“Sometimes the internet reads the question wrong”: Children's search strategies & difficulties

Abstract

When children search for information on a given topic, how do they go about searching for and retrieving information? What can their information seeking strategies tell us about the development of search interfaces for children's digital libraries, search engines and information repositories? We interviewed New Zealand (NZ) school children to seek insights into how they are conducting information searches during their education.

“Computer what's your favourite colour?” children's information‐seeking strategies in the classroom

“…While children interviewed in (Vanderschantz et al, 2014b) cited three ways that they locate information on a page (see process 3 in Figure 3), our teachers believed that students would skim and scan a significant portion if not the entire page looking for their answer (see process 3 in Figure 2).…”

“…The participating teachers were recruited from two primary schools and one intermediate school. The three schools that participated in this study are the same as those that participated in our related study that investigated children's self-reporting of their information seeking (Vanderschantz, Hinze, & Cunningham, 2014b). The schools have Decile ratings of 4, 5, and 9.…”

“…Our interview questions (see Figure 1) were designed to allow comparison with the findings of our interviews with children reported in our corresponding paper (Vanderschantz et al, 2014b).…”

“…Yet, teachers were sceptical as to if students were confirming sources as part of their processes. Students in (Vanderschantz et al, 2014b) claimed to confirm sources when searching. The decision to confirm sources is found at Decision B (Figure 2) and Decision C (Figure 3).…”

“…A model of children's online search behaviour (based on children's reports), from(Vanderschantz et al, 2014b).…”