Cyber-children

CYBERCHILDREN

Cyber-children
Hijack
Hunger-fancy
Paparazzi
Diana
Polo
Video Gaming

TEXTS

NATURE

THE RISE OF THE CYBER CHILDREN

Words

By Katie Ledger
Click Reporter

Computer literacy is increasingly seen as an essential skill for children. But what is the best age to introduce them to computers and does it give them a head-start?

A teacher and a nursery school child using a computer
Good computer literacy is seen by many to be an essential skill

There are plenty of so-called "kids computers" on the market, aimed primarily at the "three years and over" market.

By the age of four, 45% of children have used a mouse to point and click, 27% have used a computer on their own at home

I'm not interested in my kid interacting with some freak on the other end of an IM [Instant Messaging] session

Enrique Salem, Symantec

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	computer literacy	connaissance informatique
	skill	aptitude, compétence
to	introduce to	initier à
	increasingly	de manière croissante
to	be seen as	être considéré comme
	head-start	avance
	plenty of	plein de
	so-called	soit-disant
	primarily	au départ
	market	marché
	aimed at	destiné à
to	point	pointer
to	click	cliquer
	on their own	par eux mêmes
	freak	escroc

Most of them offer educational games and interaction but no internet connection. The benefit is that they introduce your child to a keyboard and a feeling they have a direct influence over their environment.

Every Saturday morning at a north London school, a class meets to hone their computer skills and prepare for upcoming exams.

The oldest child is seven years old and the youngest is four and a recent class had children learning how to input data into an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

The young age of the participants and the complexity of the tasks they are performing raises questions about the use of computers by children.

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	internet connection	connection internet
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to	hone	aiguiser
	computer skill	compétence informatique
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to	input into	entrer (des données)
	data	données
	spreadsheet	tableur
	participant	participant
	complexity	complexité
	task (-s)	tâche
to	perform	exécuter
to	raise questions	soulever des questions
	use	utilisation

Teacher Mike Ryde says: "We have children as young as 18 months on the courses.

"I must admit, though, a lot of those children tend to use computers in only a very small part of the lesson, it's not normally the major part of the lesson.

"But normally by about 18 months to two-and-a-half-years we're having a lot of children starting to use the keyboard and mouse."

Worldwide research on very young children and their use of IT is limited, but one recent report from Sheffield University in the UK called Digital Beginnings makes for interesting reading.

For instance by the age of four, 45% of children have used a mouse to point and click, 27% have used a computer on their own at home, rising to 53% for six-year-olds, and 30% have looked at websites for children at home.

The Child Computer Interaction Group (ChiCI) studies the dynamic relationship between children and computers and feel that children should not start using computers too early in their development.

ChiCI's Janet Read says: "My own opinion is that 18 months isn't a good age.

"It's a little bit ridiculous to think of an 18-month-old child sat in front of a traditional computer.

"That's not to say there might not be technologies that are adapted to them in the future, but the traditional keyboard, box, monitor and mouse doesn't seem to fit a child very well."

	course	cours
to	admit	admettre
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	worldwide	mondial
to	make for	aboutir à
	for instance	par exemple
	mouse	souris
	rising to	s'élevant à
	website (-s)	site web
to	feel that	avoir le sentiment
	that's not to say	ce n'est pas pour dire
	ridiculous	ridicule
to	fit	convenir

Co-ordination

CBBC Teletubbies website
Games can help children become more computer literate

So where do the techno tots like to go online?

Not surprisingly, the most popular sites are based on children's TV shows.

Many offer the opportunity to play games with different levels of difficulty, watch video clips, interact with a story or print out your favourite character.

BBC Cbeebies online producer Olivia Dickinson says: "They use fine motor skills when they use the mouse or keyboard. So they can go up to using the spacebar, to using the arrow keys, to using the mouse.

"They also learn some gross motor skills, in terms of some of the bigger movements of the mouse, but also in terms of physical development, when we give them activities to do in front of the computer, like dance and music.

"We've got a few games where if you keep hitting the spacebar the Teletubbies appear, and that just gets them into what a computer is."

If your child starts to use a computer around two or three, does it mean they will do better at school?

	tot	petit-enfant
	surprisingly	de manière surprenante
	game (-s)	jeu
to	watch	regarder
to	interact with	interagir dans
to	print out	imprimer
	favourite	préféré
	character	personnage
	producer	producteur (rice)
	online	en ligne
to	go up	progresser
	spacebar	barre d'espacement
	arrow keys	flèches, touches directionnelles
	fine	évolué (ici)
	motor skill	capacité motrice
	gross	basique (ici)
	in terms of	en terme de
	a few	quelques
to	hit	frapper (appuyer)
to	appear	apparaître
to	get someone into	amener à comprendre
to	start	débuter, commencer
to	mean	signifier

Mike Ryde says a group of six and seven year olds have already taken an information and communications technology GCSE.

He says: "90% of those children had started when they were 18 months to two-and-a-half-years-old."

Janet Read says: "I wouldn't say that children who use computers would definitely get a head start.

"Some of these children would have been pushed in front of a computer like they would be pushed in front of a TV and so they're getting either the wrong sort of stimulation or no stimulation of any value, because it's quite easy to be entertained on a computer and not necessarily gain any value."

	definitely	sans aucun doute
to	push	pousser
	in front of	en face de, devant
	either ... or..	soit... soit...
	wrong	mauvais, faux
	of any value	d'une valeur quelconque
to	be entertained	être distrait
	necessarily	nécessairement
to	gain	gagner

Staying safe

There has been a lot of debate recently about keeping kids safe online, and the earlier children start to use computers the earlier parents need to think about protecting them.

Microsoft has completely revamped its parental controls on forthcoming operating system Vista to make it easier to limit and monitor your child's online activities.

Users will be able to specify exact days and times of access, block specific content and file downloads, set rating limits on games and print out an activity report which tells you exactly what your little angels have been up to.

Symantec's Enrique Salem says: "It's a dangerous world out there. You really are in a situation where you don't know who that other person is.

"There are many incidents that have happened where somebody has been lured to take some kind of action. I've got two kids, I'm not interested in my kid interacting with some freak on the other end of an IM [Instant Messaging] session."

to	stay	rester
	safe	sûr, en sécurité
	debate	débat
	recently	récemment
to	keep	garder
	the earlier..	le plus tôt...
to	need	avoir besoin de
to	think about	penser à
to	protect	protéger
	completely	complètement
to	revamp	retaper, rafistoler
	forthcoming	à venir
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	rating limit
	to be up to
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