Re: GEN: Teens: Internet Over Library

[Peter Milbury <pmilbury@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>]

Dear LM_NET,

I would stress to teachers, parents and students that there is important
research that shows that they do so quite poorly when they use the Web for
research. And follow up by helping them learn how to do it better!

In a research study done by Dr. Samuel Ebersole, it was found that only
about 1/4 of the references used by students in their Internet research
were of acceptable quality.
<http://faculty.uscolo.edu/ebersole/diss/index.html> In addition, Ebersole
found that when those students experienced difficulty locating sources,
the shifted their activities to what they did best on the Web:
entertainment and personal communications (e.g., chatting and gaming).

It is only through the development of information literacy skills. The
best person to guide that process is the school librarian, in
collaboration with the subject matter teachers. (See Colorado Studies for
that data.<http://www.lrs.org/html/about/school_studies.html>)

We need to make effective use of our own school library Web pages to make
links to appropriate information available to the students and staff. We
need to collaborate with teachers as they plan their library research
units, and when the students come to the library to research, we need to
orient them to the information, links and sites that we have selected for
them to use.

Of course, in the process, we need to find ways to teach Web information
literacy skills. In the Chico Unified School District we have a program
that addresses this. Our graduation proficiencies cover information
retrieval and Web page analysis. It is not perfect, but it is something,
which is better than nothing. See:
http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/graduation-proficiency.html

We also need to stress the value of books as an integral aspect of
research. Julie Anderson's article last year on that topic pointed out how
students who used books before they used the Web for their research tended
to be more focused, more successful. (Julie, where is that article?)

Best wishes,

Peter Milbury, Co-Moderator of LM_NET      pmilbury@ericir.syr.edu
School Librarian - CA TeleMentor              Chico HS, Chico, CA
Now With 14,000+ Members      See: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
...............................................................
          See also: Peter Milbury's School Librarian Web Pages
                              http://www.School-Libraries.Net
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