In this manuscript, we argue for the need to further look at search as learning (SAL) with children as the primary stakeholders. Inspired by how children learn and considering the classroom (regardless of the teaching modality) as a natural educational ecosystem, we posit that scafolding is the tie that can simultaneously allow for learning to search while searching for learning. The main contribution of this work is a list of open challenges focused on the primary school classroom for the IR community to consider when setting up to explore and make progress on SAL research with and for children and beyond.
Searching for information on a broad range of topics using diferent devices and modalities
(e.g., traditional text-based to voice-assisted) is habitual. For some users, particularly those
who are part of the ‘Google generation’ (born after 1993), it is evident that the path to gaining
knowledge is through the use of the internet and search engines [
We bring our attention to a specific subgroup of the Google generation: children1. They prefer
using popular, commercial search engines to satisfy their information needs [
In closing the gap between what children can do on their own and what they can do with
help, and inspired by Vygotsky’s theory of Zone of Proximal Development [
In the late 1990s, Marchionini defined the information-seeking process as “a process, in which
humans purposefully engage to change their state of knowledge” [
Literature in the SAL area is broad. It covers diferent aspects: (i) the connection of search behaviour and learning outcomes [12], (ii) domain knowledge and its impact on learning outcomes when searching [13], (iii) how to measure learning within SAL environments [14], (iv) datasets that sustain further research in this area [15], (v) new frameworks to better understanding and measuring of SAL processes [16], (vi) exploring the use of active reading tools to support search as learning [17], and (vii) knowledge gain as a result of learning-related inquiry tasks [18], to name a few. (An in-depth review of SAL-related literature can be found in [19, 20]). Early works related to SAL, including the Dagstuhl manifesto [21] and the first SAL workshop co-located with ACM SIGIR [22], mention non-typical user groups, e.g., low-literacy searchers, non-experts, and children. Yet, most research works target or refer to studies involving more mature users.
Children are a user group whose cognitive and literacy skills are in the development stages. Moreover, they are first exposed to search engines without prior knowledge and thus must learn how to use them (beyond intuitive engagement that might not account for best practices). Consequently, it becomes imperative to understand their SAL needs and respond accordingly, rather than assuming that SAL outcomes observed from adults are directly applicable to children. Vice versa, we posit that search solutions that prove efective with children could also aid adult searchers.
Among research eforts connecting SAL and children, we find the works by Downs et al. [ 23, 24] who focus on how children express their information needs to prompt the search process. In particular, they introduce KidSpell, a spellchecker based on phonetic keys that explicitly accounts for the spelling mistakes children make. The learning to search perspective is accounted for by the visual cues that help children identify potential misspellings and how to correct them to compose more efective queries.
Madrazo Azpiazu et al. [
Von Hoyer et al. [29] introduce a novel framework that leverages both computer science and psychology perspectives to model SAL. Even though this work does not explicitly focus on children, the authors use the interaction of an adolescent seeking information on the Internet to complete a homework assignment to illustrate the diferent components of their proposed framework. This serves as another indication of the importance of bringing attention to SAL and how it connects to children.
The needs and expectations of children when searching vary based on their cognitive abilities, prior exposure, topics of interest, and many other aspects. Further, Usta et al. [30] emphasise that children’s search behaviour in the classroom difers from that observed for general web searches. In an educational environment2, searching is directly related to learning, as children search for information that enables them to complete curriculum-related assignments. In contrast, search engines children utilise are “optimised for acquiring factual knowledge but are less successful at facilitating other kinds of learning, such as understanding, analysis, application or synthesis, in terms of Bloom’s taxonomy" [31]. Motivated by these considerations and to control the scope as we set a strong foundation for SAL research targeting children, we focus on the educational environment.
As previously mentioned, scafolding is extensively adopted in the classroom context. One
of the most common scafolding practices involves the use of mediators as physical or visual
objects, in addition to actions, to help children to learn and recall something [32]. With this
in mind, we posit that when children are the primary stakeholders, scafolding –temporary
2In this work, we use ‘classroom’ and ‘learning context’ interchangeably to refer to the educational environment,
regardless of the teaching modality, i.e., searching for information related to the school curriculum in a traditional
classroom or online from home.
adaptive support [33]–could serve as a conduit to connect both of SAL’s perspectives and
focus on learning to search while searching for learning. Informed by our prior studies, along
with associated findings pertaining to the needs of young searchers when conducting online
information discovery tasks for the classroom, we identify a number of challenges that need
consideration: the use of search tools in a learning context [28], the need for evaluation for
multiple perspectives [27], the individual needs of young searchers [
As previously stated, children favour commercial search engines. Hence, algorithmic functionality providing the scafolding is needed so that children can successfully traverse through each of the stages of the information-seeking process become a must. Informed by findings reported in [28], open problems in this area include, for example, re-ranking algorithms that can prioritise retrieved results to match the classroom context [38] and simplifying the text complexity of resources so that users can read and understand based on their reading skills. Query formulation support and query suggestion strategies tailored to the classroom context are also of interest.
The intent, however, is not for children to just use search engines but instead for them to acquire search literacy knowledge along the way. Hence, scafolding should also incorporate novel interfaces that can ofer clues on the relevance of retrieved resources, guidance on navigation practices, best practices in the query suggestion section, and explanation of results that have the potential to be misinformation. This latter is particularly challenging for children to discern [39].
Note that open problems in this area could complement those mentioned by von Hoyer et al. [29] in describing their proposed framework (see Section 3).
Evaluation remains of at most importance. Assessing the performance of search systems serving children is challenging, given the lack of benchmarks, datasets to compare and contrast performance, metrics to use to measure performance, and unambiguous definitions of what it means for a retrieved result or systems to be ‘good’ for children [40, 41, 42].
We argue that in the classroom context, evaluation is even more challenging. We start from getting a better understanding of how children interpret relevance in the classroom context as described in [27, 35]. There is also a need for assessing how available interfaces support children in performing their search tasks as discussed in [43] where we introduce four lenses grounded on UX factors. In the SAL context, (simultaneous) assessment of ‘learning’ both in 3We consider best practices in the use of search tools and associated theory, such as concerns related to misinformation, as per the definition of web search literacy which states that “Web search literacy as the ability to identify, locate and efectively use information on the Web" [37]. terms of search literacy and knowledge gain as a result of searching remains an open problem. This requires the involvement of interdisciplinary researchers–beyond computer science–that can outline new (performance) metrics as well as design short and long-term studies involving children in their natural classroom environment as opposed to a lab setting.
We have recently explored the diferent roles children play when searching in the classroom [
The modality in which children access search systems is worth exploring. We have discussed some of the limitations children experience when engaging with traditional text-based search engines. Yet, it is worth mentioning that younger searchers find it easier to turn to voice-based devices like Siri or Alexa [44]. In this case, what would scafolding look like? How to support learning as a result of searching when most often voice-based devices would directly ofer an answer to users’ prompts? How does scafold learning to formulate queries that Siri or Alexa can understand?
Moving beyond typical searches for websites,and based on outcomes observed as a result of the study reported in [34] pertaining how children engage with search companions, what are the open problems about SAL when children seek videos (e.g., turn to YouTube [45]) that can support their learning? In this case, what would be the scafolding needed to discern educational and suitable retrieved videos from those that do not align with the classroom context? Should the support ofered for query formulation, resource prioritisation, and relevance assessment difer from that devised for more traditional searches? Or should instead scafolding resemble strategies teachers adopt when searching for videos for their students [46]?
Design, development, assessment, and deployment of search systems that can ofer the implicit and explicit scafolding needed to enable SAL for children in the classroom to depend on the availability of data that facilitates modelling of users and their interactions. Further, once deployed, search systems with scafolding embedded must adapt over time, reacting to individual users’ needs. Research advancement and personalization have direct implications on children and their rights, such as privacy, i.e., the protection of their data [47]. (For an overview on this matter see [48]).
Already researchers, practitioners, and other governmental organisations bring attention to the degree to which Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts children, particularly in the classroom context, along with open challenges in this area [49, 50]. AI aims to build machines and software that can mimic intelligent human behaviour [50]. Systems that deliver the level of scafolding that teachers would naturally provide their students, i.e., systems that automatically adapt and respond to the learning needs of children that change over time, are at the core of AI research. This is why SAL researchers and practitioners should be mindful of ethical implications [35] and the multiple aspects (not just technology) impacting design for children as they address some of the open problems discussed in the aforementioned sections of this manuscript.
As we discuss in [36], over the last three years, the classroom context has been severely afected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This impact has shifted across the years, from complete lock-downs forcing learning to happen online to hybrid interactions. Studies conducted to understand the implications of the pandemic on children and learning are ongoing, but some shreds of evidence emerge from early on [51, 52]. Of note is how students have lowered their autonomy level in completing a task, regulating their attention, and independent learning. The pandemic forced them to learn from home where they had the constant presence of adults ready to scafold their learning experience even when they did not need to.
The task for teachers now is to choose the best strategies and methodologies to bring students back to the level of independence they exhibited pre-pandemic. For SAL researchers, the challenge is specifically on avoiding the perpetuation of this lack of independence as much as on discerning needed aid (e.g. embedded instruction and algorithmic functionality). Doing so will undoubtedly require new studies to observe how children engage with search tasks pertaining to the educational environment and, more importantly, involving teachers. Teachers as partners for SAL-related research will enable a better interpretation of which type of scafolding is needed post-pandemic. Moreover, the teachers will share their perceptions of how students would fare when presented with scafolding designed to aid their pre-pandemic skill set. Will students take advantage of it or would they simply bypass it in favour of more guidance aforded directly by teachers or peers?
With this work, we aimed to bring attention to the need to advance knowledge about SAL for children. As a step towards achieving that goal, we scoped our discussion to the educational environment, as the perfect ecosystem where searching for learning and learning to search coexist. We outlined directions that call for the participation of researchers and industry practitioners with varied expertise (e.g., Information Retrieval, Information Science, HumanComputer Interaction, Education, Natural-Language Understanding, and Child Development) so that resulting outcomes have theoretical, but more importantly, practical implications in real-world scenarios.
If learning to learn is an essential skill in our society, then SAL is vital to sustaining children and adults in their continued learning process. As such, it needs more attention and study. Here, we are not providing answers, only open challenges and possible directions for future research to guide us in the quest for better SAL experiences for children. The connection between scafolding and SAL has been mentioned in prior literature with adults as primary stakeholders. Most notably, Camara et al [53] report that scafolding in the form of curated topic lists or exploration feedback did not influence learning outcomes, it did impact their search behaviour. This evidences the value of expanding research explorations on the natural connection between SAL and scafolding. In our case, we strongly believe that a deep exploration of the role scafolding plays in the classroom could support its adoption as an essential functionality of search tools to provide a better experience for all. 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