Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Bilgiye Erişim Aracı Olarak İnternete Yaklaşımları: Betimleyici Bir Çalışma

Bu calisma, ortaokul ogrencilerinin bilgi kaynagi olarak internete yaklasimlarinin, bilgi arama surecinde internetin sundugu ustunluklere iliskin dusuncelerinin, internet ortaminda bilgi ararken karsilastiklari problemlerin ve elde ettikleri bilgiyi kullanma surecinde kaynak gosterme ozelliklerinin belirlenmesi amaciyla gerceklestirilmis nitel bir calismadir. Calismanin amacini gerceklestirmek icin ortaokul besinci ve altinci sinif ogrencileri secilmistir. Arastirmanin gerceklestirildigi ortaokulda ogrenim goren ogrencilerden calismaya katilmayi kabul eden 165 ogrenciye 10 adet acik uclu sorudan olusan bir form uygulanmis ve elde edilen veriler icerik analizi tekniginden yararlanilarak analiz edilmistir. Verilerin analizi sonucunda; ogrencilerin interneti bir bilgi kaynagi olarak nasil degerlendirdikleri, bilgiye erisiminde internetin sundugu ustunlukler ve karsilasilan problemler, ogrencilerin bilgi arama surecinde internette tercih ettikleri oncelikli kaynaklar ve ogrencilerin kaynak gosterme ozellikleri ve kaynak gosterme konusundaki farkindaliklari belirlenmeye calisilmistir. Elde edilen bulgular ogrencilerin bilgiye erisimde interneti oncelikli olarak tercih ettiklerini; interneti kolay ulasilabilen, bilgiye daha hizli ve rahat bir sekilde erisim olanagi saglayan ve aranan her turlu bilginin bulunabilecegi bir ortam olarak algiladiklarini; internetin sundugu ustunluklerin yani sira bilgiye erisimde bireyden ve ortamdan kaynaklanan birtakim problemleri de beraberinde getirdigini ve ogrencilerin internetten bulunan bilgileri odevlerinde kullanirken kaynak belirtme konusunda yeterli bilince sahip olmadiklarini ortaya koymaktadir. Anahtar Sozcukler:  Internet, bilgi arama, bilgi okuryazarligi, ortaokul ogrencileri, arama motoru Approaches of Middle School Students to Internet as an Information Access Tool: A Descriptive Study Abstract The aim of this study is to determine the middle school students’ approaches to the internet as an information tool, the advantages of the internet while searching information, what kinds of problems students encounter searching information on the internet, and their referencing patterns. The study was designed in the form qualitative research. Fifth and sixth grade students from one state school were selected to achieve the objective of the study. A form consisting of ten openended questions were conducted to a total of 165 students, who were volunteers to participate in the study. The data obtained from the study was analyzed using the content analysis. With the analysis of data, it was aimed to determine middle school students’ approaches to internet as an information tool, what they think about the advantages internet provide them while accessing information, what kinds of problems they encounter while searching for information on the internet and their awareness of referencing while using the information. The results show that middle school students prefer the internet as the first information source to the other sources, and perceive the internet as an up-to-date and easily accessible information source where they could find any kind of information they need. However, in addition to the perceived benefits, the internet causes many problems for the students in accessing information, too. When presenting the obtained information as a research product, students usually tend to cite the internet resources from which they gather information. However, this does not mean that students are aware of the ethical issues. Students cite the internet resources in their research products because they are usually instructed to do so and citing seems to be an obligation for them. Keywords:  Internet, information seeking, information literacy, middle school students, search engine