Observation of a Child Using Technology

While at a women's shelter in Seattle I was spontaneously able to view a child using a computer. We were in the shelter's small library and he had scored some time for himself on the time sheet. He was a young boy, about 7 or 8 years old. (I was actually trying to fill out a report on my tutoring I had done with someone else and that is why I was in the library.)

As I continued watching him, he seemed to get very frustrated and started pushing the keyboard buttons loudly. He noticed me at a desk nearby and came over. He told me that he wanted to find a computer game to play and couldn't. He asked me (very politely) how to spell "boxing." I told him, and then he went back to the computer. He continued moving the mouse around and typing and again got frustrated. He asked if I could help him find a game to play. I went with him to the computer and sat in a nearby seat. I asked him to type in "boxing games" and he tried to get me to do it for him. He was visibly upset and maybe a little embarrassed that he didn't understand how to find what he wanted. Since he was so upset I agreed to type it in. I read out loud what I was typing. I showed him that I didn't know exactly how to do it either. We found some games online, but they would cost money to play. I encouraged him to search for other games that were free, and showed him a yahoo page with all games. I also let him know that the computer was old and slow and that he would need to have patience if he wanted to continue using it. Then I left him alone and went back to filling out my report. I continued watching him. Although he never seemed to fully get over his frustration, he still stayed at the computer for quite some time. Eventually he bored of it and went outside to play basketball.

This encounter caused me to reflect on Jenkin's idea of the "participation gap." For this particular child there were two problems presented. The first was obvious, he had problems spelling and therefore could not properly use the search bar to find what he wanted. The second problem was that the technology he had access to was outdated and did not function properly. If the shelter were able to acquire a better computer with a faster Internet connection, it might've been easier for him to click from one game to the next. He would have had an easier time just trying to search. Instead he had to wait every few minutes while the computer was stuck on something he had typed earlier.

Unfortunately for the boy he was left with a feeling of frustration where he was trying to find joy. I spent some time considering what I would do if I were this child's teacher. I think if I had more time with him (if I were assigned to tutor him instead of the family I am working with now) I would work on phonics/spelling and show him how a search bar can be helpful even if one does not know how to spell a word. I found that if you type "bocksing" into the yahoo search bar, both "bocking" and "boxing" come up. The child would have only two choices here and through trial and error he would eventually find what he was looking for.

For this particular boy, who is very sensitive and easy to anger, I think that it would be important to help him gain self esteem through active learning (trial and error). We would have to focus on learning how to search and navigate through the web and I would have to make it clear that I am also learning, just as he is. I would also try to seek his advise on certain topics. For instance, I do not know anything about boxing or basketball. I have found working at the shelter that the idea of teaching the tutor is very exciting and appealing to the children there. I would also have to be very careful not to do everything for this child. It was clear to me that he is a child who is used to having adults solve his problems for him. If he is ever to grow up and be able to succeed in life, he has to learn how to learn and he has to also learn that it is okay to make mistakes.