The core research question is simple: can collaborative inquiry activities aid students in learning Web literacy skills? Research aimed at studying the possibility runs the risk of having little general applicability; in one successful instance the answer was yes. Even if the positive result is atypical, the task for researchers is, then, to examine the context of this success, to identify factors that contribute to it.

The authors do this commendably in a multiple-case study, where two of four classrooms had implementation issues and one seemed to carry out the study’s curricular program fully, as the researchers intended. The subjects are 93 students and their teachers, in four fifth-grade classes, in four different schools.

Four conclusions have general applicability to similar or follow-on efforts: “teachers and students need explicit support and guidance with regard to formulating ‘workable’ research questions” for Web-based inquiry; collaborative activities must be more than working together--shared purpose, mutual contributions that build on each other, and teacher involvement in fostering these are key; basic inquiry skills, such as knowledge synthesis and reflection, are also key to success; and finally, a teacher’s teaching style, effort, and motivation are likely the most important factors in the success of the curricula.

These basic findings emerge from qualitative assessments typical of traditional case studies, despite the study’s heavy emphasis on recording, coding, and analyzing data.

Kuiper, Volman, and Terwel close with a paradox: the Web’s abundance of information “entices students to think every answer can be found ready-made on it,” stifling their active building of knowledge through integrative thinking.