IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/itintd/v2y2005i4p41-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Model of How Children Acquire Computing Skills from Hole-in-the-Wall Computers in Public Places

Author

Listed:
  • Ritu Dangwal

    (Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems Synergy Building, IIT Campus New Delhi 110 016, India.)

  • Swati Jha

    (Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems Synergy Building, IIT Campus New Delhi 110 016, India)

  • Shiffon Chatterjee

    (Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems Synergy Building, IIT Campus New Delhi 110 016, India)

  • Sugata Mitra

    (Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems Synergy Building, IIT Campus New Delhi 110 016, India)

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of constructing a "minimally invasive" learning model from the results of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) Icon Association Inventory (devised by Dangwal and Inamdar [Mitra 2003]). We discuss the results obtained from four playground (hole-in-the-wall) computer kiosk sites in southern India, made freely available to children, without supervision, for nine months. Computing skills acquisition, as measured by the Icon Association Inventory, was plotted for each month and the learning curves are reported in the paper. The observed curves were fitted to predicted curves to understand the rates and stages of learning. Results indicate uniform improvement in the computing skills of the children who used these kiosks. Copyright (c) 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Ritu Dangwal & Swati Jha & Shiffon Chatterjee & Sugata Mitra, 2005. "A Model of How Children Acquire Computing Skills from Hole-in-the-Wall Computers in Public Places," Information Technologies and International Development, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 41-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:itintd:v:2:y:2005:i:4:p:41-60
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/154475205775249319
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:itintd:v:2:y:2005:i:4:p:41-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.