Evaluar la confiabilidad de la información en Internet: Cómo enfrentan el reto los nuevos lectores de 9 a 12 años

Abstract

Today's young people use the Internet for their homework, requiring them to apply reliability criteria. This is the subject of this research, which uses an innovative interviewing technique with 9 to 12-year old children. The assignment was to solve a problem about the discrepancy in information about the mummification process in Ancient Egypt. The children were interviewed in pairs within the school environment; they had access to an internet-enabled computer and could search freely for 45 to 60 minutes. Camtasia software recorded every movement on the screen and all verbalized communication. We analyzed four dominant reliability criteria, detailing the search procedures and exchanges between the children. Two criteria show that, from the age of nine, children can focus on relevant aspects of internet sites or make inferences on the list of results generated by search engines, indicating strong intellectual activity and not the "copy/paste" method of concern to teachers.