Searching the Web to learn about a controversial topic: are students epistemically active?

Abstract

Students are making an increased use of the Web as a source for solving information problems for academic assignments. To extend current research about search behavior during navigation on the Web, this study examined whether students are able to spontaneously reflect, from an epistemic perspective, on the information accessed, and whether their epistemic metacognition is related to individual characteristics, such as prior knowledge of the topic and the need for cognition. In addition, we investigated whether Internet-based learning is influenced by the activation of spontaneous epistemic metacognition in the search context. Forty-six psychology and engineering university students were asked to research information about a controversial subject in order to write an essay. They were also asked to think aloud during their research. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. As revealed by their spontaneous reflections, all participants were epistemically active, although to different extents and levels. As expected, there was evidence that students activated beliefs about the four epistemic dimensions identified in the literature, especially about the credibility of an electronic source and the criteria for justification of knowledge. Prior knowledge was not related to activation of epistemic beliefs in the search context, while the need for cognition significantly associated with aspects of source and its content evaluation. Two patterns of epistemic metacognition were identified and they significantly influenced Internet-based learning. Students who spontaneously generated more sophisticated reflections about the sources as well as the information provided, outperformed students who were active only at the first epistemic level. Educational implications are drawn

The relationship of (perceived) epistemic cognition to interaction with resources on the internet

“…In these multiple document processing (MDP) tasks, participants are asked to process multiple documents, to find, evaluate, and integrate, information from across those documents. Indeed, Mason, Boldrin, and Ariasi (2011, 2010a, 2010b) adapted this approach, using a dummy search interface to display a set of pre-selected documents to students in a 'search-like' interface. Therefore, there has been relatively little work on information seeking in more open contexts, such as the web.…”

“…Some of this research has further utilized think-aloud protocols to gather epistemic data, notably that of Boldrin and Ariasi (2011;2010a, 2010b who find that students do spontaneously reflect on epistemic concerns in information seeking while using a 'dummy' search interface (designed to return a preselected set of documents). Additional work in online information seeking contexts suggests that students with more "evaluative stances" on psychometric measures are more likely to meaningfully evaluate websites, with integration and critical evaluation of multiple online sources more likely of those with more sophisticated perspectives on the "multiplicity of knowledge" (Barzilai & Zohar, 2009.…”

Investigation of High School Students’ Online Science Information Searching Performance: The Role of Implicit and Explicit Strategies

“…By offering abundant and diverse information, the Web-based learning environment enables students not only to access up-to-date information but also to seek information of their own interests. Researchers agree that integration of the Web into science teaching and learning can promote students' conceptual understanding (Butler and Lumpe 2008;ChanLin 2008;Hoffman et al 2003;Wu and Tsai in press) as well as help development of evaluation skills (Mason et al 2009;Tsai 2004aTsai , 2008a if the activity is planned properly. However, many studies (Dias et al 1999;Halverson et al 2010;Kuiper et al 2005) have shown that people of all ages often encounter difficulties (e.g., specifying terms or feeling disoriented) while seeking information online.…”

Consistent results with the consistency hypothesis? The effects of epistemic beliefs on metacognitive processing

“…Of particular interest, recent research on epistemic beliefs has shown that beliefs influence cognitive and metacognitive processing (Hofer 2004;Mason et al 2010;Muis 2008;Muis and Franco 2010;Pieschl et al 2008;Richter and Schmid 2010;Strømsø and Bråten 2010). Typically, researchers exploring relations between epistemic beliefs and metacognition have found that "sophisticated beliefs" (e.g., knowledge is tentative, changing, complex, and constructed) are associated with more metacognitive strategy use.…”