Sometimes the Internet reads the question wrong: children’s search strategies & difficulties

When children search for information on a given topic, how do they go about searching for and retrieving information? What can their information seeking strategies tell us about the development of search interfaces for children's digital libraries, search engines and information repositories? We interviewed New Zealand (NZ) school children to seek insights into how they are conducting information searches during their education

Talk in activity during young children’s use of digital technologies at home

This article establishes ways that family members engage and disengage in talk so as to manage their individual activity with mobile devices and accomplish interaction with each other.AbstractInternet-connected tablets and smart phones are being used increasingly by young children. Little is known, however, about their social interactions with family members when engaged with these technologies. This article examines video-recorded interactions between a father and his two young children, one aged 18 months using an iPhone and one aged three years accessing an iPad. Drawing on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, analysis establishes ways the family members engage and disengage in talk so as to manage their individual activity with mobile devices and accomplish interaction with each other. Findings are relevant for understanding children’s everyday practices with mobile technologies.Authored by Susan Danby, Christina Davidson, Maryanne Theobald, Brooke Scriven, Charlotte Cobb-Moore, Sandra Houen, Sandra Grant, Lisa M. Given, and Karen Thorpe

Adequate Use of Technology and Effects on Young Children

Review of literature about technology use in young children and the positive effects it may have along with consequences and recommendations. Young children are able to access technology easily and use it for many reasons. Using technology responsibly and for educational purposes will help maintain young children’s health and safety. Supervision and interactions is key when young children use technology. Young children spend a lot of time on technology which can have adverse effects such as physical health issues, mental health issues and social interaction problems. When children use it for educational purposes the work should be monitored and the programs adequately researched. Young children can improve literacy skills, mathematics skills, writing skills and also social interaction skills. Students in special education have also benefited from advancements in technology. Spending too much time using technology and using it for inappropriate reasons can harm young children. Adults are responsible for teaching young children appropriate uses of technology and use to make sure the children become responsible technology users

Introduction of Digital Storytelling in Preschool Education: a Case Study from Croatia

Our case study from Croatia showed the benefits of digital storytelling in a preschool as a basis for the formal ICT education. The statistical analysis revealed significant differences between children aged 6 – 7 who learned mathematics by traditional storytelling compared to those learning through digital storytelling. The experimental group that used digital storytelling showed significant improvement in their abilities to solve computational and mathematical problems, which suggests that this method was age-appropriate and versatile. Also, the observations of educators from both the experimental and the control group showed that children were more motivated by digital storytelling, succeeding to complete all stories with an incredible amount of engagement and enthusiasm. These findings indicate that interactive multimedia storytelling, compared to the traditional one, can be used as an effective tool for improving child’s mathematical and computer literacy skills in the preschool context in which ICT is being introduced for the first time

Watching young children 'play' with information technology : everyday life information seeking in the home

Research on how young children use information to orient themselves in daily life and to solve problems (known as everyday life information seeking or ELIS) has not been conducted, in-depth, in information science. This exploratory observation study examines how 15 Australian preschool children (aged three to five) used information technologies in their homes to orient themselves in daily life and to solve problems. Children engaged in various ways with the digital technologies available to them and with parents and siblings during play activities. The results explore the value of artistic play, sociodramatic play, and early literacy and numeracy activities in shaping young children's ‘way of life’ and ‘mastery of life’ as outlined in Savolainen's (1995) ELIS model. Observed technology engagement provided an opportunity to explore children's social worlds and the ways that they gathered information during technology play that will inform future learning activities and support child development. By using ELIS theory as an analytic lens, the results demonstrate how children's developmental play with technology tools helps them to internalize social and cultural norms. The data also point to the type of capital available to children and how that capital contributes to children's emerging information practices

Information Milieu and Play in Lockdown: The Cute, the Ugly, and the…

his study is an investigation of young children’s information needs and their seeking and discovery behaviors in the context of playing the popular Nintendo Switch life simulation game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (AC:NH). The children in this study perceived AC:NH as an ideal escape from the challenges of the COVID-19 lockdown, and effectively utilized the affordances of AC:NH and other related platforms to play, interact, and learn. The appealing AC:NH kawaii design, coupled with the anthropomorphized behaviors, minds, and emotions of the animal characters, encouraged the children to interweave perceptions and expectations, which led them to play out scenarios relevant to their own experiences and lives

’Eyes free’ in-car assistance: parent and child passenger collaboration during phone calls

This paper examines routine family car journeys, looking specifically at how passengers assist during a mobile telephone call while the drivers address the competing demands of handling the vehicle, interacting with various artefacts and controls in the cabin, and engage in co-located and remote conversations while navigating through busy city roads. Based on an analysis of video fragments, we see how drivers and child passengers form their conversations and requests around the call so as to be meaningful and paced to the demands, knowledge and abilities of their cooccupants, and how the conditions of the road and emergent traffic are oriented to and negotiated in the context of the social interaction that they exist alongside. The study provides implications for the design of car-based collaborative media and considers how hands- and eyesfree natural interfaces could be tailored to the complexity of activities in the car and on the road

Designing an internet search interface for children

Interaction design and interface design research for children is of critical importance to ensure an educated future generation ready for the technology-focussed world. Significantly, the empirical studies that guide designers, developers, and technologists to support the production of suitable tools for children are under-represented in the scholarly literature. Using evidence from the literature combined with our own recent investigations, we provide a list of requirements for interfaces for children’s educational information seeking. An interaction model and interface design are developed and tested with an expert heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthrough

Exploring the early manifestation of information poverty in young children

Information poverty is widely recognised as having a negative impact upon the health and wellbeing, and socioeconomic prosperity, of individuals and communities (e.g. Lloyd, 2010; UNICEF, 2017; Marcella and Chowdhury, 2018). Related concerns include issues of social exclusion and social justice (Britz, 2008; Lloyd, 2013), and fundamental human rights including freedom of communication and expression (Britz, 2004). However, whilst an issue of significant societal concern evidenced across a number of adult population groups in a wide variety of socioeconomic contexts, we currently have limited understanding of information poverty amongst children. This appears to be a significant omission as we know that children can experience various other forms of impoverishment both social and economic (UNICEF, 2020). This study sought to address this gap in our understanding of information poverty, and in doing so, provides insights into the early manifestation of information poverty in young children

Exploring the early manifestation of information poverty in young children

Information poverty is widely recognised as having a negative impact upon peoples’ health and wellbeing, and socioeconomic prosperity; however, whilst an issue of significant societal concern evidenced across a wide variety of adult groups and socioeconomic contexts, no studies have been previously undertaken with children. This appears a significant oversight given that many children across the globe are considered multi-dimensionally poor. This study thus sought to explore the possibility of information poverty amongst children. 156 children (aged 6-8) from five UK primary schools participated in a series of practical exercises exploring their information behaviours, and 34 parents and teachers were interviewed to provide further insights. Finding’s evidence self-protective information behaviours and unmet information needs amongst children aged 6-8; both characteristics of an impoverished information state. Whilst much can be explained in developmental terms (i.e. in relation to child age and emergent literacies), much can also be explained in information poverty terms encompassing issues of both information access and use. Notably, approximately half of our child participants considered themselves to be, in general, unsuccessful information seekers; and contrasts with the views of our adult participants who majority believed that children are, in general, successful information seekers. This paper provides the first evidence of information poverty in young children, and provides further insights into the role of parents in supporting their children’s information needs and shaping their developing information behaviours, with parental mediation of child media use appearing particularly problematic. Enduring inequalities in information access are also highlighted. Beyond call for further global research, a public communication campaign to increase awareness of child information poverty and contributory factors is recommended as an immediate priority.Output Status: Forthcomin