Using Think Alouds, Think Afters, and Think Togethers to Research Adolescents’ Inquiry Experiences ...

• Main Author: Branch, Jennifer L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Alberta Journal of Educational Research 2006
• Subjects: Northwest Territories; Inuvik
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v52i3.55153; https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/view/55153

This article presents three research methods—Think Alouds, Think Afters, and Think Togethers—as ways of gathering data to describe the experiences of adolescents during instructional activities. These verbal report methods were used in two studies that examined the information-seeking processes of adolescents in Inuvik, Northwest Territories and Beaumont, Alberta. The first study revealed that participants needed both mediation (instruction and support) and practice to develop the skills and strategies needed for full-text searching of electronic encyclopedias. The second study revealed that students needed mediation (instruction and support) throughout an inquiry-based learning experience and that using Kuhlthau’s (1993) Information Search Process model as a guide for cognitive and affective mediation was useful. The Think Alouds, Think Afters, and Think Togethers allowed the researcher to collect data about the adolescents’ experiences of information-seeking; the data-gathering processes also provided the ... : Alberta Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 52 No. 3 (2006): Fall 2006 ...