Teaching informational strategies for lifelong learning

Information searching on the Internet has become, besides one of the most frequent online activities, a highly complex practice that requires the use of strategies in order to find effective results. It has also turned into a crucial competence for learning, and learning through life by seizing the informational potentialities. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on the effective use of informational technologies meant for learning tools. The chapter is divided into three parts. After a brief introduction around the significance of the issue, the chapter begins with a broad description of the information searching process on the Internet, the variables involved and the main of the process. Then, findings from the emerging research of the authors are used to explain performances of students and experts in seeking information on the Internet. More precisely, modalities and patterns of searching are described along with the most effective search method that students should tend to achieve for learning. The third section provides guidelines for teaching to search by the Internet strategically, taking into account the more relevant decisions in the process. These guidelines are focused on the method of control transfer, from the teacher to the student, with various practices that can be applied in educational contexts, for students to evolve into more and more informational skilled learners. © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.