ABSTRACT

The internet has become a key environment for children’s learning and leisure at an increasing early age. Yet, little is known about what children understand about the internet. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 111 children aged five to nine to assess their notions about the internet, the authorship of online content and the trustworthiness they attribute to it. Considering the socio-cognitive advances throughout these ages, we expected a significant improvement in children’s concept of the internet. However, the results showed modest age differences, and only in some basic notions (e.g., internet functions). Misconceptions about the internet and naïve ideas about the reliability of its content were present at all ages. Only a very few older children envisaged the risk of finding malicious information online and the need to consult other sources in case of doubt. We discuss the necessity to address children’s misconceptions at least from the beginning of primary school, when most of them are cognitively ready to understand many of the issues addressed in this study, provided they receive guided instruction.

摘要

互联网已成为儿童学习和休闲的重要环境。然而，人们对孩子们对互联网的理解知之甚少。我们对 111 名 5 至 9 岁的儿童进行了半结构化访谈，以评估他们对互联网的看法、在线内容的作者身份以及他们对互联网的信任度。考虑到这些年龄段的社会认知进步，我们预计儿童对互联网的概念会有显着改善。然而，结果显示出适度的年龄差异，而且仅限于一些基本概念（例如，互联网功能）。对互联网的误解和对其内容可靠性的幼稚想法在各个年龄段都存在。只有极少数年龄较大的孩子会想到在网上发现恶意信息的风险，并且在有疑问时需要咨询其他来源。我们讨论了至少从小学开始就解决儿童误解的必要性，当时他们中的大多数人在认知上已经准备好理解本研究中解决的许多问题，只要他们接受指导。