
 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 from
those sites that give poor information and show
them how to access the good information?
• Would there be a way, or is there a search engine
available, to filter out this poor information and
popular sites and get us into the good information
sites?
• Is it possible to make the norm of searching
society not based on a popularity based search
engine like Google, but on a factual database site?
 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 Need
Dialectical Reading. Journal of Philosophy of Education (special
issue), 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 literacy
educators: Research on teaching the communicative and visual arts
(pp. 675-684). New York: Macmillan.