Improving children's e-safety skills through an interactive learning environment: a quasi-experimental study
Journal
Multimodal Technologies and Interaction
Date Issued
June 2020
Author(s)
DOI
10.3390/mti4020010
Abstract
There is a worldwide concern for young children’s online safety and a growing necessity
for e-safety skills to be taught to children from a young age as part of formal schooling. The purpose
of this study was to design and evaluate the e ectiveness and motivational capacity of an interactive
web-based learning environment for improving children’s e-safety skills. A quasi-experimental
pre-test post-test control group design was used with an experimental group of 48 sixth-grade primary
school students, who used the web-based learning environment over two 80-min lessons, and a
control group of 25 students who did not. Findings revealed a statistically significant di erence (t(47)
= 14.06, p < 0.01) in the experimental group students’ e-safety performance, when students’ pre-test
scores (mean (M) = 41.13, SD = 10.47) were compared to their post-test scores (M = 56.69, SD = 9.38).
The analysis of an attitudes questionnaire and of student interviews documented the experimental
group students’ positive attitudes toward the learning environment. Findings provide evidence of
the e ectiveness and motivational capacity of the web-based learning environment, which can be
used in either formal education or informal learning settings, for improving children’s e-safety skills.
for e-safety skills to be taught to children from a young age as part of formal schooling. The purpose
of this study was to design and evaluate the e ectiveness and motivational capacity of an interactive
web-based learning environment for improving children’s e-safety skills. A quasi-experimental
pre-test post-test control group design was used with an experimental group of 48 sixth-grade primary
school students, who used the web-based learning environment over two 80-min lessons, and a
control group of 25 students who did not. Findings revealed a statistically significant di erence (t(47)
= 14.06, p < 0.01) in the experimental group students’ e-safety performance, when students’ pre-test
scores (mean (M) = 41.13, SD = 10.47) were compared to their post-test scores (M = 56.69, SD = 9.38).
The analysis of an attitudes questionnaire and of student interviews documented the experimental
group students’ positive attitudes toward the learning environment. Findings provide evidence of
the e ectiveness and motivational capacity of the web-based learning environment, which can be
used in either formal education or informal learning settings, for improving children’s e-safety skills.
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