1) Middle school students often use the internet for schoolwork, but their online reading tends to be cursory, fragmented, and opportunistic without guidance. 2) The study found that software called IdeaKeeper that provided reading prompts helped slow students' reading and make it less cursory, less fragmented, and less opportunistic by guiding their attention. 3) Prompted online reading with IdeaKeeper was found to be more deliberate, thorough, and purposeful than unguided reading. The software helped mediate students' online reading process.

1. How do middle school
students read science on the
Web?
Meilan Zhang
NARST Presentation

2. Wide use of online resources in schools
 Teachers: 62.3% of teachers often used Web resources in their
lesson planning or classroom instruction. (EDC, 2005)
 Students: 67% of students in grades 7-12 will do an Internet
search for their schoolwork. (NetDay, 2004)
Online search
67%
Library
10%
Ask teacher
9%
Textbook
5%
Other
9%

3. Accessing
information
Having a learning
experience=?
Oversimplifyin
g task
Quick
skimming
Busy but not
learning
science
Distraction
on the Web

4. Software design: IdeaKeeper project
 Java-based scaffolded software
 Support middle school students in the full
range of online inquiry activities

5. Screenshot of IdeaKeeper -- Search
Search results
Keyword list
Inquiry goals

6. Notepad in “Skim”, “Read” and “Summarize” view
IdeaKeeper Notepad

7. Research Question
 How do middle school students read
information on the Web, and how does the
scaffolding mediate students’ online
reading?

8. Context
 In a public middle school, a 9-week writer’s workshop
class:
 4.5 weeks for creative writing;
 Another 4.5 weeks for scientific writing, which the study focused
on
 Questions students explored:
 How does the acid rain affect the quality of our water?
 Why are countries allowed to dump raw sewage in the ocean?
 Why are water-borne diseases more prone to some places than
others?
 Can we filter our own waste into usable drinking water?

9. Participants
 8 pairs from two 6th
grade classes
IdeaKeeper group:
 4 pairs from one class, online inquiry supported by
IdeaKeeper
Non-IdeaKeeper group:
 4 pairs from another class, regular online inquiry
without IdeaKeeper support

10. Data Sources
 Video recording: 4*9 + 4*11= 80 videos
 System log files: 36 log files (IK students only)
 Students’ artifacts: for 16 students
 Classroom observational notes: for 20 class
sessions

11. Data analysis
 Viewed and transcribed all of the videos
 Developed analytic memos
 Coded into online inquiry events
Search, skim, read, browse, monitor, off-line
task, off-task behavior, and teacher’s talk
 Identified relevant occurrences and
illustrating episodes for emerged findings

12. Major findings
 Cursory
 Fragmented
 Opportunistic
 Deliberate
 Thorough
 Question oriented
Regular online reading Guided online reading

13. Finding 1
 Unguided online browsing is cursory
 Use of IdeaKeeper slows students down in
their reading.

14. Figure: Average time on skimming and reading per
site by two groups
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Average time on skimming per site Average time on reading per site
Minutes
IK group No IK group

15. Finding 2
 In general, higher achievement students
read more thoroughly than lower
achievement students in both groups.
 Use of IdeaKeeper notepad affects the
way that students approach text. Their
reading is often triggered by the prompts
of IdeaKeeper Notepad.

16. Table: Level of fragmented reading for each dyad

17. Website read by Dyad 7,
Non-IdeaKeeper group

18. Website read by Dyad 1, IdeaKeeper group

20. Finding 3
 Unguided online reading tends to be
opportunistic. Their attention drifts among
different elements of a website.
 IdeaKeeper students’ reading is guided by
the prompts in notepad, which make their
reading much less opportunistic.

21. Figure: Dyad 5’s attention flow in a site, Zeroing in on Ocean Dead Zones

22. Figure: Dyad 2’s attention flow in site, drinking water: hard water.

23. Discussion
 Online reading needs guidance.
Prompting is one of the strategies to guide
students’ reading on the Web.
 Prompts guided online reading is more
deliberate
thorough
purposeful

24. Future research direction
 Support teachers’ work in online inquiry
 Explore other strategies to promote critical
thinking and deep learning on the Web
e.g., teacher modeling reading and note
taking.