The Internet and Education- response to Henry's article

In my fifth grade classroom, they have one hour a few times a week with guided instruction. However, their teacher also brings in the laptop cart when they are doing any kind of research for a project. Basically, the laptops are at their disposal, at fifth grade; however are they being taught how to evaluate the results they find when they search? The article states that, ". . . merely turning students loose to surf the Web will not necessarily help them make the required connections to develop a mental model of the process of Internet searching (Brandt, 1997)" (Henry, 624). As teachers, we have to point them in the right direction as far as what to look for in the URL and in the limited details they give under the title. Those details make the child's initial decision as far as which one they should take research from. They could be "researching" all they want on the internet and not find one credible site if they don't know how to look for it. "Teaching students how to search and how to read on the Internet needs to be a focus of classroom pedagogy for the future" in order for them to be successful in their searches.
The article recommends using Internet Workshops to show them what to look for and teach them skills and strategies for searching. They also recommend using Internet Scavenger Hunts teaching them how to navigate around the internet and find what the most effective keywords are when searching. One of the sites it recommends is actually one for ESL students which I think is awesome. This could also be used as a tool for connecting ESL students to non-ESL students because they would be working on the same thing. I feel when the students are working on the same things they feel more included since they can ask their neighbor a question about it instead of only being able to ask the teacher or the other ESL students. This will also provide time for interaction for the ESL students with non-ESL which we read is huge. ESL students need to feel welcome in a classroom full of Native English Speakers to help improve their English, conversation with kids their own age is a place to start and using the internet as a connection for that is not only something we should be doing with our students anyways but simple at the same time.
During the research process, the students have to keep the main idea in the back of their mind, but remember that it's the steps it takes to get there that are the important ones.