That is the question!
The term “search” has taken on a different kind of life in recent years, thanks to our companion, the World Wide Web. While so many of us want to believe that Google is not a verb, we all know better. It’s too easy; all you have to do is submit a query into the little box in and the world of information is opened up—it’s instant gratification at its finest!
But, does instant gratification come with a price? In the context of searching on the WWW, it certainly does. Deemed as the next great generation, Millennials are at the crux of the instant gratification culture and the responsible action to take is to empower this group of Web users. This is where the quantity versus quality paradox comes in. While “searching” is a powerful tool, it is likely the top results will end up cluttered with a lot of senseless, ambiguous links and some of the best information will remain buried several pages deep.
Teaching Millennials how to research is critical in ensuring they can find what they are actually looking for; they must go through the whole process investigating, digesting the information they have come across and thinking it through. The continuing expansion of information requires thinking skills that will enable students to learn on their own. One thing holds true: these days the Web can satisfy just about any yearning, but at the end of the day, the Web is not quite brainy enough to replace thinking. Learning how to research is a good place to start.
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