Internet in the mind of children: Mental maps of beginner and advanced 5th and 9th graders

Abstract

The revamping of computing curricula has brought topics that had rarely been taught previously to primary school children, such as principles of functioning of the Internet. Before new lessons can be prepared for children, mapping their preconceptions about respective topics is often useful. Here, we mapped preconceptions about the functioning of the Internet among 28 5th graders and 28 9th graders in the Czech Republic through clinical interviews. Altogether, we identified 112 preconceptions and, unlike in previous works, we organised about half of the most prevalent ones into the form of mental maps; this among two groups of children: those with less vs. more knowledge about the Internet.