Effects of computerized mediation of analogical thinking in kindergartens

Abstract  The current study describes an attempt to improve children's analogical thinking through the use of a 'humanized' computer program. This program was experimentally designed to incorporate several basic features of what has been defined theoretically and empirically as basic criteria of human mediation to children. The objective of the study was to examine the possibility of improving the educational benefits of using computers in early childhood education. More specifically, it was hypothesized that by introducing into a computer program basic features of human mediation, it would be possible to raise children's educational gains to the level of the gain achieved when they work with an adult mediator. Subjects were 120 Israeli-born kindergarten children between 4.5 and 6 years old. Despite no differences in test scores between the two experimental groups a higher frequency of 'stopping to think' (in contrast to trial and error responses) was found in the experimental group working with an adult as compared to the experimental group working independently.     

Patterns of kindergarten children’s social interaction with peers in the computer area

This study explored how young children interact with their peers in the computer area of a public kindergarten classroom. Children??s social interaction, as defined in this study, is the action of giving and taking information that results in children??s knowledge construction and cognitive development that can be accomplished through peer-to-peer interactions. This kind of social interaction is referred to as ??Cognitively Effective Social Interaction (CESI)?? in this paper. Patterns of young children??s social interaction with peers in the computer area of this classroom were discussed. Two teachers and 28 children in a full-day kindergarten classroom were observed and interviewed. The patterns of young children??s social interaction that occurred in the computer area were described as parallel play, verbal conflicts, sociable interaction, knowledge construction through positive and negative processes, and non-verbal communication.     

Effects of vocabulary training by computer in kindergarten

Abstract In the present study, intensive vocabulary training by computer was undertaken in a two-year kindergarten programme in the Netherlands. In the intervention, 67 native and immigrant children in the first and second years of kindergarten played vocabulary games on the computer twice a week for a period of 15 minutes over 15 weeks. A control group of 97 kindergartners followed the regular curriculum. In a pre-test-training-post-test-retention test design, positive effects of the computer training were found on a curriculum-dependent vocabulary test. A trend was found towards positive effects of the computer training on a curriculum-independent test for children in their second year of kindergarten. The results present an alternative and relatively teacher-independent method to enlarge children's vocabularies.     

The effects of a computerised interview on children's recall of an event

The usefulness of an interactive computer program in eliciting children's reports about an event was examined. Fifty-nine 5- to 6-year-old and fifty-two 7- to 8-year old children participated in an event with their regular class teacher, which involved several activities and a mildly negative secret. Four days later, the children were interviewed individually in one of three interview conditions; computer program alone, computer program with adult assistant present and standard verbal interview format. The computer program incorporated animation and audio whereby an animated figure asked the questions and the child was required to provide a verbal response. Results revealed that the children were just as willing to recount details of the event to the computer, compared to the standard interviewer; there was no effect of interview condition on the number of words and event features recalled, and on children's willingness to disclose the secret. However, the children favoured the computer interview format; they were more willing to revise their answers to the computer than to the adult interviewer. The implications of these findings and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

Electronic books versus adult readers: effects on children's emergent literacy as a function of social class

Abstract  We compared the effects of children's reading of an educational electronic storybook on their emergent literacy with those of being read the same story in its printed version by an adult. We investigated 128 5- to 6-year-old kindergarteners; 64 children from each of two socio-economic status (SES) groups: low (LSES) and middle (MSES). In each group, children were randomly assigned to one of three subgroups. The two intervention groups included three book reading sessions each; children in one group individually read the electronic book; in the second group, the children were read the same printed book by an adult; children in the third group, which served as a control, received the regular kindergarten programme. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included vocabulary, word recognition and phonological awareness. Compared with the control group, the children's vocabulary scores in both intervention groups improved following reading activity. Children from both interventions groups and both SES groups showed a similarly good level of story comprehension. In both SES groups, compared with the control group, children's phonological awareness and word recognition did not improve following both reading interventions. Implications for future research and for education are discussed.     

面向虚实融合的人机交互

面向虚实融合的人机交互涉及计算机科学、认知心理学、人机工程学、多媒体技术和虚拟现实等领域，旨在提高人机交互的效率，同时响应人类认知与情感的需求，在办公教育、机器人和虚拟/增强现实设备中都有广泛应用。本文从人机交互涉及感知计算、人与机器人交互及协同、个性化人机对话和数据可视化等4个维度系统阐述面向虚实融合人机交互的发展现状。对国内外研究现状进行对比，展望未来的发展趋势。本文认为兼具可迁移与个性化的感知计算、具备用户行为深度理解的人机协同、用户自适应的对话系统等是本领域的重要研究方向。     

Investigating verbal interactions when primary chidren use computers

Abstract This paper is based upon some early results of a research project currently underway at Edith Cowan University to investigate the nature of young children's interactions centred on and around the use of new technologies for learning. The research focused on children working in dyads on a single computer-based language task; the software used was chosen to facilitate children's talk. This paper reports a number of findings, including the difficulties of predicting the quality of children's interactions at the computer; the likely significance of a wide range of factors that influence children's interactions; and, the lack of patterns in children's interactions over time. From the analysis of the data, two categorisations are given which might be useful to guide further research into the nature of children's interactions using the computer. The first categorisation is a checklist of verbal interaction types, and the second, a checklist for metacognitive components in children's interactions.     

Principles for the wise use of computers by children

Computer use by children at home and school is now common in many countries. Child computer exposure varies with the type of computer technology available and the child's age, gender and social group. This paper reviews the current exposure data and the evidence for positive and negative effects of computer use by children. Potential positive effects of computer use by children include enhanced cognitive development and school achievement, reduced barriers to social interaction, enhanced fine motor skills and visual processing and effective rehabilitation. Potential negative effects include threats to child safety, inappropriate content, exposure to violence, bullying, Internet ‘addiction’, displacement of moderate/vigorous physical activity, exposure to junk food advertising, sleep displacement, vision problems and musculoskeletal problems. The case for child specific evidence-based guidelines for wise use of computers is presented based on children using computers differently to adults, being physically, cognitively and socially different to adults, being in a state of change and development and the potential to impact on later adult risk. Progress towards child-specific guidelines is reported. Finally, a set of guideline principles is presented as the basis for more detailed guidelines on the physical, cognitive and social impact of computer use by children. The principles cover computer literacy, technology safety, child safety and privacy and appropriate social, cognitive and physical development. The majority of children in affluent communities now have substantial exposure to computers. This is likely to have significant effects on child physical, cognitive and social development. Ergonomics can provide and promote guidelines for wise use of computers by children and by doing so promote the positive effects and reduce the negative effects of computer–child, and subsequent computer–adult, interaction.     

Where to Look? Automating Attending Behaviors of Virtual Human Characters

This research proposes a computational framework for generating visual attending behavior in an embodied simulated human agent. Such behaviors directly control eye and head motions, and guide other actions such as locomotion and reach. The implementation of these concepts, referred to as the AVA, draws on empirical and qualitative observations known from psychology, human factors and computer vision. Deliberate behaviors, the analogs of scanpaths in visual psychology, compete with involuntary attention capture and lapses into idling or free viewing. Insights provided by implementing this framework are: a defined set of parameters that impact the observable effects of attention, a defined vocabulary of looking behaviors for certain motor and cognitive activity, a defined hierarchy of three levels of eye behavior (endogenous, exogenous and idling) and a proposed method of how these types interact.     

Slow and steady wins the race? Three-year-old children and pointing device use

While adult performance with different pointing devices has received extensive study in the human-computer interaction literature, there is little data on the performance of young children using any input devices at all. In the present study, 64 three-year-old children used a joystick, mouse, or trackball to perform a simple cursor placement task. Two substantive results were obtained. First, trackball users were the slowest, but also the most accurate in their cursor control. Second, characteristics of the children's performance suggest that adult standards for an optimal interface, which stress speed and efficiency, may not be appropriate when children are the intended users.     

Coordinating multi‐level cognitive assistance and incorporating dynamic confidence information in driver‐vehicle interfaces

Automation technologies have now been widely introduced into many aspects of human–machine collaboration. Most automated systems, however, are still far from perfect in performing assistive duties for their operators. This situation can lead to chaotic assistance, which can easily cause cognitive confusion and performance degradation among operators. This article discusses how to coordinate multiple types of assistance that have different levels of cognitive intrusiveness. To improve the cognitive adaptability of operators, dynamic confidence information is presented on the interactive interface to indicate the likelihood of the correctness of such assistance. Multiple types of assistance are then presented at different moments to match human‐cognitive‐processing stages and eventually to attain a coordinated status. In a car‐following driving experiment, the drivers' responses to multiple types of assistance with dynamic confidence information were investigated. The coordinated assistance successfully enhanced the drivers' driving performance and the human–machine relationship. This method can be further generalized to improve human–machine collaboration in many industrial automation systems that still require human operators. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Co-located single display collaborative learning for early childhood education

The benefits of collaborative learning are well documented. However, most of the research has been done with children beyond the ages of early childhood. This could be due to the common and erroneous belief that young children have not developed the capacity to work collaboratively toward a given aim. In this paper we show how small group co-located collaborative learning on a single display computer improves oral language, logical-mathematical and social skills in pre-school children. Considering that early childhood teachers have a responsibility to provide a supportive environment, teacher mediation is essential in order to achieve collaborative learning. Thus, teachers were trained in the use of the technology and strategies for effective collaborative learning. The study was implemented in 10 kindergarten classrooms with 268 children between the ages of 5 and 6 years old. A group of 5 kindergarten classrooms with equivalent characteristics participated as a comparison group. During the four-month intervention, children worked on collaborative activities at least twice a week. A quasi-experimental approach was used to assess the implementation, including pre- and post-testing. The data showed differences in the learning of oral language, logical-mathematical and social skills, with the experimental group demonstrating significantly greater achievement.     

Young children’s computer skills development from kindergarten to third grade

This investigation explores young children’s computer skills development from kindergarten to third grade using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten (ECLS–K) dataset. The sample size of the study was 8642 children. Latent growth curve modeling analysis was used as an analytical tool to examine the development of children’s computer skills using LISREL software version 8.80. Results indicated, not surprisingly, that the availability of a computer at home and a high socio-economic status were statistically significant predictors of children’s baseline computer skills in kindergarten. The availability of computers in kindergarten, however, was a statistically significant predictor of the development of children’s computer skills from kindergarten to third grade. Although there was no difference between girls and boys in their baseline computer skills in kindergarten, the rate of development in computer skills was higher for girls than boys. Results suggest that the availability of an adequate level of computers in kindergarten classrooms can help close the initial gap in children’s computer skills due to socio-economic status and lack of computer access prior to entering school. Supplying kindergarten classrooms with adequate computers could positively contribute to children’s long-term development of computer skills.     

Examining the impact of computer-mediated social networks on individual consumerism environmental behaviors

Researchers have begun to examine the impact that information technology (IT) can have on the environmental behavior of individuals, organizations, environments and markets. Computer-mediated social networks (CMSNs) create a multi-nodal social environment where individual behavior is virtually impacted, and subsequently, physically modified. Human–computer interaction researchers have begun to study the impact that IT has on environmental sustainability. Interest has arisen around the influence on non-verbal cues in impacting social norms and encouraging consistent environmentally conscious behavior. Extant research has not yet considered the social interactions that occur within a CMSN and how such interaction might further facilitate the adoption of environmental behaviors. Using survey results of 234 individuals, this study examines the impact that CMSNs have on environmental consumerism, where individuals purchasing and consumption habits take one’s environmental impact into consideration.     

Evidence-based guidelines for the wise use of computers by children: Physical development guidelines

Computer use by children is common and there is concern over the potential impact of this exposure on child physical development. Recently principles for child-specific evidence-based guidelines for wise use of computers have been published and these included one concerning the facilitation of appropriate physical development. This paper reviews the evidence and presents detailed guidelines for this principle. The guidelines include encouraging a mix of sedentary and whole body movement tasks, encouraging reasonable postures during computing tasks through workstation, chair, desk, display and input device selection and adjustment and special issues regarding notebook computer use and carriage, computing skills and responding to discomfort. The evidence limitations highlight opportunities for future research. The guidelines themselves can inform parents and teachers, equipment designers and suppliers and form the basis of content for teaching children the wise use of computers.

Statement of Relevance: Many children use computers and computer-use habits formed in childhood may track into adulthood. Therefore child–computer interaction needs to be carefully managed. These guidelines inform those responsible for children to assist in the wise use of computers.     

Designing handheld technologies for kids

Computers are becoming an important tool in learning environments; however, children's access to computer technology is often limited. Computers are commonly placed at the back of the classroom or in a separate computer room. At home, if computers are available, they are often found in a home-office or another communal area. In both cases, the physical location of the computers is separate from many places where children's activities and learning occur. Flexible access to technology will provide tools to help children construct knowledge throughout their daily activities. The growth of handheld computers provides the potential to integrate computer technology into the many facers of children's lives. This paper investigates issues surrounding the design of handheld computers for children's use in learning environments. It focuses on child-centred design, engaging children as active participants in the design of handheld technologies. Two central issues are addressed: mobility and sharability.     

Understanding children's collaborative interactions in shared environments

  Traditional computer technology offers limited support for face-to-face, synchronous collaboration. Consequently, children who wish to collaborate while using computers must adapt their interactions to the single-user paradigm of most personal computers. Recent technological advances have enabled the development of co-located groupware systems offering support for concurrent, multi–user interactions around a shared display. These systems provide a unique collaboration environment in which users share both the physical and the virtual workspace. This paper examines how such technology impacts children's collaboration. Findings from this research show that when concurrent, multi–user interaction is supported on a shared display, children exhibit collaborative behaviour similar to their interactions during paper-based activities. The findings also suggest strengths and weaknesses of various mechanisms for supporting synchronous interactions that have implications for the design of computer systems to support children's face-to-face collaboration.     

Awareness of toddlers' initial cognitive experiences with virtual reality

Abstract In this study Virtual Reality technology was used to simulate a toddler's first few days' experiences in daycare and improve the caregiver's understanding of their state of mind. The virtual worlds were developed in accordance with toddlers' way of thinking and from their cognitive and visual viewpoint. The aim of the research was to investigate whether the caregiver's awareness to the cognitive experiences that toddlers undergo in their first days in kindergarten improves through a VR simulation of toddlers' worlds. Six cognitive elements of toddlers were simulated: object constancy; trial and error; perspective of height; perspective of things; egocentricity and imagination. The participants in this study were 40 (female) caregivers who work with infants aged 6 months to 4 years in private daycare. The findings indicate that experiencing a virtual world that reflects the real world of children improves the caregiver's awareness to the cognitive experiences that toddlers undergo in their first days in a kindergarten or daycare.     

Building a BRIDGE between children and users: a socio-cultural approach to child–computer interaction

The field of child–computer interaction has received growing attention as a result of the penetration of IT into children’s everyday lives. Consequently, the involvement of children in the design of children’s technology has been widely discussed. So far, literature on children’s involvement in design has mainly treated design with children as a distinct design discipline regarding children as “cognitive incomplete” in comparison with adult users. With a point of departure in the framework of socio-cultural activity theory, this paper provides a new perspective on design with children, based on understanding children as participants in meaningful communities of practices. Thus, we argue that children could and should be involved in design on the same terms as adult users; children are treated as experts in their everyday lives and we cannot design future IT for children without involving these experts. The paper introduces the BRIDGE method including a palette of design techniques as a practice-based method for designing with children based on this perspective.