Exploring the experiences of upper elementary school children who are intrinsically motivated to seek information

Abstract

This article describes research conducted to understand the experiences of children in order to inform school librarians' practice in fostering intrinsic motivation for information seeking. An inductive naturalistic approach was used to explore the following question: "What are the experiences in the lives of upper-elementary school children that foster an intrinsic motivation to seek information?" The conceptual framework was composed of Taxonomy of Tasks (Bilal 2002) and A Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development (Agosto and Hughes-Hassell 2006a, 2006b). Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan 1985) provided the theoretical framework. Participants were survey-selected fifth graders from three diverse schools. Data was collected through interviews and drawings. Students described various family situations and school experiences, and exhibited different communication styles. They exhibited affinity for play, tendency toward creativity, and the disposition of noncompetitiveness. Informants indicated a variety of information-seeking styles and interests, engaged in information seeking to facilitate maturation into adolescence, and recounted diverse information-seeking episodes. All experienced a "point of passion," and "anchor" relationships helped foster their intrinsic motivation for information seeking. Topic interest and relevance, group work, task choice, creating a final product, and fewer time constraints were all components of the students' intrinsically motivating information-seeking episodes. Recommendations for practitioners are included. © 2011 American Library Association.