Approaches of Middle School Students to Internet as an Information Access Tool: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the middle school students’ approaches to the internet as an information tool, the advantages of the internet while searching information, what kinds of problems students encounter searching information on the internet, and their referencing patterns. The study was designed in the form qualitative research. Fifth and sixth grade students from one state school were selected to achieve the objective of the study. A form consisting of ten openended questions were conducted to a total of 165 students, who were volunteers to participate in the study. The data obtained from the study was analyzed using the content analysis. With the analysis of data, it was aimed to determine middle school students’ approaches to internet as an information tool, what they think about the advantages internet provide them while accessing information, what kinds of problems they encounter while searching for information on the internet and their awareness of referencing while using the information. The results show that middle school students prefer the internet as the first information source to the other sources, and perceive the internet as an up-to-date and easily accessible information source where they could find any kind of information they need. However, in addition to the perceived benefits, the internet causes many problems for the students in accessing information, too. When presenting the obtained information as a research product, students usually tend to cite the internet resources from which they gather information. However, this does not mean that students are aware of the ethical issues. Students cite the internet resources in their research products because they are usually instructed to do so and citing seems to be an obligation for them.