Middle school children's use of the ARTEMIS digital library

ABSTRACT

A case study of middle school student's interaction within a digital library, the differential use of interface features by students, and the issues of representation and retrieval obstacles are examined. A mechanism for evaluating user's search terms and questions is explained. Findings of a current case study indicate that student's interaction with the system varied between individual classes and between different achievement levels. Terms used by the system to represent the resources do not adequately represent the user groups' information needs.

REFERENCES

• 1: Abbas, J. Smoothing the information seeking path: Removing representational obstacles in the middle school digital library environment. Unpublished dissertation. Denton, TX: University of North Texas, 2001
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• 4: Hoffman, J. Information seeking strategies and science content understandings of sixth grade students using on-line learning environments. Unpublished dissertation. University of Michigan, 1999
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.7 Digital Libraries
          Subjects: User issues

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.1 Content Analysis and Indexing
          Subjects: Indexing methods
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Search process

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
children, information retrieval, information seeking, representation, scaffolds