Computers help kids

published by Asianpost on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 12:30

A three-year research project undertaken by Kelleen Toohey in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University indicates that computer and Internet literacy may enrich the learning of non-English speaking children in different ways.

Immigrant and refugee children at two Lower Mainland elementary schools are participating in a study financed by a $106,575 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant.

Toohey, the study’s principal investigator, her co-researchers, SFU education professor Paul Neufeld and University of Western Ontario professor Roz Stooke, and other collaborators are using technology to help the children improve their writing skills. The children upload their work to podcasts and are experimenting with video and audio technologies.

Early results indicate that the children’s use of computers to write stories improves both their English language and computer literacy skills. If final results confirm this, the study will provide valuable new information on how non-English speaking students learn, and what tools aid their language learning.

The study initially focused on print literacy but “it became apparent that we had to look at literacy in a broader sense,” says Toohey. “We needed to include technological literacy since it will play such a relevant role in their futures.”

The study is slated to wrap up in April 2009. Toohey is a Langley resident.