A Model of How Children Acquire Computing Skills from Hole-in-the-Wall Computers in Public Places

This paper explores the possibility of constructing a "minimally invasive" learning model from the results of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) Icon Association Inventory (devised by Dangwal and Inamdar [Mitra 2003]). We discuss the results obtained from four playground (hole-in-the-wall) computer kiosk sites in southern India, made freely available to children, without supervision, for nine months. Computing skills acquisition, as measured by the Icon Association Inventory, was plotted for each month and the learning curves are reported in the paper. The observed curves were fitted to predicted curves to understand the rates and stages of learning. Results indicate uniform improvement in the computing skills of the children who used these kiosks.

[1]  Sugata Mitra.  Minimally invasive education: a progress report on the "hole-in-the-wall" experiments , 2003, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[2]  Lauren B. Resnick,et al.  Developing mathematical knowledge. , 1989 .

[3]  Colleen A. Finegan,et al.  Developmentally Appropriate Technology for Young Children , 2002 .

[4]  Toni Downes,et al.  Playing with Computing Technologies in the Home , 1999, Education and Information Technologies.

[5]  Jean Piaget,et al.  To Understand Is to Invent , 1973 .

[6]  Begoña Gros,et al.  The impact of digital games in education , 2003, First Monday.

[7]  Anthony Jones,et al.  Infusing ICT use within the early years of elementary education , 2003 .

[8]  V. Evers,et al.  Investigating the effects of unsupervised computer use on educationally disadvantaged children's knowledge and understanding of computers , 2005 .

[9]  Arthur Morrison.  The Hole in the Wall , 1902 .

[10]  D. Clements.  Young Children and Technology , 1998 .

[11]  Sugata Mitra,et al.  Minimally Invasive Education for mass computer literacy , 2000 .

[12]  L. S. Vygotskiĭ,et al.  Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes , 1978 .

[13]  G. Forman,et al.  Constructivism in the computer age , 1988 .

[14]  Sugata Mitra,et al.  Children and the Internet: experiments with minimally invasive education in India , 2001, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[15]  Harold F. O'Neil,et al.  Meta-analytic studies of findings on computer-based instruction. , 1994 .

[16]  Denis Newman,et al.  The Construction Zone: Working for Cognitive Change in School , 1989 .

[17]  Seymour Papert,et al.  Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas , 1981 .

[18]  P. Inamdar.  Computer Skills Development by Children Using "Hole in the Wall" Facilities in Rural India. , 2004 .