IN a fascinating initiative, pupils at Glasgow’s Kelvinside Academy have gone “old school” when it comes to finding information for class projects. The project was devised by researchers at Glasgow University and is underpinned by the idea that finding facts online can be misleadingly easy and lead to an experience of research that is passive and unengaged.

Choosing research topics of their own, the primary pupils were then encouraged to source their own information offline, from questionnaires to their fellow students. This taught them how to frame questions. It also taught them that there are no easy answers. And it gave them valuable experience of generating their own knowledge, while participating more actively in the gathering of information.

Perhaps there are lessons for us all here. The development of the internet has been marvellous, and the ability to access information instantaneously has proved to be of great benefit. But how accurate is the information? Where did it come from? Who compiled it? And what can we find out for ourselves?

We would imagine that the Kelvinside pupils will have discovered skills of concentration and resourcefulness during this project. Using footwork rather than fingerwork, they will have learned the values of determination and commitment (time and effort required). They may even have had to re-orientate themselves: towards going out into the world rather than waiting for the world to come to them.

While some may harbour doubts about the value of giving children all the skills that they might need to deal with the last century, we are sure they will have learned that the whole world is not on the worldwide web. In this case, subjects chosen by the pupils included the value or otherwise of homework, the views of the school community on the vexed question of Brexit, and whether boys or girls felt more pressure when doing tests. All valid questions, and none with cut and dried answers on Wikipedia. Let us give three cheers, then, for the four R’s: reading, writing, arithmetic and research.