Kids with computer skills a step ahead

A child who uses a computer regularly has an edge in school and possibly in life compared with a child who is less computer savvy, a U.S. researcher says. Shelia Cotten of the University of Alabama at Birmingham College of Arts & Sciences says exposure to computers may give young people the technological attitudes and skills they need to do well in this technology-driven society. "If you do not have the computer skills to find information you need, for homework or otherwise, then you will be greatly disadvantaged in our information-based society," Cotten says in a statement. "From a policy perspective, our findings are consistent with calls for better integration of computers into the curriculum." Cotten and colleagues surveyed 1,202 fourth- and fifth-graders in the Birmingham City School System who participated in the nation's largest distribution of XO laptop computers during the 2008/2009 academic year. The XO laptop is a child-friendly computer system created by the One Laptop Per Child organization, which typically provides computers to disadvantaged youths in third-world countries. The data, published in the Information, Communication & Society, showed that students who used a computer to do homework before receiving the XO tended to make greater use of the laptop and felt it helped them in their education.