HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS USE OF DATABASES - RESULTS OF A NATIONAL DELPHI STUDY

A four-round Delphi study with a panel of 25 library media specialists (LMSs) from 22 secondary schools across the United States was aimed a t: (1) identifying high school students' most significant difficulties in using online and CD-ROM databases; (2) suggesting design elements and curricular and instructional strategies for making these tools mor e valuable as learning resources; and (3) determining the most signifi cant policy issues related to the use of electronic information resour ces in schools. Findings are based on (1) panelists' ratings of 234 it ems on Likert-type scales and (2) panelists' selections and rankings o f a subset of items from that larger set. The conceptual framework for the study was derived from instructional systems design (ISD), a disc ipline outside the traditional focus of information science research, but one that has considerable potential for offering additional insigh ts to the field. The results confirm that the major issues related to schools' use of online and CD-ROM databases involve their role in stud ents' development of the higher-order thinking skills necessary to pla n, design, and conduct competent and credible research in the electron ic information age.