Author: Marta Gómez Domingo.
Programme: PhD in Information and Knowledge Society
Language: English
Supervisors: Dr. Antoni Badia Garganté.
Faculty / Institute: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

Key words: Information problem solving, inquiry based learning, web learning environment, secondary education.

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Summary:

The information and knowledge society of this century expects students to manage the excess of information successfully, but this does not mean that they have the necessary skills to deal with Information Problem Solving (IPS). This study expands further on academic knowledge available about students’ IPS process development, by exploring in depth the relation among certain students’ individual characteristics and students’ performance of scanning and processing information skills through an instruction developed in a scientific Inquiry Web Based Learning environment. The data collected from a total of 82 secondary students suggest that the instruction used to improve students’ IPS skills embedded in science curricular content was successful since all the students improved the learning performance of both, science knowledge on illnesses and health, and IPS skills performance. Findings also show that there are not numerous significant correlations between students’ individual skills and their achievement when performing scanning and processing information skills, but highlight several significant correlations between both constituent skills. The work could help teachers to plan, implement, and evaluate IPS instruction in schools.