From: John.Feltham@f706.n640.z3.fidonet.org (John Feltham)
Newsgroups: k12.ed.comp.literacy
Subject: Paper. 2/4
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 11:48:02 PDT
Organization: FidoNet node 3:640/706 - Coral Sea, Townsville Qld Australia

(continued)

King and Alloway (in press), found in a study with pre-schoolers that the
mouse was more efficiently used than the joystick which in turn was more
efficiently used than the keyboard for the set task which involved selecting,
moving and de-selecting an icon on the screen. This finding corroborated
results for adult samples mentioned previously, in that the continuous
movement devices, namely the mouse and joystick outperformed the keyboard for
the set task, but differed from Jones's result in relation to the measured
order of efficiency of the joystick and mouse. Since the task requirement in
the present study involved unrestrained movement of an icon compared to the
Jones procedure where the children were required to point and click on
targets in specified directions, it seems reasonable to explain the
conflicting result for the joystick and mouse in terms of the difference in
the task requirements. Jones, however, argues for more research in the area
to determine:

... which configurations will prove to
be the easiest to manipulate, the most
efficient to use and the least demanding
of their processing capabilities . . . (p. 75)

The present study extends the scope of investigation of the use of input
devices by young children from pre-school to grade three. While a number of
studies (e.g. Thomas 119801),have reported an increase in motor performance
over time with young children, the paucity of specific research in the use of
input devices across different age groups suggested this as an area of useful
investigation. Hence
this study has focused on the question of whether the efficiency of use of
articular input devices varies across grade levels from pre-school to grade
three and whether the order of efficiency of use of input devices is
maintained across these grade levels. It was also of interest to the
researchers to further investigate young children's preference for input
devices, as this has rarely been undertaken (King & Alloway, in press) and to
discover whether gender is a factor contributing to the efficiency of use of
input devices. While there is no suggestion in the literature that there are
gender differences in motor development in early childhood, data on the
relative efficiency of boys' and girls' use of input devices could inform the
debate on the gender construction
of microcomputer activities.



Table 1.

----------------------------------------------------------
|Grade       |   N   |  Mouse   |  Joystick |   Keyboard |
----------------------------------------------------------
|Pre-school  |  34   |  19.9    |  47.2     |   91.0     |
|            |       |          |           |            |
|     1      |  15   |  12.8    |  23.1     |   52.0     |
|            |       |          |           |            |
|     2      |  15   |   8.7    |  15.9     |   39.9     |
|            |       |          |           |            |
|     3      |  15   |   9.0    |  13.7     |   29.7     |
----------------------------------------------------------


CONTEXT OF THE STUDY.

Students used in the study were drawn from the morning and afternoon sessions
of a preschool centre and from a multi-age group of 6- to 8-year-olds at a
primary school. The developmental groups of primary students identified,
henceforth referred to as grades one, two and three, had average ages of 6.7,
7.8 and 8.5 years which are approximately one year apart. The preschool group
were two years younger than the grade one group, with an average age of 4.7
years. This difference resulted from data being collected at the beginning of
the year for the preschoolers and at the end of the school year for the other
students.

Most of the primary students had some previous experience with a
microcomputer as one had been situated in the classroom for the year,
although not all students had used it. No input peripherals additional to the
keyboard were available. Some pre-schoolers alleged previous use of
computers, but no accurate indication of their experience with specific input
devices was possible for this 'difficult to interview' age group.

The software used for the study was Rosie, The Counting Rabbit (Learningways
1987). It was chosen on the basis that; it allowed the use of either the
keyboard, joystick or mouse; it was considered suitable for the developmental
level of the age range involved; and it lacked aggressive and competitive
characteristics.


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