Developing effective Web-based information seeking for inquiry-based learning: a meta-cognitive approach

1.探究式学习越来越被认为是本科生和研究生教育的一种重要模式。基于网络的信息检索是研究性学习的一个重要方面。该项目旨在提高本科生和研究生从事基于网络的信息寻求支持他们的基于探究的研究，项目和论文的有效性。2.该项目将设计一系列策略来帮助人们改善基于Web的信息搜索。我们将采用的策略旨在提高人们的“元认知”水平，这将在下文第6段更详细地描述。这些策略的有效性将由180多名本科生和研究生进行统计测试（使用对照组），他们将参与一系列受控搜索。有效性的衡量标准是使用这些战略后，网络搜索战略和结果发生了哪些变化。将根据他们实际发现的信息的相关性来评估结果。我们还将评估他们使用的搜索策略的质量差异。3.这项统计工作将得到深入研究的补充，我们将跟踪从事本科研究项目的本科生的活动，以及从事研究论文准备的硕士生。学生将详细记录他们的信息寻求活动，生成他们的研究问题和相关信息需求的“思维导图”，并在他们从事研究背景下的信息寻求时进行长时间的深入访谈。人们可能想知道为什么这是必要的，像谷歌这样的搜索引擎显然是如此有效。事实上，许多研究都集中在开发更“智能”的搜索引擎上。智能技术旨在使搜索更有效，即使对于没有太多技能/或元认知水平的人/包括所谓的“最佳匹配”和“布尔”搜索设施，自动“查询扩展”，其中基于智能算法向搜索引擎提供额外的关键字，该算法分析索引中的术语的共同出现，以及“搜索缩小”设施，例如，在以前的搜索结果中进行渐进式搜索。然而，搜索引擎的“智能”能在多大程度上取代人类搜索引擎对“智能”的需求，这充其量是值得怀疑的。随着信息需求变得更加复杂，这种需求真的“开始”了。做一个简单的搜索相当具体的东西，谷歌将做一个出色的工作，迅速找到相关信息。但在基于探究的学习的真实的世界中，“信息需求”可能更加复杂，更不容易定义，尤其是当学生在确定基于探究的项目或论文的核心实际研究问题时，以及为自己确定如何以及在哪里搜索信息时，他们的作用越来越大。这就是“元认知”发挥作用的地方。6.“元认知”是关于人们管理自己的学习和解决问题的能力/基本上，推理和积极管理（监控，评估和改善）自己的思维。这种能力可以用来最大限度地发挥一个人的智力潜力。关于元认知在学习和解决问题中的作用已经有很多研究，最近，越来越多的研究将元认知用于探究式学习和信息寻求。我们将使用统计和定性研究方法的混合，以调查我们可以帮助人们通过提高他们的元认知知识和技能来改善他们的信息寻求方式。

1. Inquiry-based learning is becoming increasingly recognised as an important mode of education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Web-based information seeking is a vital aspect of inquiry-based learning. This project aims to improve the effectiveness with which undergraduate and postgraduate students engage in Web-based information seeking to support their inquiry-based research, for projects and dissertations. 2. The project will devise a series of strategies for helping people improve their Web-based information seeking. The strategies we will use are designed to increase people's level of 'meta-cognition', which will be described in more detail in paragraph 6 below. The effectiveness of these strategies will then be statistically tested (using a control group) by more than 180 undergraduate and postgraduate students, who will engage in a series of controlled searches. Effectiveness will be measured in terms of changes, resulting from the use of the strategies, in their Web-searching strategies and outcomes. Outcomes will be assessed in terms of the relevance of the information they actually find. We will also assess qualitative differences in the search strategies they use. 3. This statistical work will be complemented by in-depth research in which we will follow the activities of undergraduate students engaged in their undergraduate research-based project, and Masters students engaged in the preparation of a research-based dissertation. The students will keep detailed diaries of their information seeking activities, generate 'mind maps' of their research problem and related information needs, and be interviewed in depth over a protracted period of time as they engage in information seeking in the context of their research.4. One may wonder why this is necessary, with search engines like Google apparently being so effective. Indeed, much research has focused developing ever 'smarter' search engines. Smart techniques designed to make searching more effective even for people without much skill / or level of meta-cognition / include so-called 'best-match' and 'Boolean' search facilities, automatic 'query expansion' whereby additional keywords are offered to the searcher based on clever algorithms which analyse the co-occurrence of terms in their indexes, and 'search narrowing' facilities allowing, for example, progressive searching within previous search results.5. However, the extent to which the 'smartness' of a search engine can replace the need for 'smartness' on the part of the human searcher is at best questionable. This need really 'kicks in' as information needs get more complex. Do a simple search for something quite specific and Google will do an excellent job at quickly finding relevant information. But in the real world of inquiry-based learning, 'information needs' may be rather more complex and less easy to define / especially when students are taking an ever-greater role in determining the actual research questions at the heart of their inquiry-based projects or dissertations, as well as determining for themselves how and where they search for information. This is where 'meta-cognition' comes into play. 6. 'Meta-cognition' is all about people's ability to manage their own learning and problem-solving / basically, reasoning about and actively managing (monitoring, evaluating and improving) one's own thinking. This ability may be used to maximize one's intellectual potential. There has been a lot of research on the role of meta-cognition in learning and problem-solving, and relatively recently there has been a growing volume of research into the use of meta-cognition in relation to both inquiry-based learning and specifically information seeking. We will use a blend of statistical and qualitative research approaches to investigate ways in which we can help people improve their information seeking by improving their meta-cognitive knowledge and skills.