Fostering Information Problem Solving Skills Through Completion Problems and Prompts

Frerejean, J., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Kirschner, P. A. (2012, September). Fostering Information Problem Solving Skills Through Completion Problems and Prompts. Poster presented at the EARLI SIG 6 & 7 "Instructional Design" and "Learning and Instruction with Computers", Bari, Italy.Even though students often manage to find their way around the internet in their search for information; information problem solving skills do not develop naturally. Previous research shows that adults and teenagers often encounter problems when solving information problems, indicating that formal training in this domain is needed. This study is an attempt to develop such a training. It compares the learning results of different instructional approaches: completion problems, emphasis manipulation, and a combination of both. In addition, the study will investigate which of these instructional approaches imposes the least amount of cognitive load, as measured by subjective mental effort ratings