The purpose of this study was to investigate the process used by learners to direct, locate, and integrate information resources for use in a project-based environment. Four cases (n=9, including three group projects and one individual project) were analyzed from an introductory educational technology course for preservice teachers during a unit on telecommunications. Participants were asked to generate projects for integrating the Internet into the curriculum. Within this project-based context, learners searched for information resources that would accompany their project ideas. Specifically, the study examined: strategies used by participants to guide their information seeking; the role of system, domain, and metacognitive knowledge in locating World Wide Web resources; and the extent to which student integrate Web resources into coherent projects. Three major findings related to use of hypermedia systems during project-based learning are discussed: (1) progressing from data-driven to goal-driven approaches was critical to developing a coherent project idea: (2) consolidating multiple information resources with proposed project methods and rationales was challenging for learners; and (3) metacognitive, domain, and system knowledge appear critical to achieving coherence in project development. Implications related to the role of instructional scaffolding in encouraging goal-driven and metacognitive processing during open-ended learning are considered. (Author/MES)