Today's kids have been called the "Google Generation". But how much do most kids know and what exactly do they know? A new study (Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future) says that our kids are lacking in information skills-that they aren't really all that Web literate. Their findings, which should come as no surprise to teachers who work with kids and tech, that kids have "zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs." They are so impatient that they haven't developed strong skills of search and navigation of online resources. The problem is that most of them think they have these skills. Suggestions were made in the report for librarians and teachers to step up efforts to help students with information literacy.
Interesting post and thanks for including a link to that 35-page report. The article defines the Google Generation as those age 15 or less (born after 1993).
There's a lot of information out there. Thus, there's competition for our attention and we have less time to devote to deep reading. Thus, we skim.
Speaking of which, I'm sure there are some deep results in the article. I'd like to read it more deeply on my bigger monitor at work.
I might be a bit guilty in fostering this trend:
http://www.squirrelnet.com/search/Google_SafeSearch.asp
BTW, I've subscribed to your RSS feed.
Posted by: Mike Reynolds | February 04, 2008 at 08:32 PM