Netcitizens: information hunters and gatherers

This study explores the possibilities of utilising the World Wide Web, by way of the Internet, to benefit learners in the creation of knowledge. It examines way and means of gathering and collating productive resources in order to enrich learner understanding and interpretation of Information Technology as such. There are several phases to this study. There is a review of the history of the World Wide Web (WWW); an account of the structure of the study, known as the Web Inquiry Project (WIP); a review of information retrieval mechanisms; observations of student teachers in the context of their own understanding of the WWW and their appraisals of its worth as learning tool; studies in their subsequent tutoring of a cohort of elementary school students, their individual and collective observations, findings and resources constructed on their individually created web pages. All of this to be achieved in the spirit of collaborative learning. It is a narrative account of the journeyings of all the participants through the Information Superhighway and an account of the outcomes of this exploratory study and the methodology for achieving best practices in information gathering and its utility in the interest of knowledge creation in this electronic age.