Elementary school students' computer and Internet use at home: Current trends and issues

For the past decade, the number of computers in the home have been steadily increasing. Yet relatively little is known about how children are actually using computers at home. This article elaborates on the results of a surve y in which 291 parents of an urban elementary school (K-6) participated. Pa rents reported on their computer equipment at home, the type and frequency of their children's educational software and Internet use, and shared their ideas how better connections between computer use at home and school might be created. The results indicate that most of students' computer use was d edicated to game playing followed by various other software activities. Stu dents reported more limited Internet activities. While home computer owners hip is not necessarily contingent upon gender, some software and Internet u se tended to be gender specific activities. Many of the parents' suggestion s for connecting school and home focused on the ways in which information a bout students might be obtained from the school and support through exchang es with teachers. In our discussion we address in which ways these results replicate earlier observations of children's academic home computing. Furth ermore, we discuss problematic issues and potential directions in academic home computing.