Are children academically smarter because of internet?

Group Members Akshay Agarwal (BBA A) Ashwini Thapa (BBA A) Nikita Acharya (BBA A) Rachana Adhikari (BBA A) Roshan Luitel (BBA A) Rohit Shrestha (BBA A) Shristi Ghale (BBA A) Nikesh Todi (BBA A)

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APPROVAL PAGE
THE THESIS OF OUR GROUP IS APPROVED BY THE EXAMINATION COMMITTEE.

_________________________________________ MR. MADHUSUDHAN GAUTAM (COURSE FACULTY)

________________________________________ Mr. Bishnu Raj Adhikari (Principal)

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List of Figures:
Fig. 1.1 Overall Research Metrics Fig. 1.2 - Total Hours spent using internet. Fig. 1.3 Uses of Internet.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This Research Project on Are Children Academically Smarter Because Of Internet? is prepared as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelors in Business Administration. This research project has been prepared to apply the knowledge gained in the course Research Methodology. We would like to acknowledge our course instructor Senior Teaching Faculty and Coordinator Mr. Madhusudan Gautam for his continuous support and guidance throughout the project. We express our sincere thanks for your time and effort to help us complete our project effectively and efficiently. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our classmates, friends and family who encouraged and contributed their valuable suggestions during the preparation of this research report. With your suggestions, we got inspired to bring out the best of ourselves. We also express our gratitude, at last, to all the people involved with this project, directly and indirectly.

Ashwini Thapa Nikita Acharya Shristi Ghale Akashay Agarwal Rohit Shrestha Nikesh Todi Rachana Adhikari Roshan Luitel

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Table of Content
1 Chapter One: 1.1 Introduction . 1.2 Statement of Problem . 1.3 Research Question .. 1.4 Research objectives .... 1.5 Literature Review ... 1.6 Research Matrix 2 Chapter Two: 2.1 Study Area Description 11 1 2 3 6 9 10

3 Chapter Three: 3.1 Methodology .. 14

4 Chapter Four 4.1 Results and Discussion . 16

5 Chapter Five 5.1 Conclusion . 20

6 Chapter Six 6.1 Bibliography .. 21

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1.1

Introduction

The Internet today is a widespread information infrastructure. Its history is complex and involves many aspects - technological, organizational, and community. And its influence reaches not only to the technical fields of computer communications but throughout society as we move toward increasing use of online tools to accomplish electronic commerce, information acquisition, and community operations. It connects personal computers, mainframes, cell phones, GPS units, music players. All of these computer connections exist for the sake of free information sharing. A means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs. The internet in simple terms is a network of the interlinked computer networking worldwide, which is accessible to the general public. These interconnected computers work by transmitting data through a special type of packet switching which is known as the IP or the internet protocol.

Children use the Internet in different ways and for different reasons, depending on their age and interests. From the age of seven or eight they begin to enjoy the Internet on a more practical level, through different activities such as searching online encyclopedias, downloading/playing games downloading pictures for school reports, or writing to pen pals. Children should be allowed to use the internet, because the internet is a huge part of modern society.

But parents should be aware about why their children use internet and for what purpose. Parents should investigate timely what they are doing in the internet. For them, the Internet is both a popular communication tool, like the telephone, and a familiar community environment, like the mall or a movie theater, where kids can develop their identities, join youth subcultures, relieve boredom, or cope with emotional issues or other personal concerns.

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1.2

Statement of problem

Internet is a double edged sword. Students can either use internet to find information about the topics related to his/her course or they may waste time playing games or on social networks. We are trying to study if the use internet has any impact on the smartness of the children. Smartness, here, meaning improvement on the academic part of the children.Children have a tendency to become curious about other services of the internet like games, social networks etc. These may have negative impacts on the children. We are looking at the negative or positive impacts that internet makes on the academic part of the student`s life. Internet sure has both negative and positive impacts on the student`s life as whole but we in this research are just focusing on the academic part.

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1.3 Research Questions

1) In a day, how much time do you spend using internet? a. 2hours b. 3hours c. 4hours d. More than that

2) Why do you particularly use internet for? a. Play Games Facebook b. Do home works c. Solve Problems d. Listen Music e.

3) What sites you particularly surf?

4) While doing your homework does it seem necessary, sometimes, to take help from the internet? a. Sometimes b. Not quite often c. Absolutely Necessary

5) Is it fun to use the internet?

6) Have you solved any problem using the internet? If yes, what was that? a. Yes b. No

7) At school, how do teachers help you in using internet?

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8) (For parents) Do you agree that internet will help sharpen your childs ability to learn? a. Agree b. Partially agree c. Not quite sure d. Completely Disagree

9) ( For Parents) How do you judge schools approach to take e- learning as a part of childs curriculum? a. Productive Unproductive b. Waste of schools resources c. Absolutely necessary d.

10) If suddenly you are barred from using the internet how would you respond? a. My fun stops then b. My learning stops c. Hard to pass time d. Doesnt matter much

11) From your curriculums perspective how much do you think you have learned using internet? a. Learned a lot b. Helped little c. Nothing

12) In class or at home have you ever been able to participate in any conversation because you knew about the topic being discussed from internet? If yes, can you explain the situation? a. Yes b. No

13) (For Parents) Do you see change in the grades of your child after he/she started using internet? a. Yes b. No

14) Which is more important for you, TV or Internet? a. TV b. Internet c. Both

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15) Can you send email to your teacher, friends or download files? a. Yes, both b. Just download c. Send email d. No

16) Are there compulsory e- learning classes in your school? a. Yes b. No

17) What device you use to surf the internet? a. Desktop b. Laptop c. Tablets b. Mobile Phone

18) Why do you think internet exists? a. For fun b. To send mails c. To do home works d. Facebook e. I dont know

19) Imagine a world without internet? a. Impossible to live without internet b. Will not make that of a difference c. My toys are more important e. It might hamper my learning d. Who cares?

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1.4 Research Objectives

The aim of our research is to know whether internet aids in the smartness of the children in the academic part. This research will provide an insight to the present practice of internet in the childrens life today whether it is in academic.Children should be allowed to use the internet, because the internet is a huge part of modern society. But parents should be aware about why their children use internet and for what purpose. Parents should investigate timely what they are doing on the internet.

These days a lot of children, before they reach their teenage years know how access internet, work on a cell phone and know how to play video games. Technology is getting more advanced and children are getting smarter but is that smartness also reflected in their academics meaning are the students, today, securing good grades just because of the reason that they are spending a lot of time using internet?

For our research purpose we have focused specifically on the childrens aged 6 -12. We went to 7 different schools who provide internet facilities to their students and 3 schools which is that did not provide any internet facility. We then divided the students into two different groups. Students who grew up with internet facilities in their school and home were categorized as Group A students and the students who didnt get any internet facilities were categorized as group B students.

Our aim also comprises of learning the response of teachers also. We feel that teachers could be an important part in the accurate conclusion of this report. We will also look after asking teachers a few questions for a getting a different insight on the topic. Though this wont be the ultimate objective of this report we will use it as reference.

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1.5 Literature Review

A large number of studies over the past few years have highlighted key challenges for the sector and identified some of the pressures which have transformed the contexts for students use of internet. In this literature review, we have digested the most salient studies in what is a large field of theoretical and empirical data on the way in which students use internet in their learning. The review is presented as a survey of work grouped together under the key issues relevant to our study. It is not presented as a critical review, its function is to raise some key questions and relate the literature of the field to the findings in our study.

We have focused this review on studies on two issues particularly pertinent to our study: the importance of the learning environment (both institutional and disciplinary contexts) and the significant impact of digital technologies on students use of internets content for learning. "A major goal for this accumulation of research is to show the good and bad sides of the Internet as it relates to children," said coeditors of the special issue Patricia Greenfield, PhD, of the Children's Digital Media Center, University of California at Los Angeles and Zheng Yan, PhD, of the State University of New York at Albany.

To date, the major emphasis among educational researchers and practitioners has been on the development and implementation of educational technologies within formal learning environments such as schools, colleges, and universities and informal settings such as museums, and afterschool pro- grams. Most of this prior work has neglected to address adequately educational technologies in yet another important learning environment, the family home.

While computers at home in the 90s were only available to a minority of families, in recent years the numbers have increased dramatically: currently, over 40 per- cent of Nepalese households count a computer among their possessions in use for work, entertainment, or educational purposes. Many students use the computer at home for word processing, learning things, and playing games.

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Over the last five to six years there has been a substantial increase in internet usage by children above eleven years old. This increase is not uniform across the nation but seems to follow usage patterns among older age cohorts where more children overall use the internet, they also go online younger. According to the latest research presented in a special issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), spending a lot of time on the Web can have both negative and positive effects on young people, i.e., the sharing of selfinjury practices by some and the improvement of academic performance and health awareness by others. According to a Veteran blogger, Because children are very curious so want to know even just small thing. And they should try to find the answer through many books or their own experience. When they do that by themselves, they can keep it in for a long time. And they can know anther new thing through that process. But these days using their computer or smart phone, they find the information easily. Of course it is very speed and comfortable. But, it is just for a moment. They are going to forget the information that they find so easily. It is not theirs. This phenomenon will lead the children to be lazy. Internet is very useful when we do use correctly even though to children. Of course through using the internet, children can learn a lot of thing and be smart. But they should use it very wisely. Also parents role is important. They try to find good site or thing to their children and check what they do when they use the internet. And they should keep balance outgoing activities and do computer. And keep read books that with paper. And they also have some limit with smart phone. Good technology is good for only people who use is wisely.

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1.6 Overall Research Metrics

Research objective
To find out whether internet helps children to get academically smarter and that the use of internet is positively reflected in their grades

Decision Problem
Is it the frequent use of internet that has helped students to obtain higher grades or that there is no relation between the two

Research Questions
What age group of children to target? What schools should be given importance for the study? How many schools to target? What time span should be considered to study the change? How will parents be accessed?

Sources
Primary Sources/ Survey

Observations/ Opinion survey

Survey/ Experts Opinion

Fig. 1.1

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2.1 Study Area description

For our research purpose we have focused specifically on the childrens aged 6-12. We went to 7 different schools that provide internet facilities to their students and 3 schools that did not provide any internet facility. We then divided the students into two different groups. Students who grew up with internet facilities in their school and home were categorized as Group A students and the students who didnt get any internet facilities were categorized as group B students. The schools where we conducted our study are as follows: D.A.V Sushil Kedia Bishwa Bharati School Pathsala Foundation Future Star School Caribbean School Gyanshika boarding School Uma Maheshwor Secondary School Gyanodaya Bal Batika School Ideal Model School Campion School

Our aim also comprises of learning the response of teachers also. We feel that teachers could be an important part in the accurate conclusion of this report. We will also look after asking teachers a few questions for a getting a different insight on the topic. Though this wont be the ultimate objective of this report we will use it as reference.

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Response from Group A students:

Under this category we had students from age 6-12 who have access to internet facilities at home as well as schools. What we found out was that majority of the students surf internet for three hours or more than three hours a day .They particularly used internet for playing games and for using facebook. Moreover they used internet very less for doing their assignments and helping them to get their things done. It has become more of a FUNtool rather than a problem solving tool. We could find students talking about internet but only for the downloading games and watching their best players and knowing more about them. This was seen particularly in the case of boys and they are more tilted towards sports whereas girls could be seen surfing more for watching movies. Group A students used internet more at home rather than at schools as what we found out that despite the fact that their schools had access to internet facilities they were deprived from using it at schools. More of programming, Photoshop, Ms-word was taught rather than really focusing on the e-learning courses. Sometimes they were provided with the projects that need the internet surfing but it was more a rigid work rather focused on the broadening of the horizon.

Response from Group A parents:

What we found out was the group A students parents believed that children can be academically smarter through the internet but they could see this happening in real in a very low extent. When asked about what they could see their children really doing in the internet. They said their children were using internet for science and environment science projects like: parts of plants, animals etc. Moreover they could see their children seeing the educational videos and when their children hated studying they could just download stories from the internet and just show it to them. Moreover their children used the internet for art and craft projects as well. At times their children even used it in knowing the synonyms of the words and for knowing the meaning of the words. Apart from all these majority of the parents agreed that their children were surfing nets for more for playing games rather than for academic purpose and this had been the basic problem for them as well.

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Response from Group A teachers:

We tried to take feedback from teachers of GroupA and what we really found out was that at school they were more compelled to carry out the curriculum courses and teach more of the theoretical things rather than e-learning .Moreover what was basically seen was that either the internet access were too slow in schools or they were not available for the students. More emphasis was made on the MS-Word, MS-Excel and more on programming as these were the things that SLC focused and the schools were more drawn towards test results rather than increasing or putting an effort towards overall smartness of the students.

Group B students response:

Under this category the students were not provided with the internet facilities at home or at schools. When asked about if they feel the need of it they said that the internet had no effect in their lives. In other words it made no difference. They did all their assignments from their books .They played games through the DVDs they get around the local shops and if they ever had a project they would go to the cyber to do so. According to their point of view internet doesnt have a fun aspects to them nor the whole concept of WHAT it can REALLY do.

Group B parents response:

When asked about the internet access to parents of group B ,they responded by saying that they would be really glad if the school provided the childrens with the internet facilities as th ey would be provided with something new. Most of the parents really dint care much and were neutral about the internet .Moreover they believed that internet would not make any difference in their childs life as without it as well they were getting good gr ades and believed that teachers will provide their child with whatever he/she has in the classroom itself.

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Group B teachers response:

When asked about the teachers response of the students of group B they believed that internet would assist in the childs learning but that assistance would be reflected in their grades was a big if..If the school provided with the internet facilities they would be more than happy but at the current scenario they are satisfied with whatever they have and that satisfaction comes from the fact that even the teachers at these schools were not fully aware of the benefits of the internet. They knew that if their students could access internet then it would definitely aid them in their learning but were not sure how. The teachers in this group could not explicitly state as to whether their students would be academically better off if they could have an access to the internet.

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3.1 Methodology
In our research in finding out the impact of internet on the children`s academic life we felt the need to interview three different groups, namely; students, teachers and parents. We used different techniques for all three of them as approach to all of them had to be distinct. The students were surveyed using a questionnaire which we obviously helped them with. We used one-to-one structured interview for the parents since making them fill the questionnaire wouldnt have been the perfect approach. We tried to do a focus group discussion with the parents but we could not get a significant number of parents at the same place at the same time, so we dropped the idea. Lastly, we had to use a one-to-one casual interview with the teachers as well for the same reason above. We surveyed the students of standard 4-6. We surveyed about 30 students by giving them questionnaires to fill that covered questions relating to the academic part of the students. We helped the students with the questionnaire since they we very small to understand all the questions correctly. We used 1uestionnaire because would be less costly way to reach more students, could be swiftly done and data analysis could begin right away and it would help keep away from interviewer bias, and guiding and cues that could impact the legitimacy and reliability of the data collection.

We also casually interviewed about 5 students since questionnaire setting might be too formal for the students and might restrict the students from giving genuine results. Therefore casual interview was our way to get genuine results.We asked them various questions ranging from accessibility of computer and internet to which games would they play and for how long. We also took the students to the computer lab to see their computer knowledge on finding information on the internet. This gave us a hint that children had the knowledge to go to the search engines and find information for what they are looking for. Therefore, not knowing how to use internet cannot be removed from the question of children not using internet the proper way.

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We had one to one structured interview with around 20 parents of the students who had internet access in their home. We had chosen this sample of 20 parents based on diverse income size, educational qualification and family size that was apparent to us. Surveys of these parents suggest that they buy home computers or even laptops for their children and subscribe to Internet access to provide educational opportunities and prepare for Information age. All of them were very much concerned about the influence of web on their children, as this was something they had never experienced as students in their life. Most parents were optimistic about the possibilities the Internet would provide their child with, but at the same time anxious about the stuffs they would be exposed to. After all, the Internet was a complete world on its own where their child would live free without any guidance. Many parents were really very disappointed with some of the online activities the students engaged themselves in, those activities primarily being online games and social media, especially Facebook, which has now become the de-facto among Nepalese students as the first website they view after getting connected to the Internet. The other activities parents were not quite satisfied with was the funny videos and music Internet is abundant with that has the tendency to keep students engaged in non-productive activities for hours.

The survey of the parents was made with a set of questionnaire our team had prepared to get the best insights we could. Most of the interview was made on phone by receiving permission from respective school/colleges for this research. We took these visits as opportunity to interact with the teachers and had their insights too about students using the Internet.

Among the parents we interviewed, those with children studying at primary level, seems quite excited that their children can learn more easily and conveniently through the Internet with their guidance. The parents with children at school but higher than primary level, were not quite fond of Internet, probably afraid that the Internet might introduce stuffs that their age was not appropriate for. But all agreed that the Internet definitely, if used properly, could be a personal home tutor to their children.

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The responses from all the respondents were carefully recorded and then kept for further analysis. We then carefully studied through the questionnaires filled by the students. They were recorded to draw results in the form of charts that would summarize the data.

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4.1 Results and discussion

The research we conducted on the topic aforementioned we found that internet seemed to have made no significant impact on the students academic part. The children who were sampled for the questionnaire responded more in favor of entertainment aspect as far as the usage of internet was concerned. Moreover, it was also found that the assignments that were given to the students did not majorly require the help of internet. Even the teachers did not seem to support the use of internet for doing assignments. The questionnaire survey done to the students showed that students of that age group majorly used internet for playing games. After a round of one to one casual interviews with some children we have found that the students were unaware of the actual benefits of the internet. The significance of using search engines like Google and Bing was not at all of any concern to the children majorly because of the proper knowledge. However, the time children spent using internet was pretty high, most students used internet for more than 2 hours a day.

Duration spent
2 Hours 3 Hours 10% 25% 20% 45% 4 Hours 4+ Hours

Uses of Internet
Play Games Solve Problems Facebook 12% 7% 8% 18% 55% Do Homework Listen Music

Fig. 1.2

Fig. 1.3

As shown in the figures above, the first chart depicts that 45% of our respondents enjoyed using internet for more than 3 hours a day. The duration for the age group that we chose if very high especially when nothing productive is being done with its help. Similarly, the second figure shows that 55% of the respondents sampled enjoyed playing games on the internet in comparison to 18% of students who use if for doing homework. So we can draw the conclusion that most

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students used internet for around 3 hours a day to play games on the internet that do not help in the academic development of the students. The questionnaire also had questions that concerned the parents. In our discussion with the parents, in a question asked about how they judged the usage of internet helping their children sharpen their abilities, we got a positive response from most of them. From our understanding, working parents who were obviously qualified insisted on children using internet but the scenario was completely different in the house where the parents were not that qualified. Parents who did not hold a qualification perceived computer to be a means for playing games for children, internet was more of just for e-mail. Therefore, we also got to know that parent`s educational qualification too determined the child`s usage of internet if he/she used it at all.

We also asked parents about their views on e-learning. Parents gave us the input about of it being productive for the children. Parents stated that e-learning would give a breather to the children from the bookish knowledge and also broader their horizon. In addition to that it would also keep them updated with the current technology said some of the parents. However, in order to counter-check their response we asked them if they would pay extra if e-learning was enabled in the respective schools. Consequently, we obtained mixed responses ranging from very positive to reluctant responses.

In other question where parents were asked if they noticed any apparent change in the grades after their children started using internet, we did not get any concrete data as the change in grades were not that apparent. This data would have been an important data for us to influence the final result. But had the change been significant, parents would have noticed it so in our understanding we take it to be insignificant.

The interaction with teachers of grades 4-6 was fruitful for our conclusion. They provided us with meaningful insights on the topic. Teachers when asked what they thought about internet aiding the children`s academics, most of them told us that internet could be a boon to the

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students but if only they knew how to use if properly. They agree to the fact that internet can very well aid the students but then the practice of e-learning in our conventional community is yet to lay its stone. Students tend to use internet for playing games and even social networking but there are only a handful of students whom they have come across who use internet as a source for learning and enhancing their knowledge. They suggested that this practice should come from home itself and then it can be reinforced in the school. Parents should keep a continuous check on what their children do on the internet. They should also encourage modern ways of learning so that learning for students becomes beneficial as well as enjoyable.

There were also handful limitations to this research. We could not get a group of parents to sit together and conduct a focus group discussion which would have been a great tool for us. Since this project was time bound we could not take a larger sample which might have given us different result. Lastly, due to our limited knowledge in the field of research we might have missed on some important parts of this research.

In conclusion, we have figured out that internet might be a great source for learning but that status quo does not suggest anything near to it. We did not find internet helping children enhance academic part of their lives. In our interaction with students, parents and teachers, we have come to a point where we can state that students of the selected age group use internet for entertainment purposed rather than academic learning. Hence, our research asserts that internet has limited role to play in the academic development as far as our community is concerned.

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5.1 Conclusion:
The research that we conducted provided us with almost a definite conclusion that the frequent use of internet by the children of age group 6-12 had no explicit impact on their academic progress nor it assisted them in gaining higher grades in their academic learning process. This conclusion came as a result of analyzing the response of the three groups of respondents we surveyed throughout our research project. The children that had an access to internet were found to be using it merely for entertainment purpose and that spent a whole lot of time using internet to play games, to access their face book account and to use it in any way that could entertain them and that learning academics was particularly missing in this process. Parents were optimistic about the benefits that internet would provide to their children to help them in their academics but even they were dismayed by the fact that in reality all a child does is play games and the learning part is exercised at the minimum and similar were the response of the teachers. Internet in schools provides just a minimum help for students to help them do better in their academics. Everything is viewed from a examination perspective and practical learning is absolutely missing. Hence, very prudently analyzing all of the views and responses and all the other findings that we obtained throughout this research project we come to a conclusion that Children are not academically smarter due the use of internet. Yes, internet on a childs life definitely has some serious positive impact and that children have become smarter because of internet but that smartness is not reflected in their academics or their grades. Maybe the age we are considering is far too small and that this reason has led us to come to this conclusion. All in all this research project has provided us with a NO conclusion to our research objective. Finally, it was indeed a great learning experience for all of us and that the time we spent on doing this project is really invaluable. The findings of this research is one part but the experience that we gained from conducting this research is of immense importance and that this can one day come in very handy after we face the real corporate world.

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6.1 Bibliography

Donoso, Veronica; Livingstone, Sonia; ONeil, Brian; Olafsson, Kjartan, 2012, Towards a better internet for children. Johnson, Genevieve Marie, 2010, Internet Use and Child Development: The Techno Micro-system, Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Vol10, pg 32-43. Boicca, Frank; Eye Alexandar vo, Jackson, Linda A., 2003, Children and Internet Use: Social, Physical and Academic Consequences, American Psychological Association (APA). Becker, H. J. (2000). Who's wired and who's not? Children's access to and use of computer technology. Children and Computer Technology, The Future of Children, Vol 10(2), Fall/Winter, 44-75.

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