A comparative study about children's and adults' perception of targeted web search engines
In this paper we describe an eye-tracking study where we compare children's and adults' search behavior and perception of search interface elements on search engine results pages (SERPs) during an informational and a navigational search with Google and a search engine for children. Our first results indicate that children employ an exhaustive scanning strategy combined with cued visual jumps. Then they navigate to the next result page and only then modify their query. Adults only scan the first three results, following the F-shaped strategy, and immediately reformulate the query. Children pay less attention to textual summaries and more to thumbnails than adults do. Children take notice of a navigational menu with categories while adults do not.
Key Words: Science, IBERS, PG Masters, Small Group, Student Questionnaires, Research-Based Teaching, Lectures Based Teaching