Computer Perceptions of Children in Early Childhood period

Abstract

Article History: Received 14.01.2015 Received in revised form 05.03.2015 Accepted 05.03.2015 Available online 27.03.2015 Early childhood is a period that a child develops rapidly in mental, physical and social emotional aspects. The child perceives his environment with his sense organs, cognitive level, and mental capabilities. The process of identifying the computer in conceptual-level by the child is closely linked with his perception of the computer. The purpose of this research is to determine the children’s manners of perceiving the computer in their early childhood period. Research working group consists of 41 students from 58-63 months range who are attending Kindergarten in the Adapazari Province of Sakarya. The data collection tool used for the research was developed by the researcher as a semi-structured interview form and the data have been gathered at certain intervals in four weeks period. The data were analyzed using the qualitative research technique; content analysis. Results of the research indicates; children can differentiate their computers as desktop and laptop computer, define the hardware components in their own levels, and since they use the computers intensively to play games and paint pictures, they believe this is the main purpose of a computer. Besides, the results also indicate that the children participating in the study have high level of positive attitude towards the computers in the affective level. © 2015 IOJES. All rights reserved