A digital generation in scrutiny. Children’s ideas about the internet and the online information

  1. Ileana Enesco 1
  2. Carla Sebastián-Enesco 1
  3. Silvia Guerrero 2
  4. Elena Varea 1
  5. Paula Barrios 1
  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

  2. 2 Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
    info

    Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

    Ciudad Real, España

    ROR https://ror.org/05r78ng12

Revista:
Journal for the Study of Education and Development, Infancia y Aprendizaje

ISSN: 0210-3702,  1578-4126

Año de publicación: 2022

Volumen: 45

Número: 4

Páginas: 842-869

Tipo: Artículo

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: Journal for the Study of Education and Development, Infancia y Aprendizaje

Resumen

The internet has become a key environment for children’s learning and leisure at an increasing early age. Yet, little is known about what children understand about the internet. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 111 children aged five to nine to assess their notions about the internet, the authorship of online content and the trustworthiness they attribute to it. Considering the socio-cognitive advances throughout these ages, we expected a significant improvement in children’s concept of the internet. However, the results showed modest age differences, and only in some basic notions (e.g., internet functions). Misconceptions about the internet and naïve ideas about the reliability of its content were present at all ages. Only a very few older children envisaged the risk of finding malicious information online and the need to consult other sources in case of doubt. We discuss the necessity to address children’s misconceptions at least from the beginning of primary school, when most of them are cognitively ready to understand many of the issues addressed in this study, provided they receive guided instruction.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Anderson, E. L., Steen, E., & Stavropoulos, V. (2017). Internet use and problematic internet use: A systematic review of longitudinal research trends in adolescence and emergent adulthood. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(4), 430–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2016.1227716 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. MIT press. [Google Scholar]
  • Cushman, F., Sheketoff, R., Wharton, S., & Carey, S. (2013). The development of intent-based moral judgment. Cognition, 127(1), 6–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.11.008 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • D’Esterre, A. P., Rizzo, M. T., & Killen, M. (2019). Unintentional and intentional falsehoods: The role of morally relevant theory of mind. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 177, 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.07.013 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Daoud, R., Starkey, L., Eppel, E., Vo, T. D., & Sylvester, A. (2020). The educational value of internet use in the home for school children: A systematic review of literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 53(4), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1783402 [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Derevensky, J. L., Hayman, V., & Gilbeau, L. (2019). Behavioral addictions: Excessive gambling, gaming, internet, and smartphone use among children and adolescents. Pediatric Clinics, 66(6), 1163–1182. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758H [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • DiSessa, A. (2014). A history of conceptual change research: Threads and fault lines. In R. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 88–108). Cambridge University Press. [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
  • Dodge, A. M., Husain, N., & Duke, N. K. (2011). Connected kids? K—2 children’s use and understanding of the internet. Language Arts, 89(2), 86–98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41804322 [Google Scholar]
  • Edwards, S., Nolan, A., Henderson, M., Mantilla, A., Plowman, L., & Skouteris, H. (2018). Young children’s everyday concepts of the internet: A platform for cyber‐safety education in the early years. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(1), 45–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12529 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Eskelä-Haapanen, S., & Kiili, C. (2019). ‘It goes around the world’ – Children’s understanding of the internet. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 14(3–4), 175–187. https://doi.org/10.18261/.1891-943x-2019-03-04-07 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Ey, L. A., & Glenn Cupit, C. (2011). Exploring young children’s understanding of risks associated with internet usage and their concepts of management strategies. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 9(1), 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X10367471 [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
  • Gentile, A., Bailey, K., Bavelier, D., Brockmyer, J. F., Cash, H., Coyne, S. M., Doan, A., Grant, D. S., Green, C. S., Griffiths, M., Markle, T., Petry, N. M., Prot, S., Rae, C. D., Rehbein, F., Rich, M., Sullivan, D., Woolley, E., & Young, K. (2017). internet gaming disorder in children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 140(Suppl. 2), S81–S85. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758H [Crossref], [PubMed], [Google Scholar]
  • German, T., & Johnson, S. (2002). Function and the origin of the design stance. Journal of Cognition and Development, 3(3), 279–300. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327647JCD0303_2 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Goswami, U. (2019). Cognitive development and cognitive neuroscience: The learning brain. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315684734 [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
  • Guerrero, S., Sebastián-Enesco, C., Morales, I., Varea, E., & Enesco, I. (2020). (In) sensitivity to accuracy? Children’s and adults’ decisions about who to trust: The teacher or the internet. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.551131 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Holloway, D., Green, L., & Livingstone, S. (2013). Zero to eight. Young children and their internet use. LSE, EU Kids. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2013/929 [Google Scholar]
  • Hughes, C., & Leekam, S. (2004). What are the links between theory of mind and social relations? Review, reflections and new directions for studies of typical and atypical development. Social Development, 13(4), 590–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2004.00285.x [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Inagaki, K., & Hatano, G. (2002). Young children’s naive thinking about the biological world. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203759844 [Google Scholar]
  • Keil, F., Grief, M., & Kerner, R. (2007). A world apart: How concepts of the constructed world are different in representation and development. In E. Margolis, & S. Lawrence (Eds.), Creations of the Mind. Theories of artifacts and their representation (pp. 231–247). Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  • Király, O., Potenza, O. M., Stein, D. J., King, D. L., Hodgins, D. C., Saunders, J. B., Griffiths, M. D., Gjoneska, B., Billieux, J., Brand, M., Abbott, M. W., Chamberlain, S. R., Corazza, O., Burkauskas, J., Sales, C. M. D., Montag, C., Lochner, C., Grünblatt, E., Wegmann, E., … Demetrovics, Z. (2020). Preventing problematic internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consensus guidance. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 100, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152180 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis. An introduction to its methodology (4th ed.). Sage Pub. [Google Scholar]
  • Leiner, B. M., Cerf, V. G., Clark, D. D., Kahn, R. E., Kleinrock, L., Lynch, D. C., Postel, J., Roberts, L. G., & Wolff, S. (2009). A brief history of the internet. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 39(5), 22–31. https://doi.org/10.1145/1629607.1629613 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Limón, M., & Mason, L. (Eds.). (2002). Reconsidering conceptual change: Issues in theory and practice. Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47637-1 [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
  • Livingstone, S., Ólafsson, K., O’Neill, B., & Donoso, V. (2012) Towards a better internet for children: Findings and recommendations from EU Kids Online to inform the CEO coalition. LSE, EU Kids. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/44213/ [Google Scholar]
  • Lovato, S. B., & Piper, A. M. (2019). Young children and voice search: What we know from human-computer interaction research. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(8), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00008 [PubMed], [Google Scholar]
  • Mertala, P. (2019). Young children’s conceptions of computers, code, and the internet. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 19, 56–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2018.11.003 [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
  • Murray, T., & Buchanan, R. (2018). ‘The internet is all around us’: How children come to understand the internet. Digital Culture & Education, 10(1), 1–21. https://bit.ly/2RP6mqX [Google Scholar]
  • Pengnate, S., & Antonenko, P. (2013). A multimethod evaluation of online trust and its interaction with metacognitive awareness: An emotional design perspective. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 29(9), 582–593. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2012.735185 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1967). La psychologie de l’enfant. P.U.F. (The psychology of the child. Basic books. 2008. [Google Scholar]
  • Pozo, J. I. (1987). La historia se repite: Las concepciones espontáneas sobre el movimiento y la gravedad. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 10(38), 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/02103702.1987.10822163 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]
  • Rabagliati, H., Marcus, G. F., & Pylkkänen, L. (2010). Shifting senses in lexical semantic development. Cognition, 117(1), 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.06.007 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Robertson, J., Manches, A., & Pain, H. (2017). “It’s like a giant brain with a keyboard”: Children’s understandings about how computers work. Childhood Education, 93(4), 338–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2017.1343589 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]
  • Scharrer, L., Bromme, R., Britt, M. A., & Stadtler, M. (2012). The seduction of easiness: How science depictions influence laypeople’s reliance on their own evaluation of scientific information. Learning and Instruction, 22(3), 231–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.11.004 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Vosniadou, S. (2019). The development of students’ understanding of science. Frontiers in Education, 4(32), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00032 [Google Scholar]
  • Yan, Z. (2006). What influences children’s and adolescents’ understanding of the complexity of the internet? Developmental Psychology, 42(3), 418–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.3.418 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
  • Yan, Z. (2009). Limited knowledge and limited resources: Children’s and adolescents’ understanding of the internet. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(2), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.10.012 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet