Fostering Knowledge of Computer Viruses among Children: The Effects of a Lesson with a Cartoon Series

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F20%3A10419414" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/20:10419414 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3428029.3428033" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1145/3428029.3428033</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3428029.3428033" target="_blank" >10.1145/3428029.3428033</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Fostering Knowledge of Computer Viruses among Children: The Effects of a Lesson with a Cartoon Series

Original language description

Children increasingly use computing devices. However, it is unclear whether they have basic knowledge of security-related issues such as computer viruses and, in case they do not, what they can learn about them. It was found previously that Czech 8-year-olds have only limited knowledge of computer viruses, but neither naïve understanding of older children nor what they can learn has been researched. Here, we first examined preconceptions of computer viruses among Czech 5-6-graders (N = 14) and German 3-4-graders (N = 28) by means of a written test. Second, the German sample (experimental group), but not the Czech one (control group), received an intervention to learn about computer viruses, antiviruses, and software updates by means of a 45-min lesson combining a cartoon series on viruses, frontal instruction, and discussion. Both groups again completed the written test. A joint analysis of both samples indicated that Czech and German children already knew key points concerning computer viruses. These included, for instance, that viruses harm our computers (88% of the total sample). However, overall, their knowledge was patchy, and children also had misconceptions such as that viruses can only infect devices connected to the Internet (57%), and antiviruses can delete viruses from the Internet (40%). Due to the intervention, the experimental group improved from pre to posttest (d = 1.06), while this was not the case for the control group. A more in-depth analysis indicated that knowledge gains were mostly related to information repeatedly mentioned during the lesson, but it was less clear whether the lesson helped correct previously held misconceptions. Taken together, the results indicated that knowledge of computer viruses should and can be taught to primary school children, but attention must be paid to existing preconceptions.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

D - Article in proceedings

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50301 - Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2020

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Article name in the collection

Koli Calling &apos;20: Proceedings of the 20th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

ISBN

978-1-4503-8921-1

ISSN

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e-ISSN

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Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

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Publisher name

ACM

Place of publication

Neuveden

Event location

Online

Event date

Nov 19, 2020

Type of event by nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce

UT code for WoS article

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