Web interfaces to support children's information-seeking activities

Children are making greater and greater use of the Web for educational and entertainment purposes both at school and at home. The past few years have seen the widespread entry of the Internet into schools and classrooms around the world. Since its entrance into the classroom, the Internet has come to be used increasingly as an information resource for class projects. The use of the Internet as an educational resource has spawned interest among researchers from a variety of disciplines (education, library science, human-computer interaction, and so forth) in exploring ways to improve the design of Web sites intended to support children in their information-seeking activities. This research has included: conducting usability studies with children, conducting focus groups with children, and actively involving children as team members in the design of interfaces for Web-based tools intended for their use. This presentation will examine selected Web sites designed specifically to meet the information needs of children, communicate research findings related to the effectiveness of such Web sites, and suggest recommendations for improvements based upon those findings. The Web sites examined will include Yahooligans! and NASA Kids, among others