Abstract
This paper regards a pilot study aiming to investigate young children’s engagement in computer use in kindergarten (knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelings displayed). The participants were 29 children who used the computer in the classroom at the beginning of the academic year 2013–2014. The degree of children’s engagement was recorded with a questionnaire which assessed knowledge (hardware and software), skills (mouse control, coordination), dispositions (exploration, resilience), feelings (enthusiasm, enjoyment), and social behavior of young children. Most of the children were assessed as moderate to very good with regard to dispositions, feelings, and behavior. A significant correlation was found between each of the categories “knowledge,” “skills,” and “social behavior” and the characteristic “access to a computer at home” (higher mean values for those children who had a computer at home). Further research needs to take into account children’s use of ICT at home, since it facilitates the acquisition of technological competencies. The questionnaire is proposed to be used (a) as a part of a child’s formative assessment regarding computer use and behavior at the computer corner and (b) in combination with qualitative data such as observations and interviews with the teachers.
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Nikolopoulou, K., Gialamas, V. (2017). Investigating Young Children’s Engagement with Computer Use as a School Activity : A Pilot Study . In: Anastasiades, P., Zaranis, N. (eds) Research on e-Learning and ICT in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34127-9_4
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