Introduction
There can be no doubt that computers present modern-day children with unprecedented opportunities to add fun and excitement, precision and accuracy, speed of comprehension, and comprehensiveness to their education. It is also common knowledge that computers, especially when connected to the internet, present distractions that could lead to the self-destruction of even adults, not to speak of young impressionable, sensitive, vulnerable children.
Parents and teachers, however, sometimes forget the fact that the use of computers by children could lead to certain physical, emotional, and psycho-social problems. This paper surveys the ways in which computers can aid education, and, while taking note of the common dangers of computer use among children, arrives at the conclusion that computers, wisely used, under proper guidance, are more a boon than a bane to young minds that hunger and thirst for knowledge.
Main Body
Computers are a fact of life in every area of modern life, and there is no wishing away their impact on the minds of children. In such a context, it would surely be foolish not to make use of computers in education. The enormous benefits of computer-aided education cannot be over-emphasized Most schools in the developed world use some kind of Information Communication Technology in their classrooms. Information Technology is also a core subject that is taught and tested in many schools. The infinite resources of the World Wide Web can be and are being used to great advantage in almost all schools. Most schools, moreover, have a system by which children can communicate with their teachers online, from home, or elsewhere. They can use the system to raise questions, clarify doubts, even submit assignments from remote locations; and it is an attested fact that most children, (if not all teachers) soon become enamored of this manner of learning and teaching.
Children who have become used to the sight of computers at home are fascinated by them and most parents find that the computer is used as an educational tool by the children, even without their suggesting it. Once children get ‘the hang of’ a computer, they quickly become aware of the various uses they can put it to, and even learn for themselves what they need to do when the operating system ‘hangs’. Thus, one of the greatest advantages of the computer as a tool in education is the fact that it builds the child’s capacity to learn things independently. It is a well-known principle of pedagogy that the things that one learns on one’s own initiative serve to enhance both one’s core knowledge and to strengthen one’s capacity to increase it.
As Richard Feynman tells the schoolteacher in his account of one of several adventures of a ‘curious character’: “You’ll have to go ask the girls—they understood what…it was right away” (Feynman 1992, p. 44). Some children, however, may perhaps need to be guided to appreciate the vast educational possibilities of the computer. Such children may need to be introduced to the techniques of creating and editing word documents or spreadsheets; they may need to watch someone else at work before creating a drawing using the “Paint” tool on the computer, but no child ever seems to need any instruction on how to play computer games.
Computer games can serve a double purpose when such programs are used to support educational initiatives. The child sees it as a game, as something that he can enjoy, as something that he might approach in a competitive spirit, and finally after finding that he could easily excel in it, might be surprised to know that it had fulfilled an educational purpose too! Teachers and parents have discovered the technique of using computer game activities to sugarcoat lessons and have seen for themselves how easily educational pills are swallowed along with the syrup of computer games.
Blinded by the miracles of the technological revolution, one might perhaps need to be reminded of the possible dangers presented by the ready access to such “new worlds at the speed of light” (Coveney and Highfield 1991, p. 78). Some of these dangers relate to the use, misuse, abuse, or overuse of computers by children and the possibility of adults/ amoral children maliciously targeting innocent children. Fritjof Capra’s statement in a different context appears particularly relevant here: “it should by now be abundantly clear that unlimited expansion in a finite environment can only lead to disaster” (Capra 1982, p. 223).
One would only need to picture a child who might start off by using the computer for legitimate reasons of study, hoping to gain an A+ grade. Such a child would initially use the system and the attendant facilities of available accessories and the internet purely for purposes of genuine study and research. The next stage would begin with the rationalization that, since the computer is capable of a large number of simultaneous functions, there could be no serious objection to leaving one’s mailbox or chat window open for ready access, whenever one would need to ‘take a break’ from learning. Such a child might then begin to think that since the computer offers the facility of listening to music while one is engaged in one’s research, one should make full use of such an excellent property. Within weeks or months, or even days or hours, the situation might degenerate to one in which research/learning provides the break in instructive activities such as chatting, emailing, or downloading music.
Some children might make the mistake of over-using computers—such as by basing all their learning activities (work on assignments and seminars or preparing for tests and examinations) on information that can readily be gained, frequently in a predigested form from Wikipedia or Spark Notes. This is perhaps the main reason why children fail to acquire the real knowledge that should last serve them a lifetime. Such an advantage would have accrued to them if only they had made intelligent use of the resources available in libraries in the form of books, journals, magazines, pamphlets, and reports, in addition to the resources available online. Overuse of computers can cause health problems too—it can lead to eye fatigue, radiation syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, and various aches and pains of the body, especially of the vertebral column. Specialists of all systems of medicine emphasize the fact that such health problems caused by the use of computers can be avoided by the simple expedient of taking short breaks while working on the system.
As everyone knows, the various resources of the internet can be and are frequently abused. One hears more and more these days of cyberbullying, cybersex, and various other ways in which children can be exploited via the World Wide Web. There have been cases of cyberbullies driving their victims to suicide; students have also entered into suicide pacts or joined suicide cults as a result of the attractively packaged information made available on certain websites. Other children have found their personal details (revealed by them to persons whom they had considered worthy of trust) splashed in the public webspace. Some have been surprised to find ‘doctored’ pictures depicting them in poses they would never even have imagined in their wildest dreams. Others are lured by strangers who reveal attractive but false bits of ‘information and ultimately end up in extremely vulnerable situations.
The solution to most of the problems that may accompany the use of computers in education is proper adult control, supervision, and guidance. Teachers in school and parents at home should realize the need to make responsible decisions for and on behalf of the minor children. Adults should personally monitor (with the help of software or hardware if necessary) the activities that the children under their care engage in, on computers. A few simple safeguards may go a long way in ensuring this—the placing of computers in locations of public view, the regular monitoring of computer activity, and above all, the creation of an atmosphere of trust in which the younger and the older generations find that each can help and be helped by the other.
Ian Jack speaks of how “during our school lunch hours in the late 1950s, a group of us would amuse ourselves by crossing the playing fields and following a small river that ran through a culvert under the railway, to emerge by the side of what had been a square reservoir, now empty of water and full of weeds” (Jack 2005, p. 11). This activity probably helped Jack to make some sense of his life and the universe at that point in time. However, the twenty-first century would definitely find young George’s prescription of computer-aided learning of physics more appealing than the vignette painted by Jack, for “that’s what you [now] need to understand the Universe around you” (Hawking and Hawking 2007, p. 289).
Conclusion
There can be no better exposition of the invaluable benefits of computer-mediated education than this book co-authored by the great Stephen Hawking, in which the protagonist George, wins an inter-school competition and wins over his science-fighting technology-hating father to a more rational approach to the use of Science for the good of humanity and the good of the planet Earth. One can only wish that every child in the world could be welcomed to the computer-aided learning adventure that education can and should be, with the words used by Cosmos the computer to young George in Hawking’s story: “Welcome…to the Universe” (Hawking and Hawking 2007, p.42).
References
Capra, Fritjof. (1982). The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture. London: Flamingo.
Coveney, Peter, and Roger Highfield. (1991).The Arrow of Time. London: Flamingo.
Feynman, Richard P. (1992) “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character. London: Vintage.
Hawking, Lucy, and Stephen Hawking. (2007). George’s Secret Key to the Universe. London: Doubleday.
Jack, Ian. “Motley Notes.” Granta 89: The Factory, 2005, pp.7-11.