I totally agree with you, Eugene. Unfortunately most of the reports don't
deal with practices but with superficial indices. I think that for
understanding the digital divide we should look at practices/activity and my
guess is that unfortunately we will discover a worst picture. If any of you
know of a report taking this approach, please do let me know.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eugene Matusov" <ematusov@udel.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Cc: "PIG" <UD-PIG@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 8:37 PM
Subject: RE: Are kids naturally good with computers?
> Dear David and everybody-
>
> Thanks for useful reference about Digital Divide (I'll use the link in my
> future classes). Although the report shows that school "eliminate" the
> digital divide, my conversation with Latino children at Latin American
> Community Center (LACC) shows that HOW schools use computers is different
> for different populations. LACC kids told me that many of them have very
> little access to computers in their schools but when they have access it
is
> very low quality access described nicely in Mike's old but unfortunately
> still relevant article:
>
> Cole, M. & LCHC (1989). Kids and computers: A positive vision of the
future.
> Harvard Educational Review, 59, 73-86.
>
> In many schools with low income kids, computers often replace worksheets
(or
> workshits?? - pardon my French :-)/dittos to do drills or other
> decontextualized activities using a "bottom-up" approach described in
Mike's
> paper. Meanwhile in many schools with middle and upper income kids,
> computers are often used to promote creativity and higher level skills...
>
> What do you think?
>
> Eugene
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: David Preiss [mailto:david.preiss@yale.edu]
> > Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:23 PM
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: Re: Are kids naturally good with computers?
> >
> > I just happen to be working on a paper on a related issue. I took the
data
> > below from:
>
http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/nation_online/bringing_a_nat
> ion.doc . I think that they are very appropriate to what you are taking
> > about.
> >
> > I brief, data released by the US Department of Commerce portray the
shape
> > taken by this divide in 2001. When computer use at home is considered,
the
> > digital divide remain significant: whereas 33.1% of children (ages
10-17)
> in
> > the lowest income category were using computers at home, 91.7% of
children
> > where doing so at the highest income level. However, the gap narrows
> > significantly from home to school: whereas 80% of children (ages 10-17)
in
> > the lowest income category were using computers at school, 88.7% of
> children
> > where doing so at the highest income level. There are as well related
> > differences between ethnic groups: whereas over 70% of the students
> > identified as White, Asian American and Pacific islanders have access to
> > computers both at school and at home, less than 40 % of African American
> and
> > Hispanics do so. Therefore, students from different income levels and
> ethnic
> > groups do not have the same level of engagement with technology, despite
> the
> > fact that computers are playing an increasing role in their education:
as
> > reported in 2001, 90% of all school-aged children use computers and
58.5%
> > use the Internet to complete school assignments.
> >
> > I wander how this situation impacts on what you are just discussing: the
> > technology related tacit knowledge students bring to the school. And we
> > still have to note that we are not even taking into consideration
> > differences in the quality of the equipment at school, how new it is,
and
> so
> > on. And that, of course, we are talking about the USA only...
> >
> > I guess that the shape this divide would take in the future will not be
> > related with just accessibility but also with how new these equipments
> are.
> > Technology is changing so fast that is going to be very difficult for
the
> > poorest schools [countries] to keep the pace of change. Maybe research
on
> > this topic will need to change its indicators for more sensitive ones.
> More
> > related with the topic, I ask what are the shapes taken by computer
> related
> > communities of practice across the digital divide?
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Eugene Matusov" <ematusov@udel.edu>
> > To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> > Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 5:19 PM
> > Subject: Re: Are kids naturally good with computers?
> >
> >
> > > Hi Phillip and everybody-
> > >
> > > Your example is very good - I observed this difficulty as well. Kids
> > > entering the world of computers have to learn a lot of tacit things
such
> > as
> > > correspondence between their actions with keyboard, mouse and the
> screen.
> > > Games involve also a lot of tacit knowledge that the kids have to
learn.
> > For
> > > example, I saw a little kid that could not grasp that when the screens
> > > change the character remains the same. He thought that the game starts
> all
> > > over again.
> > >
> > > I think that it is not true that the kids "naturally good" with
> computers
> > > but rather outside schools, kids' diverse cultures often organize
> > > "communities of practice" around computer games and other
Internet-based
> > > computer activities like chat rooms with relative ease creating
> > > developmental pathways of learning and "intergenerational" networks of
> > > players. Of course, computer companies designing games make all their
> > > efforts to break into children market but still their success is
> > remarkable
> > > with regard diversity of children's cultures. This is an interesting
> > > phenomenon.
> > >
> > > What do you think?
> > >
> > > Eugene
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: White, Phillip [mailto:Phillip.White@cudenver.edu]
> > > > Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 12:55 PM
> > > > To: ematusov@UDel.Edu
> > > > Subject: RE: Dialectical materialism / Nature
> > > >
> > > > Eugene wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I want to comment only on one point out of many that Andy made:
> > > >
> > > > I observe many of those kids learning
> > > > computers for the first time. In my non-systematic observations, I
did
> > not
> > > > find that it is true that "young people know how to use screens
almost
> > > from
> > > > whatever background they come from ... because they have to."
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > to throw in my two-cents worth about what i think, Eugene - i have
> > made
> > > similar
> > > > observations - having working in elementary schools for the last
three
> > > decades, many
> > > > students come to school without a clue about how a computer works -
> > just
> > > getting the
> > > > relationship between the cursor's movement on the screen and the
> > movements
> > > of the mouse
> > > > in their hand can be for some a difficulty of some duration. of
> course,
> > > maybe this notion of
> > > > "young people" is defined by those who have completed elementary
> school,
> > > say. but for
> > > > young people entering elementary schools it's not true - and even as
a
> > > young person moves
> > > > through the grades, those students whom come from homes with
computers
> > and
> > > internet
> > > > access have a depth of understanding of ways to negotiate / a sense
of
> > > identity and agency
> > > > with computers / that students without such capital at home don't
> have.
> > > >
> > > > and of course, there are always exceptions.
> > > >
> > > > phillip
> > > >
> > > > phillip white
> > > > university of colorado at denver
> > > > school of education
> > >
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 01 2003 - 01:00:11 PST