Additional Task 3: New Media Use among Pupils
The KIM Study
Nowadays computers and internet access are omnipresent everywhere. That is why dealing with new media in schools becomes more and more important.
Questions that are very important for a teacher preparing new media based teaching units are for example: Did the pupils get in touch with computers already? Do they know the basics of working with a computer? Did they use the internet and therefore different websites already?
In 2010 the Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverband Südwest published the latest results of their KIM (Kinder + Medien, Computer + Internet) study. This is a study which evaluates the media use of children in Germany who are between 6 and 13 years old.
The test persons for the KIM study are about 1200 children out of the German population between the ages 6 and 13. The study started in 1999 during the time when computers became increasingly important for families and children.
Questions that are very important for a teacher preparing new media based teaching units are for example: Did the pupils get in touch with computers already? Do they know the basics of working with a computer? Did they use the internet and therefore different websites already?
In 2010 the Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverband Südwest published the latest results of their KIM (Kinder + Medien, Computer + Internet) study. This is a study which evaluates the media use of children in Germany who are between 6 and 13 years old.
The test persons for the KIM study are about 1200 children out of the German population between the ages 6 and 13. The study started in 1999 during the time when computers became increasingly important for families and children.
The KIM study tries to find out how much and how often children use computers and internet, when and why they use it and whether they use it for school and learning software or not. Furthermore, the study examines the media devices the children have access to, children´s media use in terms of free time activities and the topics they are interested in.
For us as future teachers it was really important and interesting that nowadays we can expect most of our pupils to be well equipped with media knowledge. 91% of the households where the children come from possess at least one computer or laptop and 89% have internet access. Furthermore nearly every family is equipped with TV´s, CD and DVD Players, radio, cell, 71% own a console for video games and MP3-player(s).
In addition to the household many children already possess their own media equipment. While some children (13% girls, 17% boys) already own their own computer by this age, 64% have their own CD-player, roughly 50% have an own cell phone, just under 50% have an MP3-player.
For us as future teachers it was really important and interesting that nowadays we can expect most of our pupils to be well equipped with media knowledge. 91% of the households where the children come from possess at least one computer or laptop and 89% have internet access. Furthermore nearly every family is equipped with TV´s, CD and DVD Players, radio, cell, 71% own a console for video games and MP3-player(s).
In addition to the household many children already possess their own media equipment. While some children (13% girls, 17% boys) already own their own computer by this age, 64% have their own CD-player, roughly 50% have an own cell phone, just under 50% have an MP3-player.
Source: Behrens, Peter, Thomas Rathgeb. KIM-Studie 2010 Kinder + Medien, Computer + Internet. Basisuntersuchung zum Medienumgang 6- bis 13-Jähriger in Deutschland. Hrsg. Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverband Südwest. http://www.mpfs.de/?id=192.
These results show that we can expect almost every child from grade 5 on to be familiar with a variety of media equipment. This indicates that there should not be difficulties for them to accomplish homework that is based on the computer or internet, since the little percentage where the family does not own a computer they will definitely be able to use one with a friend or at school.
Really interesting as well is looking at the results in what way children use new media during their free time activities. The KIM study found that the most dominant reason for children using the computer and internet is for homework and other school related learning activities. 75% of the interviewed children claimed that they would use it once a day for those activities. With 76% of the children watching TV every day the study found out that these two activities are the most common ones for children using new media every day. Those two results were followed by listening to music, meeting friends, playing video games, and using the cell phone.
In a second step the children were asked about their favorite spare time activities. Every child was allowed to give up to three activities. For both girls and boys the most-loved activity was meeting friends (53% girls, 51% boys), followed by playing outside (42% girls, 44 boys). Concerning computer games, video and online games the KIM study found a clear difference between boys and girls (girls 19%, boys 41%), whereas watching TV was equally important (girls 33%, boys 31%) of the votes.
All of these results indicate the significance and importance of new media in children´s life´s. The older the children get and the more knowledge and routine they have with new media equipment the trend of spending their spare time with new media increases rapidly. Looking at these results it would be foolish to not include new media in the classroom. Teachers are able to arouse more motivation and to catch pupil´s interest by combining learning material with the use of new media, since it is something which is of personal interest.
In regard to our New Media course I can say that future teachers need to learn how to combine their learning material to the personal interests of the pupils to gain an advantage for their teaching and learning activities. Therefore, in my opinion teaching with new media and to teach using new media in a responsible way is of great importance for teachers and schools. This makes the course really important for us and leaves me convinced that it should be an obligatory part of teacher education at universities.
Really interesting as well is looking at the results in what way children use new media during their free time activities. The KIM study found that the most dominant reason for children using the computer and internet is for homework and other school related learning activities. 75% of the interviewed children claimed that they would use it once a day for those activities. With 76% of the children watching TV every day the study found out that these two activities are the most common ones for children using new media every day. Those two results were followed by listening to music, meeting friends, playing video games, and using the cell phone.
In a second step the children were asked about their favorite spare time activities. Every child was allowed to give up to three activities. For both girls and boys the most-loved activity was meeting friends (53% girls, 51% boys), followed by playing outside (42% girls, 44 boys). Concerning computer games, video and online games the KIM study found a clear difference between boys and girls (girls 19%, boys 41%), whereas watching TV was equally important (girls 33%, boys 31%) of the votes.
All of these results indicate the significance and importance of new media in children´s life´s. The older the children get and the more knowledge and routine they have with new media equipment the trend of spending their spare time with new media increases rapidly. Looking at these results it would be foolish to not include new media in the classroom. Teachers are able to arouse more motivation and to catch pupil´s interest by combining learning material with the use of new media, since it is something which is of personal interest.
In regard to our New Media course I can say that future teachers need to learn how to combine their learning material to the personal interests of the pupils to gain an advantage for their teaching and learning activities. Therefore, in my opinion teaching with new media and to teach using new media in a responsible way is of great importance for teachers and schools. This makes the course really important for us and leaves me convinced that it should be an obligatory part of teacher education at universities.
