Information Behaviour of Middle School Students

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The 21st century school library is the hub of student learning with librarians helping with research, encouraging students to read for enjoyment and developing their information literacy skills. All these aspects are important for the current generation of students who have been “raised with easy familiarity with video games, email, instant messaging…Web 2.0 social networking habits, they have developed patterns of engagement that are different from those of earlier generations.” (Godwin, 2008, p. 52). School librarians must create information literacy programs to include Web 2.0 tools to effectively engage this generation. (Carroll, 2011, p. 27). The Millennium Generation or Digital Natives are the first generation to have grown up with technology and librarians must cater to these technology savvy students by providing opportunities to use Web 2.0 technology for researching and sharing information, thus engaging even the most reluctant student. The Millennium generation is accustomed to online information and Web 2.0 technology. It is an essential part of their life and they can easily master new applications. This generation consists of those people born between 1982 and 2002, so this essay will focus on middle school students aged between 12 to 15 years old who are in grades 7, 8 and 9 (Roehl, Reddy, & Shannon, 2013, p. 44). These children are comfortable with change and “they like to learn how to use new technology via internet searches, video games, texting, blogs, wiki’s, social networks, uploading photo’s, videos and music clips” (Godwin, 2008, p. 6). Therefore, in order to engage middle schooler’s in their learning, it is essential that school librarians link Web 2.0 technology with information literacy lessons.... ... middle of paper ... ...on : Facet Publishing. Linik, J. R. (2012). Literacy 2.0: Teaching Students the Skills Needed to Succeed in Our Information Economy. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 78(3), 25-29. Miller, C., & Bartlett, J. (2012). 'Digital fluency': towards young people's critical use of the internet. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(2), 35-55. Miller, R. (2012). Social media, authentic learning and embedded librarianship: a case study of dietetics students. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(2), 97-109. Roehl, A., Reddy, S. L., & Shannon, G. J. (2013). The flipped classroom: an opportunity to engage millenial students through active learning strategies.(Strategies). Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 105(2), 44-49. Taylor, A. (2012). A study of the information search behaviour of the millennial generation. Information Research, 17(1).

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