Does the Internet support student inquiry? Don't ask.

N ational organizations, such as the National Research Council and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, are unified in their call for a new pedagogy, a Deweyian educational framework , where students engage in serious inquiry, asking and exploring authentic, worthwhile , and challenging questions. " Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science. " Such inquiry requires access to serious information resources. " Inquiry is a mul-tifaceted activity that involves making observations ; posing questions; examining books and other sources of information to see what is already known; planning investigations ; reviewing what is already known in light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing answers, explanations , and predictions; and communicating the results. Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and logical thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations. " (Ibid, p. 31) But classrooms are information poor environments. Thirty copies of the same, outdated book is not good enough, and the yearly $200 available to the school's library for all the subjects for new acquisitions is not going to do it either. And, in these times of cutbacks, we can't expect the public library to be particularly responsive. Where else are kids going to get the information resources they need but from the Web? That said, the disquieting theme we explore here is this: Given the current tools, organization , and content on the Web, having kids productively search the Web in pursuit of serious questions is a hard task. Unless teachers and students (and parents and administrators) are willing to invest healthy doses of time, effort, and good humor, searching the Web may well not be an educationally productive activity. Now, we are not saying it's a