This study investigated the following question: When students are seeking and using information, why do they make the decisions they make? Decisions made by twenty-six students were examined as the students completed a classroom assignment that required them to seek and use information. Mental model theory, constructivism, and sociohistorical psychology provided theoretical bases for the study. / The three-month naturalistic case study was conducted in a science class. Students (grades 10, 11, and 12) worked in groups to create "video documentaries," 15-30 minute videotapes on topics related to the class. Data were collected from the students and several adults using observation, interactive interviews, and documents (some solicited by the researcher). The constant comparison method of analysis was used. / A proposed grounded theory that emerged from the study conceptualized a learning experience as composed of several intertwined "learning strands." The strands in the observed unit were subject-matter, life-skills, information-seeking-and-use, and production. Students assessed problems and based decisions on previously constructed understandings from whichever learning strand seemed to provide the most direct approach to a solution. Each strand continually influenced all the others, either supporting or constraining learning, but this interaction was unrecognized by students and teachers. Because most students' prior experience had been scant, students' understandings and mental models related to information and information-seeking-and-use did not provide support for decisions leading to the effective use of traditional information institutions (such as libraries) or for some other activities (such as organizing information and editing a videotape). / As students worked through the task, they faced a number of barriers. Some were simple logistical problems. Others were problems caused either by their own limited mental models or by the limited mental models of adults working with them. Students could address the logistical problems; they required support from an insightful adult to overcome the other problems. / An educator corollary recommends that educators who are planning a learning experience view it holistically and emphasize the construction of new understandings on all the learning strands instead of focusing attention on only one. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-01, Section: A, page: 0004. / Major Professor: Shirley L. Aaron. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77090 |
| Contributors | Pitts, Judy M., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 525 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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