The role of exploratory talk in classroom search engine tasks

Knight, S., & Mercer, N. (2015). The role of exploratory talk in classroom search engine tasks. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24(3), 303-309. doi: 10.1080/1475939X.2014.931884

Background

Research has shown that although children used search engines frequently to find information, they had difficulty finding information and evaluating sources of information, and that many teachers reported that their students did not know how to conduct searches online.

Aims

The aim of thisarticle was to explore how students talked to each other when they used search engines in the classroom context, and which type of discourse was associated with more successful online searches.

Sample

The participants were eight 11 to 12 year old female students in a Religious Studies lesson conducted in a large government school in West Midlands, England. They sat in groups of two or three. Each group of students shared one computer. They had similar achievement levels based on established assessment criteria.

Method

The authors used sociocultural research methods to explore discourse differences among the three groups. They used both audio and video recorders to collect audio and visual data in the lesson. They analysed the data collected by comparing words, utterances, whole transcripts and artefacts, worksheets, and screenshot data. The types of talk were categorized into disputational, cumulative, and exploratory talk. Exploratory talk was considered the most desirable type of talk because knowledge was discussed publicly and the reasons for decisions were given explicitly in the talk. Disputational talk was characterized by disagreement and group members making decisions individually while cumulative talk was characterized by the construction of knowledge without disagreements.

Findings

The authors found that the students who engaged most in exploratory talk were the most successful in finding information using search engines. These students were able to work together and to use talk that mediated the collaborative discussion most effectively. The group of students who completed the fewest tasks was engaged in the least constructive dialogue and talked most about things that did not concern the task.

Implications

The authors recommended that teachers encourage more collaborative discussion in their classrooms when they have students engage in tasks that involve searching for information online. They recommended that the objectives of these tasks be used to encourage students to explore misconceptions, discuss whether the search results were useful, and share information-seeking strategies.

Original article retrieved from Talyor and Francis.