INFORMATION PROBLEM-SOLVING - A WIDER VIEW OF LIBRARY SKILLS

In an age of abundant information on almost every topic, it is increasingly important that students learn how to locate, select, evaluate, and integrate information from various sources. The study reported here examined the cognitive and metacognitive demands of the initial stages of gathering information for elementary school research assignments. It paid attention to interactions between areas of knowledge and the metacognitive skills underlying the task. The efforts of 23 Grade 6 students were recorded on videotape while they participated in individual think aloud/concurrent interviews. Retrospective interviews were used to illuminate those aspects of the task which were not amenable to thinking aloud. Results support the view that information retrieval and use in libraries is essentially a problem-solving task that requires various forms of knowledge to be applied very flexibly and in concert. Students of all abilities were found to have wide-ranging metacognitive knowledge, but overall, they had insufficient general and tactical knowledge to facilitate the use of alternative action paths when a favored approach failed. Implications for future library skills tuition are discussed. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.