This fall, students at a handful of schools in Connecticut and South Carolina will learn how to read, understand, and critically evaluate internet search results using an experimental new technique. The project is part of a three-year, federally funded study by researchers at the University of Connecticut and Clemson University that aims to find a way to improve the internet literacy skills of disadvantaged students.

If the results from an earlier part of the study are any indication, it's an area of urgent need. Fewer than 10 percent of the study's participants always check the accuracy of the information they read online, according to the researchers.

The $1.8 million project, called "Developing Internet Comprehension Strategies among Poor, Adolescent Students at Risk to Become Dropouts," is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Educational Sciences. The study examines reading comprehension on the internet, with a focus on increasing students' ability to identify important problems, then locate, critically evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information as they go about solving problems online.

While traditional literacy rates appear to be climbing in schools, researchers with the project say the ability of students to read, understand, and decipher online material requires a unique skill set--qualities many of today's students have yet to grasp.

Students "spend lots of time chatting, looking at pop culture web sites, and downloading MP3s, but they don't deal with critical evaluation of information," said Donald Leu, lead researcher for the UConn team.

The two-state project aims to change that. Through a series of studies, team members will test a research-based approach to helping students acquire the kinds of higher-level comprehension skills necessary to navigate the vast and varied spaces of today's digital landscape.

Leu, who is the John and Maria Neag Chair of Literacy and Technology at UConn and director of the school's New Literacies Research Lab, and his team are focusing their efforts on economically disadvantaged seventh-grade students at six urban schools across five Connecticut districts. Their counterparts at Clemson University in South Carolina will take a similar approach to economically disadvantaged seventh graders from rural community settings.

The project consists of three phases. In the first phase, researchers interviewed roughly 1,500 students between the two states about their in-school and at-home internet use. Although the majority of students interviewed during this initial phase were from poor communities, researchers found that about 75 percent had a household internet connection.

This school year, in phase two, researchers will use a custom-built instructional model to teach critical internet reading and evaluation skills to participating students. Year three will evaluate the effectiveness of this instruction.