Finding Things Out

People have always needed access to information. Schools have traditionally taught children how to search for information in books, card index files and other paper-based systems. The invention of computers has provided us with machines which can sort, search and present very large quantities of information with great ease. They have become so essential to modern society that the national curricula in all countries contain a set of information handling skills which all pupils must acquire. The following is from the English National Curriculum but is equally valid in all countries.

The ability to use information and communications technology has become the new literacy. Adults in the modern world must be fluent users of the new technologies if they are to be effective and participate fully in life in the 21st century.

Exactly what ‘being a fluent user’ means is open to debate and the National Curriculum of England and Wales has defined three aspects in which skills and knowledge must be acquired. These are:

• Finding things out
• Communicating and sharing information
• Developing ideas and making things happen

In many ways, ‘Finding things out’ is the most difficult. It includes the ability to find the answers to questions using a variety of skills and techniques. There are three possible sources for this type of activity:

• Information stored in databases
• Information stored on high capacity storage devices such as CD-ROM, DVD
• Information stored on the Internet.

Databases
Using a database is in many ways the most difficult of these. Databases hold information is a very structured way so interrogating them requires the development of both understanding and skills. But the benefits they can bestow are considerable. Without databases, information would be static. Using them, we can interrogate and analyse information, we can look for patterns and trends, and we can solve problems in ways that information stored on CD-ROM or the Internet cannot do.

The exception might appear to be dynamic information held on the Internet, such as train timetables which can be accessed and searched. But the truth is that these are databases being accessed by Internet pages. It is the database which provides the value, the Internet is merely the vehicle for transporting it.

CD-ROM and DVD
Searching for information on CD-ROM, DVD seems to be the simplest because there is a close analogy with the paper based equivalent – the encyclopedia. But searching electronic text is different from searching in a book. Traditional methods such as using the contents page and index and knowing alphabetical and numeric order do not help. In their place new skills such as key words and Boolean logic are needed.

The Internet
Like CD-ROM and DVD, the Internet holds a vast quantity of information. Searching it requires the same skills as with CD-ROM and DVD but with the additional problems of information overload and the need to check accuracy, plausibility and bias. A search on the Internet can yield many thousands of results and identifying that which will be useful is a real challenge. In addition, anyone can contribute to the Internet so the authenticity and bias of information must be constantly addressed.

Practical activities
Task 1 Load Junior ViewPoint and the ‘Animals’ file.
Answer some of the questions on the worksheet.

Task 2 Load Junior ViewPoint and the ‘Journey’ file.
Can you hazard a good guess at what ‘Other’ is as the method of transport? Present evidence for your decision.
In which country do the most children travel to school by bike?

Task 3 Find information relevant to your current topic using a suitable CD-ROM title.

Task 4 Find information relevant to you current topic on the Internet

Task 5 Go to the Rail Track web site and find the time of a GNER train which will take you to London in about an hour’s time.

Task 6 Go to the GNER web site and see if your train is running to time.