This document describes an inquiry project to investigate how students search for and apply information from the internet. The author observed her niece in 8th grade and nephew in 5th grade as they researched volcanoes online. She found that her niece knew to look for credible scientific websites like those ending in .org or .gov, while her nephew needed more guidance. Both students looked for diagrams to help explain concepts. The author realized it would benefit students to get practice evaluating websites and using specific search terms to narrow results before independent research projects.

1. An inquiry plan to
investigate how students
search and apply
information from the
internet.
Michelle Koczan
CEP 806
September 24, 2011

2. •With the growing use of technology for student
research, educators need to ensure the students are well
equipped with the tools that they need in order to
conduct a meaningful internet search.
• Working as a substitute teacher, I have had the
opportunity to work with students of many different age
groups. My most recent long term position was in
second grade, and I observed that students did not
understand how the internet could be used to find
information. They most associated it with playing
games.

3. • I currently do not have a classroom of my own, so I
conducted my research on my niece who is in 8th grade,
and my nephew who is 5th grade.
• Both students have used the internet to conduct
research for school projects many times. I was
interested to see what kind of research skills that they
possessed, having had this experience.

4. • Do the students know how to conduct a concise Internet search?
a) When asked to search the Internet for particular topic, do
they use specific information, or broad terms?
• Do the students know how to evaluate a web page for useful
information?
a) Do they understand what credibility is?
b) Can they determine whether it is a good source of
information or a bad source of information?
• Do the students know how to determine whether or not the
information that they find is useful to them?
a) While the information might apply to the broad topic they are
searching for, does it specifically help to answer their
research question?

5. • Students will use Google to conduct their research, and
will choose the results that are listed first, and will view
each page in order of how it is listed.
 Google is the most advertised search engine, and
many students are not even aware that other search
engines exist.
 Many students view their search results from the
first one that is listed and go on down the list. The
common misconception is that the top listed sites are
the most relevant.

6. • The students will find sites about volcanoes that will be
interactive, possibly with videos or animations, and a
variety of photos and/or graphics.
 This prediction is based on the fact that I know both
students enjoy video games and things that are
“visual”. This grasps their attention easily.
 Students tend do enjoy websites that offer games
to enhance learning.
Volcanoes are unique, and students will concentrate
on the eruption of the volcano by searching for
photos.

7. • Using only internet resources, students are to find
valuable websites to help them answer the question:
How do Volcanoes work?
• The students will present their information on their own
“Glog” that they create on Glogster.com. This is an
excellent, visually appealing way for students to exhibit
their work and reveals their creative side.
• Students will focus on key vocabulary terms: magma,
lava, volcano, volcanic dust, vent, and volcanic ash to
include in their research project.

8. • I approached my niece who is in 8th grade and
described to her what my assignment was. She told me
that she enjoys using the internet for projects at school.
•I stated that I wanted her to use the internet to look for
information on how volcanoes work. I told her that I
wanted her to use key vocabulary words that I presented
to her, and that she was to present her findings on her
own Glog.
•She was not familiar with Glogster.com, but once I
introduced it to her and showed her examples of others’
work, she was ready to explore it.

9. • I let her begin her research while I sat near by and
observed. She opened up Internet Explorer and went
straight to Google.
• The first thing that she searched was “volcanoes”
which presented almost twenty million results. The first
search that was listed was Wikipedia, and I was happy to
see that she did not click on it. I asked her why she had
skipped it, and she told me that they were not allowed to
use Wikipedia at school.

10. • After viewing a few more websites she decided to turn to
the vocabulary list that I gave her, and continued her
research.
• When the results showed up on Google, she did not view
them in order from the first listed. She read the brief
descriptions below to try and get a feel for what type of site it
was.
•She told me that she knew that sites that were scientific such
as National Geographic and Discovery would be good sites to
use because they were educational. These were sites that
she had used before at school.

11. • Finally, she typed into Google, ‘How to volcanoes work?’ She
was directed to a website with various diagrams and maps. She told
me that diagrams are good sources because they are something
that is true and can not be altered like photographs can be.
• After observing her for about a half hour, I finally asked her what
type of sites she thought are the best for this project. She told me
that scientific sites and websites that have .gov or .org because they
are “more reliable”.
• I found that it was evident that basic internet research skills are
being taught in my niece’s middle school. I was pleasantly surprised
with her responses to my questions, and she really seemed to know
what she was doing.

12. http://mkoczan.edu.glogster.com/how-do-volcanoes-
work/
My niece’s finished Glog

13. • My nephew was much more nervous taking on this
assignment than my niece was. He told me that he really like
to play games and talk with his friends on the internet, and
that he used the internet “sometimes” at school.
•Once I told him that I was going to research volcanoes, he
became more motivated. This was a topic that he was
interested in, and thought was “really cool.”
• My nephew was not familiar with Glogster either, and I
presented the site to him in the same way that I had to my
niece.

14. • He opened up Internet Explorer and the homepage is set
to yahoo.com. He typed in the word “volcano” directly into the
search bar. This site presented over 62 million hits.
• The very first listing was an article from the Boston Globe
about activity that was currently in the news. It was about a
volcano in Alaska that was about to erupt. This was very
different from Google.
• He skimmed the article quite quickly and left the site. I
asked him if he read the information, and he said that “there
was too much writing and no pictures. I like pictures.”

15. • He also checked out Wikipedia. He had used this site
before at school, and said that encyclopedias are where you
are supposed to look up information.
• He viewed several more websites that were listed, including
some sites that we clearly unrelated. After about ten minutes,
he seemed lost.
• I told him that maybe he should use a word or words that
were more specific. I reminded him of the vocabulary terms
that I had given him. He then typed “How volcanoes work”
into the search bar. After reviewing the list of sites, he went
back to the search bar and selected “How volcanoes work for
kids”.

16. • He went directly to the listing for Discovery for Kids which
had the “Volcano Explorer”, and interactive tool with
animations and diagrams.
• He also discovered National Geographic for kids which
explained and defined each of the vocabulary words that I had
assigned.
• My nephew finished the project with much more guidance
from me than my niece required. He told me that “good
science sites needed lots of pictures to help describe the
information and to help people understand it better.”

17. http://mkoczan.edu.glogster.com/volcanoes/
My nephew’s Glog
(not quite finished)

18. • One of the trends that I noticed when observing my niece
that she was looking for “scientific sites” that were well-known
scientific sites, or sites that ended in .org or .gov.
• One of the trends that I noticed with both students was that
they looked for diagrams to help explain the information.
• My first prediction before beginning my research was that
the students would both use Google as their search engine.
My niece did use Google, but my nephew used Yahoo, which
was set to his homepage.

19. • In my first prediction, I stated that I thought the students
would view the websites in the order that they showed up on
the search engine. The 8th grade student read the brief
description and evaluated whether or not she felt that it would
be a good site. The fifth grade student on the other hand, did
exactly as I had predicted.
•After the students were finished with the project, I went over
with them what I thought they did well, and gave some
suggestions on things that I felt would help them in the future.

20. Paraphrasing and
summarizing the
information
Reading
comprehension of
the content that is
found
Further
Ideas to
Explore
Evaluating “kid”
scientific websites
and compare to
“adult” scientific
websites
Effectiveness of using
diagrams
In scientific research
projects

21. • I noticed that my nephew was instantly drawn in to
sites that had animations, videos, or interactive
components. He enjoys playing video games on the
computer and on a gaming system at home. Could
these types of sites be more appealing to boys who
thrive on hands-on activities to learn new concepts?
• Is internet based learning an effective way for students
to master a concept?

22. • I was surprised at how knowledgeable my niece was with
internet research. Not only did she know where and how to
look for the information, but she knew what type of sites she
should not use.
• The observation of my nephew was very close to the what I
had expected. I think that with some of the information that I
gave him on how to look for information may lower his anxiety
in research projects in the future.

23. • The predictions that I made initially turned out to be true for
my students. However, I found it very helpful to observe the
process in which my students went through to get to the end
result. It had allowed for me to reflect upon the assignment,
and revise how I would use this in the future in a classroom.

24. As an introduction to a project of this type in my classroom I
would conduct two mini-lessons.
• First I would provide a short list of websites for students
to view, explore and evaluate. I think that it is important
for students to be able to narrow down the information that
they are looking for. I found this with both of my subjects.
Both students began their search by simply typing in
“volcanoes” and the search engine found millions of hits.
• The second mini-lesson that I would use would be to
have the class search a topic together on the over head,
and I would model how using key words can narrow down
search results.