Students and their Evolving Search for Information

Estimated time according to Read-O-Meter: 2m22s

Recently I introduced first grade students to the online Encyclopedia Britannica as a way to locate information using the computer.  One part of starting this introduction, before ever mentioning the computer, is me asking the group, "Imagine that your teacher asked you find some information about dinosaurs, where would you look to find that information?"

The four individual responses from the group were:

• "I'd search on the computer."
• "I would type in 'dinosaurs' in the corner of the Safari."
• "I'd Google it."
• "I'd look it up on the iPad."

This was a first in my time as a tech teacher, that six and seven year-olds' first inclination to locate information at school was to simply Google the topic.  In the past, students have always first suggested books as the place to go, but clearly that has changed.  This is certainly not too surprising, as each new year our students are coming in more and more 'connected' via a slew of mobile devices at home, and that change is reflected in their school experience since they have been using iPads and having tech instruction since the first week of Kindergarten.

Search results for 'dinosaurs' on Britannica

After some demonstration of Britannica and a lot of exploration by the students, one student said to me, "I like these pictures and that it will read to me, but I think it's easier to just Google it."  I told the student that easier does not always mean better, but of course the answer is not that simple.  As my students continue to grow with their investigations and inquiries throughout this school year and the years to come, it will be a great benefit to know a variety of online sources of information - Google and Britannica included.

Part of me wants to immediately meet the students with their habits they have already formed in their personal lives, but I know it’s not entirely about that, but instead guiding them towards practices that fit the need and that provide the highest quality results.  In the perfect situation, the information literacy instruction would be powerful and valuable enough to resonate with students when they are outside of the classroom.  For that to happen, they have to see an authentic benefit during their classroom experience and not just think, “at school we have to suffer through Britannica research, but at home I can just Google it.”

Search results for 'dinosaurs' on Google

In this information literacy lesson with first graders concerning Britannica, I don't think I achieved the sort of resonation that will spill into their personal lives just yet.  But now the door is open to a conversation where we can consider together the differences between sources, authors, websites and other online resources.  It will no doubt be a lengthy and continually changing journey, luckily I have always found my primary grade students to be incredibly curious and enthralled with investigation and discovery.