Excerpts of interest:
"For instance, de Vries et al. found that the number of categories to choose from in a portal was a problem for fifth and sixth-grade students."
Interesting in a "good to know" kind of way.
"De Vries et al. found that students may be effectively supported through directions provided on a worksheet. They pointed out that ‘‘Seeing their question on the worksheet may prevent learners from so-called ‘question drift’, i.e., the constant change of search goals when answers are not immediately found’’. Other techniques include modeling, repetition, and discussion (Kui- per et al.) and offering various kinds of adjunct information (Stadtler & Bromme; Wope- reis et al.). Not considered in the studies, however, is the issue of how students can develop better skills for dealing with such problems in contexts where they are refrained from that kind of assistance. "
So it seems to me that what is needed is a "flexible scaffold." Give students (or better, help them develop) guiding questions to use before their first attempt at finding information. Then help them reflect on what they found and formulate new or more focused questions, if needed, or determine specific areas where they need to find more information.
This article doesn't have to do specifically with elementary students, but it contains information that is applicable to the elementary arena.
"In computerized IPS, on the other hand, the student is usu- ally faced with more information than needed. Furthermore, the texts available are multi- ple and not always mutually coherent. Thus the student cannot and does not have to integrate all available information. Instead, he or she must make informed decisions about what to consider and what to ignore. These decisions rely strongly on the student’s initial interpretation of the problem (see above) but also on their ability to activate and use their prior knowledge (Symons & Pressley, 1993)."
Not really on my topic, but: even what we find or take note of when researching is colored by our personal bias or past experiences and knowledge. Is there any truly TRUE data in the universe?
"In Stadtler and Bromme, and Wopereis et al.’s study, notes and other forms of written production are considered a product rather than a process within IPS. When working with younger students, the cognitive demands of the writing assignments should be considered with caution. For instance, students up to the sixth grade sometimes have difficulties considering both sides of an issue when writing short arguments (Golder & Rouet, 2000)."
I think I've just started recording anything that has to do with primary students. . . not sure this is the best strategy.
From what I can tell about the De Vries et al. study and the Kuiper et al., it's hard to tell how much of student achievement can be attributed to scaffolding or teacher input and how much is due to the social nature of projects presented. Perhaps I need to read these studies individually since they are focused on elementary-aged students.
So here's something I don't get--if this article is a review of several different studies (De Vries and Kuiper among them), why aren't those actual studies listed in the references? I can search for them by author, of course, but I just find this odd. While I think this had some useful info in it, the actual studies themselves might be more useful and there are some other promising articles I'm more interested in reading that exclusively focus on elementary students.
DUH: this article is a review of studies published in a special section of the journal WITH it. Maybe I shouldn't use it for my abstracts?
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