International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction最新文献

This study examines how eight-year-old students engage in teacher-guided digital online reading during internet searches for specific information. The research focuses on the students' digital literacy and their ability to evaluate sources and decode complex text. We have used Luke and Freebody's four resources model and the concept of sourcing as theoretical underpinning. The study had a descriptive and exploratory approach. The study involved 17 eight-year-old students from a school with a one-to-one tablet policy. The students were divided into small groups to encourage interaction. Data were collected through audio and screen recordings and were multimodally transcribed to provide a detailed account of the children's internet search interactions. The study reveals that while students demonstrated proficiency in using digital tools and navigating the internet, they often struggled to assess source credibility and critically interpret the information they encountered. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of guiding young students in navigating the complex media landscape, emphasizing the need to enhance their knowledge of different types of sources and the categories of individuals producing content. The researchers found that students' prior knowledge, such as familiarity with printed books, played a role in how they approached online reading, sometimes leading to difficulties in adapting their strategies for digital formats. In conclusion, this research underscores the need for explicit instruction and collaborative efforts in the classroom to develop students' digital reading skills and their ability to critically assess online sources, thus bridging the gap between technological proficiency and effective digital literacy. The findings offer insights for educators in preparing young readers for digital literacy and effective online information evaluation.

The complexity of sustainability challenges has exposed the limitations of solutions relying on atomistic disciplinary knowledge and linear thinking, evidencing the need for embracing holistic and transdisciplinary mindsets. This paper builds on the assumption that systems thinking can contribute to approaching sustainability issues. In this study we investigate how to nurture systems thinking among young people in and through developing socially sustainable business ideas that utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. To this end, we analyze 21 9th grade students' contributions during a work practice week at a Finnish university, during which they were introduced to AI, sustainability, and business thinking and invited to generate business ideas for sustainable innovations that use AI. Our multimodal analysis examines students’ business ideation process and outputs to identify various elements present in the working process that contribute to the development of sustainable AI from a systemic perspective. Based on our findings, we propose combining business innovation with sustainability as a strategy to develop learners' systems thinking.

As a response to a recent call for developing teaching materials and sharing examples of good teaching practice in Child-Computer Interaction (CCI), this paper describes previous experiences from incorporating an existing CCI curriculum into an Interaction Design course, that is mandatory for third year Bachelor students enrolled in Communication Design program. This article is an attempt to reflect on the four-year experience constructively and critically in teaching and progressively developing an existing CCI course. The paper describes key elements to teaching how to carry out a theory-oriented and project-based design course formulated around the challenge of interaction design with and for children. As the paper reflects on previous experiences, the contribution of this paper is including formal procedural research ethics into student project proposals as part of core principles and giving students the possibility to manage a group work on several iterations for the same project throughout the semester. I discuss some of the reflections on the teaching experience for interaction design and children have posed to me as a CCI researcher and university teacher and outline a set of lessons learned that I think would shed a light for taking ethical approval for student project works in future CCI teaching practices.

We present a case study in which we seek to investigate what motivates interaction design students to take a small elective course in Child–Computer Interaction (CCI) and what we can offer as a ‘tasting menu’, a small sample of emerging research specialties, to awaken their interest for CCI. The study clarifies what motivated students to take the elective course and what their learning expectations were before the start of the course. We then prototyped and piloted a research-based ‘tasting menu’ type of course and conducted a formative and summative evaluation with the students. The contribution of this paper is a set of recommendations for onboarding new talent to the research field by teaching CCI in a modular fashion to interaction design students, based on students’ and teachers’ experiences.

Current trends demonstrate that researchers and K-12 educators are moving towards integrating computational thinking (CT) concepts outside of the computer science (CS) classroom (Lee et al., 2020). However, one of the present challenges includes a lack of engaging learning content and instruction for translating computational concepts that non-CS instructors can bring into their classrooms. Our research team developed the Grove-Blockly platform, a website that employs block-based programming and physical computing elements with simulations to support CT learning and IoT practices. We designed a 5-day workshop with the National Writing Project for students to engage in STEAM learning through making and creative writing. By examining students’ learning through the processes and outcomes of making, coding, and creative writing, we aim to better understand how learning occurs at the intersections of making, writing, and computing. The findings show students’ positive learning outcomes of CT and physical computing from the workshop. Mainly, students gained a deeper understanding of IoT elements (e.g., sensors, actuators) through the process of making and creative writing. This work provides empirical evidence on how students learn CT and computational practices through making and creative writing. Finally, we discuss how the engagement of STEAM practices supports and empowers students’ learning of CT and physical computing through the creation of e-crafts by students.

The popularity of programmable robots in early childhood education is growing. Such robots are discussed in the literature from the points of view of teachers, parents and children. We add the role of robot designers to this list. Focusing on designers and specifically their intentions is beneficial in two settings: in teacher training and whenever using the robots in playing activities in ECE. We present a qualitative study on robot designer intentions, conducted by group interviews with designers of two common but significantly different programmable robots, the Kubo robot and the Rugged robot. Using Activity Theory as the underlying framework for the thematic analysis of the interviews, our data reveal a large overlap of the intentions of both groups. They express the common goal of preparing children for the future although through slightly different competencies: enhancing computational thinking and 21st century skills, respectively. Both groups highlight the relevance of subjects outside computer science, specifically beyond coding. Our data also show a design process difference the Rugged robot was developed with a teacher-oriented approach whereas the Kubo robot with an object-oriented approach.

Despite growing interest in early childhood computational thinking (CT), there is a lack of validated assessments for children who are emerging readers. This paper presents validity and reliability evidence of a performance-based assessment of CT using item response theory (IRT) from 272 children aged 4–8. Using a two-parameter logistic model IRT model (2PL IRT), we confirmed that model- and item-level fits are acceptable. Item analyses revealed a high discriminability (M = 2.26, SD = 1.12) and a moderate item difficulty (M = −0.21; SD = 0.86), on average, across 19 items. Reliability analysis demonstrated that the assessment was substantially reliable (marginal reliability: r_xx = 0.87). Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses indicated that the assessment estimated children's item parameters fairly, regardless of their gender and age. However, we confirmed gaps in latent ability (θ) of CT by gender and age: boys showed higher latent ability of CT than girls, and old children (above 72 months) showed higher latent ability than young children (below 72 months). Findings suggest the assessment is a fair measure that can serve as a reliable and valid tool to assess CT for children who are emerging readers.

Virtual reality (VR) can blur fantasy and reality for children by replacing their physical world with artificial stimuli. This immersive technology often includes intelligent and interactive embodied agents. In this within-participant study, we investigated 5- to 9-year-old children's (N = 25) social conceptions of and behaviors toward embodied agents in VR that represented different probabilities of existence in their daily lives (i.e., a probable child, an improbable giraffe, and an impossible Muppet). Participants rated the child and the giraffe agents significantly higher as social living beings than they rated the Muppet agent. When tasked with walking up to each embodied agent, significantly more children chose to approach the giraffe agent first rather than the child and Muppet agents. However, children stood significantly closer to the child agent, and significantly more children spontaneously reached out to try to touch the Muppet agent. Finally, children expressed strong emotions (amazement, excitement, happiness, fear, worry) toward all three embodied agents, with the giraffe evoking the most positive and the Muppet the most negative emotions. These results show that types of embodied agents in VR significantly impact children's conscious and unconscious social conceptions and behaviors differently, with implications for future interventions.

Play for plays sake emphasises the significance of how children characterise play opposed to any secondary purposes or benefits it may generate. The concept of play value draws attention to how the space in which children play proffers the experiences that children want. Increasingly, digital play experiences are emerging as spaces for play. This inquiry aims to examine the play value of digital spaces, specifically how play is afforded by the digital space from the perspective of children. Eight children aged 11 years old participated in seven focus groups, creating comic strips which were used to elicit discussions. Focus group analysis generated three themes with associated sub-themes which were collectively explained by the overarching theme of endless possibilities in play in digital spaces. This study provides a new understanding of how digital spaces affords play value from the child's perspective.