I Thought They’d Just Google It

By Dr. Salika Lawrence & Alaina DiSalvo

This is an amazing time to be a learner, but the access to information can be overwhelming. Most of our students are able to use digital tools to build their background knowledge on a variety of topics. In fact, they are coming into the classroom with knowledge and skills that would amaze us just a generation ago. The challenge, however, is that many students think they know how to use digital tools to support their learning, and they fall short of using the resources effectively. 

Let’s say you are ready to launch a climate justice inquiry. You would expect students to hit Google hard. But what happens when they don’t? Instead, you observe that they start with TikTok videos, Instagram infographics, and Reddit threads.

Like me, I am sure you are likely to panic at first. Is this research? Turns out—it is. We have to redefine what we mean by research. Several years ago, at the dawn of Google, I recommended that students do a Google search to build their background knowledge about a topic to help them launch into their research project. Teachers often shared that students just copy and paste website information into their research projects. Think about it this way: you don’t know what you don’t know. Allowing students to do some preliminary research via Google helps to build their background knowledge so they can position themselves in the field. Then, they can find a connecting point to launch their inquiry. 

Alaina had some additional thoughts on this subject:

“This applies to TikTok videos as well. The tools have changed but students are still engaging with layered, emotionally resonant content that makes them develop strong opinions. Perhaps allowing students to explore the topic beforehand might help to minimize and even eliminate the copy and pasting plagiarism causing teachers headaches. The instructional focus would be to take a day or two to examine source reliability, visual rhetoric, and digital bias in the videos and other digital sources. Allowing students to utilize this approach can help to deepen inquiry, and ultimately increase their understanding of how media influences perspective.

When we tell students that they can’t use TikTok or Reddit, what we’re really telling them is that their voices don’t matter. Social media is where the younger generations express themselves and exchange information. It’s an incredibly valuable tool, and maybe more importantly, makes students genuinely interested in research. The trick is in teaching students how to properly vet sources of information. A TikTok video might be emotionally gripping, and it might come from an influencer that students love. But how can we fact-check the information? Framing information gathering in this way creates a bridge between students’ preexisting use of social media and more traditional, more trustworthy sources. Once their interest is piqued, they can verify what they’ve heard using academic and professional sources.”

With the shifting landscape and rapid access to digital tools, I had to let go of my assumptions about what counts as research. Inquiry is not just about where students look—it’s about how they question, interpret, and construct meaning.