Mental models in youth are deeply explored in this paper that investigates the ways in which students (aged 10-14) mentally visualize the inner workings of the Google search engine. The authors delve into considerable depth about the research done by others as well as their own small sampling of students with regard to their mental conception of how Google works. This research provides significant insight into the inner thinking of youth and how their conception of Google influences both their use and misuse of the search engine.

The understandings/mental models that youth have about Google are explained and interpreted in some detail, and many references to previous research on this topic are presented. An important acknowledgement in the research is that youth utilize Google very differently based upon their understanding/mental model of how it works. For example, many students engage in anthropomorphism, whereby they assign human attributes or even idealize a human behind the search engine. This misunderstanding can lead to increased trust in search results versus the necessary understanding that Google is driven by code and algorithms, not people, and that results must be analyzed and deciphered by the user.

The authors draw some interesting conclusions that are pertinent not only for future research but also to those who are teaching students how to use Google and other search engines. Overall, this is an in-depth paper with a lot of implications for future research and academic instruction. It is an easy-to-read, albeit somewhat lengthy, summary of previous research and descriptions of this particular study.