Culturally Responsive Applications of Computer Technologies in Education: Examples of Best Practice

For more than a decade, scholars have identified culturally responsive pedagogy as a teaching method for improving the academic achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Scholarly research on the intersection of culturally responsive teaching and educational technology, however, remains scant. The purpose of this literature review is to highlight research-based examples of culturally responsive applications and to provide recommendations for the design of technology-based learning environments

Children’s Roles using Keyword Search Interfaces at Home

Children want to find information about their world, but there are barriers to finding what they seek. Young people have varying abilities to formulate complex queries and comprehend search results. Challenges in understanding where to type, confusion about what tools are available, and frustration with how to parse the results page all have led to a lack of perceived search success for children 7-11 years old. In this paper, we describe seven search roles children display as information seekers using Internet keyword interfaces, based on a home study of 83 children ages 7, 9, and 11. These roles are defined not only by the children’s search actions, but also by who influences their searching, their perceived success, and trends in age and gender. These roles suggest a need for new interfaces that expan

How Children Search the Internet with Keyword Interfaces

Children are among the most frequent users of the Internet, yet searching and browsing the web can present many challenges. Studies over the past two decades on how children search were conducted with finite and predetermined content found in CD-ROM applications, online digital libraries, and web directories. However, with the current popularity of the open Internet and keyword-based interfaces for searching it, more critical analysis of the challenges children face today is needed. This paper presents the findings of our initial study to understand how children ages 7, 9, and 11 search the Internet using keyword interfaces in the home. Our research has revealed that although today’s children have been exposed to computers for most of their lives, spelling, typing, query formulation, and deciphering results are all still potential barriers to finding the information they need. frequent use of the Internet and exposure to technology at an early age, when asked ‘what frustrates you most about searching on the Internet’, several child participants in our study provided some revealing answers. Child (age 7): “Writing words is hard for me because I'm not really good at the writing.” Child (age 9): “It doesn’t do all the words you say.” Child (age 11): “It's hard because you have to find the right words to put in the box.&quot