ABSTRACT
Locating the information is often thought of by teachers as being central to the process of using information effectively. We, however, would argue that, although necessary, it is a minor and relatively easy part of the information using process. Locating information includes that part of the process which involves pupils in making decisions about where they might find the required information and then in using specific study skills such as using an index or searching a data base in order to locate the details they need. The problems with this stage of the process lie not with the complexity of the skills involved but in the children’s readiness to select and use the appropriate strategy that would enable them to achieve their purpose most effectively. There is evidence (from our own research, described in Chapter 4 and discussed in greater detail in Wray and Lewis, 1992) that children may know how to use an index, consult a library catalogue, use a CD-ROM but that when engaged on a information finding task they often fail to operate such strategies. Instead they may browse through a book, randomly search a shelf of books, ask a friend and so on. Such strategies may be appropriate at times but for the effective location of information they are not helpful. One useful way of explaining this apparent gap between children’s knowledge and actions is to distinguish between types of knowledge. One fairly familiar distinction is between declarative (knowing that …) and procedural (knowing how to …) knowledge. Paris, Lipson and Wixson (1983) put forward a further category of ‘conditional knowledge’, that is knowing when, why, where and how to apply particular strategies. Thus we would hypothesise that many children have declarative and procedural knowledge about information retrieval: they know about contents pages, indexes, catalogues, etc., they know how to use these retrieval devices. What they lack is sufficient conditional knowledge to enable them spontaneously to use such devices effectively and efficiently.
