How Gifted Primary School Children in New Zealand Use Interactive Media Results of a National Parents Survey Author:

: Angela Blachnitzky, 2010

Abstract
This article presents results of a national survey amongst parents of gifted children in New Zealand. The purpose of this survey was to investigate gifted primary school childrens interactive media usage. Questions included general information about the surveyed children and their media access, perception of parents on benefits of online applications, current and past online application usage and parents interactive media usage at home. Survey results showed that online social networks are successful spaces, in which gifted children interact with other children and engage in activities together, even if the activities do not address higher order thinking skills. Gifted children research topics of personal interest on Google, Wikipedia or Youtube. Within Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) they like the challenge and competition with others. Hereby they improve hand-eye coordination or use games in order to relax. For a minority of children computer play caused addictive behaviour and moodiness.

Introduction
Interactive applications are theoretically able to influence the developmental process of a gifted child in a beneficial way. Theories from well-known scholars in the field suggest that nurturing through environmental provision is able to have positive impact on a gifted child. It is a requirement for the design of an interactive application to make the enrichment activity as appealing as possible, so that the children are more likely to use them and benefit from them,

because needs, interests and personality traits of the individual child determine which of the environmental stimuli will receive their attention (Gagn, 2008). A national parents survey about how gifted primary school children in New Zealand use interactive media, such as video games and websites, was originally conducted in December 2008 as part of a Masters of Design project through the Institute of Communication Design at Massey University. The survey was conducted in order to find out how interactive applications that appeal to gifted children are designed. Retrieved data was analysed in 2009, and findings were used to design a prototype online application for gifted children. Hereby the survey served as an initial investigation and was not the main focus of the thesis. Because only a few survey questions that were meaningful for the development of the prototype application were mentioned in the thesis, this article now aims to make the whole survey available to a wider audience. Not all gifted children are identified as such, partly because of insufficient testing procedures, but even more, because there is no requirement for all children to be tested. Those children who were referred for tests were most often not referred due to outstanding academic performance, but rather because of difficulties and behavioural issues (Silverman, 2009). Therefore in this article the term non-identified children is used in order to describe children from the whole population who were not yet tested or not closer specified. To use the term average children would be wrong, because it is very likely that within the population of nonidentified children there will be gifted children as well. Another reason for not using the term average is that it might have negative connotations for some people.

Methods
In December 2008, an online survey was conducted in order to find out how gifted primary school children in New Zealand are using interactive media. Survey information was

emailed to recognised New Zealand institutes for gifted children. Those institutions forwarded the survey information to their registered parents. Conducting the survey online was considered appropriate, because recognised New Zealand institutes for gifted children reported that the majority of their registered parents have email and Internet access. The survey was addressed to parents rather than children in order to get their opinion on the benefits of interactive applications, and because parents are able to retrace their childrens media habits from early childhood onwards. Another reason to address parents is that it would be difficult to retrieve meaningful information from first and second graders if their writing skills are not yet mature. At the close of data collection 95 parents had completed the online questionnaire. Two responses proved to be irrelevant, so 93 responses were used for descriptive analysis in 2009. Some 73 females (79 percent) and 19 males (20 percent) responded. One participants gender was unknown. The gender distribution between the participants gifted children was 35 girls (38 percent) and 58 boys (62 percent), aged between five and 13 years. This ratio represents the general gender ratio of children who are referred for assessments to find out if they are gifted, which are 61 percent boys and 39 percent girls from within the general New Zealand population of 52 percent male and 48 percent female (Cathcard, 2009). The most statistically significant responses in this study concerned children aged six to eleven years, with at least four children each per age and gender. Survey questions were divided into the following categories: General information about the surveyed children and their media access: closed-ended questions about age, gender, favourite activities and media access at home, and openended questions about their specific domain of giftedness and how it was identified

were asked to identify patterns in the students choice of interactive applications in relationship to those aspects and to pin down constraints for this research. Perception of parents on benefits of interactive applications: open-ended questions were asked to elicit the respondents own perceptions about what features make those applications appropriate for the advanced development of gifted children. Current interactive application usage: open-ended questions were asked to identify online and offline gaming and non-gaming applications and their purpose of use. Past online applications usage: open-ended and closed-ended questions were asked to determine the starting age of children pursuing different online activities and to identify multiplayer game sites. Parents interactive media usage at home: closed-ended questions were asked about parents media habits in order to find relationships between child and parent media usage. As an option parents could provide their email address in order to receive findings of this study after completion of this research. Those data were listed in a different file in order to ensure anonymity of the participants.

Results
General Information About the Surveyed Children and their Media Access Favourite Activities The researcher intended to gather data that would allow conclusions to be drawn regarding links between media choices and intelligences. Therefore a question about the childrens favourite activities was asked in order to determine childrens intelligences. However, most children liked more than one activity and preferred many different

combinations of activities, so that media choices could not easily be linked back to different intelligences. The childrens favourite activities were grouped in the following way based on Gardners (1999) multiple intelligences concept: Verbal/linguistic intelligence (reading, writing, speaking) Logical/mathematical skills (working with numbers, science) Spatial/artistic skills (painting, drawing, building) Musical intelligence (making music, listening to music) Bodily/kinaesthetic skills (sports and dance) Interpersonal/social intelligence (working and interacting with others).

Gardners most recent version of his multiple intelligences concept consists of nine different intelligences. However, in the survey only six of them were taken into account, because a question put to parents aiming to indicate if their children had a high level of intrapersonal, natural or existentialist intelligence, was found to be too difficult to answer meaningfully.

Your childs favourite activities: different combinations

Figure 1: different combinations of favourite activity areas.

The most favourite activity across both genders was verbal/linguistic followed by spatial/artistic. The least favourite activity across both genders was interpersonal/social

working and interacting with others. Boys liked maths a lot more than sports and music. Girls liked music more than sports and maths.

Your childs favourite activities: answers

Figure 2: favourite activity areas across boys and girls, percentage of children.

Domain of Giftedness Similar to the previous question, data was sought about how the domain of giftedness might relate to differences in interactive media choices. To this end, parents were asked to list their childrens domain of giftedness, and state how this has been assessed. However, the data was compromised because of differences between assessments and their non-comparable results, the fact that several children had not yet been formally assessed, and because only 60 percent of the parents answered this question. Some parents stated for example results identified by standardised tests and educational psychologists, such as verbal problem

solving, general intellectual ability, phonemic awareness, working memory capacity; while others mentioned school subjects such as math, reading and spelling. Several parents mainly described play observations, such as makes brillant and complex lego, sorts and sequences information, e.g. knew all the Pokemon, their powers, their names when they transformed or provided vague answers such as high P.A.T. results. A more specific list of possible domains of giftedness to choose from might have helped to retrieve more meaningful results for this question.

Technographic Data: Interactive Media Usage at Home The gifted children in this study had access to a variety of interactive media at home, but the computer was by far the most accessible device (97 percent) compared to other devices like game player (32 percent), hand-held player (18 percent) and cell phone (22 percent). It is not expected that those numbers will change dramatically within the future, because children usually do not have access to expensive, cutting-edge technology in the same way as adults in the business and professional sector. They use computers that have been handed down by parents and siblings, and this involves no or less cost compared with buying games or handheld players (Nielsen and Gilutz, 2002).

What interactive media does your child use at home?

Figure 3. Interactive media accessible at home, percentage of children.

Time Spent with Interactive Media at Home Time spent with interactive media at home was gender, not age, specific and a number of children had their interactive media time regulated by parents. Time spent with interactive media on weekdays was in general lower than on weekends or holidays. The average/median interactive media time on weekdays was one hour per day, while the average weekend and holiday media time was 1.7 hours per day. In general, boys spent more time with interactive media than girls. Boys spent 1.2 hours per weekday with interactive media, compared to girls 0.6 hours. The average time boys spent with interactive media per weekend or holiday day was 1.9 hours, compared to girls 1.2 hours.

On average, how many hours per day does your child currently spend in front of computers, video games and websites? comparison between weekday and weekend/ holiday day

Figure 4: boys/girls interactive media usage at home, hours per weekday and weekend/ holiday day.

On average, how many hours per day does your child currently spend in front of computers, video games and websites? weekday

Figure 5: interactive media hours weekdays per day, percentage of children.

On average, how many hours per day does your child currently spend in front of computers, video games and websites? weekend/ holiday day

Figure 6: interactive media hours weekends/ holidays per day, percentage of children.

Play Time with Friends Yewchuk (1999) describes that gifted children are more at danger of becoming socially isolated, because it is harder for them to find intellectual peers within the same age group. Even if it might be harder for gifted children to find intellectual peers, and they might sometimes feel alienated because they are ahead of everyone else in class, within this study there was no indication that gifted primary school children in New Zealand were redlined in general, or had problems finding children to play with after school. Only ten percent never played with other children after school, but in contrast, twelve percent played daily with other children after school. It is possible that the numbers of children in after-school care could skew this statistic about after-school playtime with other children, because it was not asked how many of those children were in after-school care while playing with other children. However, as a method to promote social adjustment, Porter (2005) recommends that gifted children should be placed with intellectual peers, in order to increase the quality of playtime rather than the amount of play dates. She reported that an extreme sense of feeling different from others, even from family members, is often experienced by gifted children. High demands and misunderstandings of other children, as well as incompatibility of their play styles hinder gifted children to belong to groups or have lots of friends. In this study it was not closer specified if the playmates were also gifted children. On average, children from this study played with non-identified friends after school 1.9 times per week. Children who played with friends after school more often were generally interested in working and interacting with others. It was assumed that children who played more often with friends would spend less time with interactive media, but this assumption proved to be wrong: these children spent a similar amount of time on interactive media as children who were not playing so often with friends.

How often does your child play with other children after school?

Figure 7: after school playtime with friends, percentage of children.

Interactive Media Usage with Friends Some 31 percent stated that if friends were visiting, interactive media was never used, while 35 percent said media was used seldomly, 29 percent said often, and three percent always. Five percent did not state anything. Children who used interactive media more often were found in general to also use it more often together with friends. Children who spent no time with interactive media in general played with friends with interactive media less often or never.

During play with other children after school, how often are computers, video games and websites used?

Figure 8: media usage together with friends, percentage of children.

Media Rules at Home While most families had rules about time spent on interactive media (76 percent) and games or websites (70 percent) children could use, or rules about age appropriateness (59 percent), only a few (6 percent) had no rules. Some parents mentioned other rules, including no personal information to be given (5 percent), using the computer only under parental supervision (6 percent), accessing interactive media only if homework or other duties were fulfilled (7 percent), taking turns with siblings (4 percent), asking for permission before going on the computer (3 percent), and running a virus check before using the computer (1 percent).

What rules do you have in place for your child to use computers, video games and websites?

Figure 9: interactive media rules at home, percentage of children.

Perception of Parents on Benefits of Interactive Applications Data was retrieved on specific questions concerning interactive media and their usefulness for the development of gifted children. The vast majority of parents listed benefits, such as providing a challenging and competitive environment, relaxation and recreation, learning functions on the computer or topics of their interest, improved hand-eye coordination and mental stimulus. A few parents of children whose preferred activities included the spacial/artistic category said their children were not interested in interactive computer games, but instead preferred drawing with pen and paper, or physically making things. A small number of parents stated that they believed that interactive media was not very beneficial for their childrens development in general. Most of those parents who mentioned detriments did not like computers themselves and referred to them as prescribed entertainment. Others complained about mood issues after playing on the computer and addictive behaviour. Data was also gathered on the features an ideal application would have. Many parents requested that ideal applications should be educational and fun, provide different levels and be age appropriate. A list of ideal examples, provided by parents, can be found in the appendix.

It was surprising that no parent found video games and online applications that focused mainly on addressing social needs helpful for their childs development. Even parents whose children never played with other children after school desired both educational and social opportunities for their children. This could be due to parents wanting to compensate a lack of enrichment within the regular classroom. The parents may not be aware of the social potential of virtual worlds (Seiter, 2005), or they might be afraid that their children would be unsafe while socialising online with strangers (F-Secure, 2008; Center for the Digital Future, 2008). Also, parents may not consider social networking as relevant for the surveyed age group. There may also be some reluctance amongst parents for their children to be using a computer to socialise, rather than experiencing the benefits of direct contact with their friends.

What needs should video games and websites address, in order to be helpful for your childs development?

Figure 10: needs that should be addressed in interactive applications, percentage of parents.

Current Media Usage

Successful gaming websites The majority of gifted childrens most popular gaming websites seem to be popular sites in general. The list of the 11 most popular gaming websites contained seven successful Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). The possibility of engaging in activities together with others and competing against others might make those websites very attractive to gifted children. Even if consumerism is the dominating theme in those virtual worlds, social activities, customisation of avatars and surroundings, as well as various gaming options seem to provide a suitable virtual environment for their interests. The child-centred design of those websites might be as appealing to gifted children as to non-identified children. The survey also provided a list of games, which were addressing higher order thinking skills a lot more than some of the popular sites, but because different children preferred different games, those games were just listed once and therefore they did not show up in the survey popularity ranking. You can find a list of those sites in the appendix.

Please list three websites, which your child currently uses for gaming activities most often

Figure 11: Eleven most popular gaming websites, percentage of gifted children who used them.

Popular Non-Gaming Websites Popular non-gaming websites were Google (38 percent), Wikipedia (27 percent) and YouTube (19 percent).

Please list three websites, which your child currently uses for non-gaming activities most often

Figure 12: Most popular non-gaming websites, percentage of gifted children who used them.

Why Children Used Non-gaming Websites Because of the advanced interests and development of gifted children it could be assumed that they would be using the Internet more like adults than like non-identified children. The Internet makes it possible for students to research topics of interest that are not usually covered at school. According to a study by Nielsen and Gilutz (2002), children who use the web for information are in the minority. In contrast, the majority of gifted children in this study used the full potential of the Internet. They used non-gaming websites for information, mainly for their personal interests, and less for homework.

For which purposes is your child using those non-gaming websites

Figure 13: gifted childrens purpose for using non-gaming websites, percentage of children.

Past Media Usage Age of the Children when Interactive Media Activities Began Websites for children were first used on average at the age of 5.5 years. The youngest user has been 2 years. Compared with a study by Nielsen and Gilutz (2002), in which web usability with non-identified children was tested, there is no indication that gifted children would in general start using interactive media earlier than non-identified children. Nonidentified children start accessing the Internet, usually with other family members, around the time they start elementary school (Nielsen and Gilutz, 2002). This is a surprising result, because it was assumed that, due to their advanced development, gifted children would be starting to use interactive media earlier. It would be interesting to find out if this is due to parents rules and limitations, a lack of knowledge about possible appropriate sites, or due to any other reasons. Google or other search engines were first used on average at 6.4 years. The youngest user had been 3 years. Online games with unknown others were first played on average at 7.6 years. The youngest user had been 3 years. An email was first sent on average at 6.6 years.

The youngest email user had been 3 years. Data was first uploaded/posted on the Internet on average at 7.9 years. The youngest user had been 5 years. Own websites were first set up on average at the age of 7.5. The youngest user had been 6 years. Chatting with a friend via Instant Messaging began on average at the age of 8.3 years. The youngest chat user had been 4 years.

How old was your child when they first did the following activities online without someone elses help

Figure 14: gifted childrens average age and youngest age when media activities were first used.

Parents Involvement in Interactive Media Usage Parents were engaging with their children on the computer on average every 4.8 days (equivalent to 1.4 times per week). Some eight percent of parents were engaging daily in media activities with their children, 15 percent three to four times a week, 24 percent once

weekly, 20 percent fortnightly, 22 percent monthly, and twelve percent never. If and how often a parent played with a child using interactive media seemed to be dependant on the childs age. The younger the child, the more often parents played with them.

How often do you engage in computer, video game and website activities with your child?

Figure 15: frequency of parents involvement in interactive media usage by child age.

Conclusion This survey provided a first insight into gifted childrens interactive media usage. It was interesting to find that gifted children are attracted by websites that are popular sites in general, and that they are more interested to visit non-gaming sites for their personal interests than non-identified children. Why gifted children were not using interactive media earlier than non-identified children could not fully be understood. It could also not be answered how

gifted childrens media usage relates to their domain of giftedness or intelligence, and this might be an area for further research.

References Cathcart, R. (2009, June 19). How to get gifted boys to write. [Workshop presentation]. New Plymouth, New Zealand. Center for the Digital Future (2008). 2008 Digital future project - annual Internet survey. Retrieved October, 22, 2008, from http://www.digitalcenter.org/pages/current_report.asp?intGlobalId=19 F-Secure (2008). Parents fearful for childrens safety online. Retrieved February, 14, 2009, from http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/aboutus/pressroom/news/2008/fs_news_20080325_1_eng.html Gagn, F. (2008). Building gifts into talents: Brief overview of the DMGT 2.0. Proceedings of the National conference on gifted education. Retrieved May, 11, from http://www.giftedconference2009.org/presenter_files/gagne_p12_therealnature.pdf Gardner, H. (1983, 2004). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books. Nielsen, J., & Gilutz, S. (2002). Usability of websites for children: 70 design guidelines. Retrieved July 14, 2008, from http://www.nngroup.com/reports/kids Porter, L. (2005). Gifted young children. Crows Nest: Allan & Unwin. Seiter, E. (2005). The Internet playground. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Silverman, L. (2009, June 19). What we have learned about gifted children. [Workshop presentation]. New Plymouth, New Zealand. Yewchuk, C. (1999). Learning characteristics of gifted students: Implications for instruction and guidance, Apex, The New Zealand journal of gifted education, Vol. 11/12.

Appendix List of interactive applications provided by parents WEBSITES

Bablezone french website http://www.lcfclubs.com/babelzonenew/ BBC - games with favourite characters: http://www.bbc.co.uk/children/ - english and math learning: skillswise: www.bbc.co.uk/skillwise Blues Clues http://www.nickjr.com/shows/blue/index.jhtml Club Penguin multiplayer virtual world http://www.clubpenguin.com/ Crazy Monkey games game portal http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/ Dora the Explorer http://www.nickjr.com/shows/dora/index.jhtml Funbrain educational games www.funbrain.com Jumpstart 3d virtual world http://www.jumpstart.com/ Magic School Bus scientific topics teaching http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/ Manchester University children's interactive site interactive online learning http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/ Mathletics math basic facts multiplayer game http://www.mathletics.co.nz/ Moshimonsters multiplayer virtual world, adopting a virtual monster http://www.moshimonsters.com/ Multiplication www.multiplication.com NASA interactive games http://www.nasa.gov/

National geographic kids site http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ Playhouse disney prescool program http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/index.html Pokemon games http://www.pokemon.com/ Polly Pocket http://pollypocket.everythinggirl.com/ Rainforest maths math competition based on a mathletics account http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ Runescape massive multiplayer game http://www.runescape.com/ Skies of war free action game http://www.miniclip.com/games/skies-of-war/en/ Spine world multiplayer mythical places www.spineworld.com/ Teoria music theory www.teoria.com Tutpup competition in educational topics http://www.tutpup.com/ UpToTen games and activities www.uptoten.com Webkinz plush pets online http://www.webkinz.com/us_en/ ________________________________ PC Addi Buschu/Addi Junior

German maths/reading games Age of Empires (T rating) http://www.ageofempires3.com/ Barbie Explorer Blazing Angels war game Clue finders detective edutainment software Crazy machines wacky contraptions games http://www.crazy-machines.com Dorling Kindersley CD roms - solar system - human body - world explorer Endless War free shooting game http://www.addictinggames.com/endlesswar3.html Eureka Learning media Guitar Hero III rock music Learning ladder math/ reading/ writing activities, primary school Lego video games Maths Blaster a 15 year old Macintosh based game Maths Quest Eureka multimedia Nancy Drew mystery games based on book character http://nancy-drew.mysterynet.com/ Number's up math basic facts http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/kids_learning/numbersupvolcanicpanic.htm l

Pyjama Sam point-and click adventure game http://www.download-free-games.com/kids_games_download/pajama_sam_hide.htm Putt-Putt adventure and puzzle games Reader Rabbit reading and math software Rise of Nations (T rating) commercial game, try out version available online http://www.microsoft.com/games/riseofnations/ Sim city strategic city building simulation game http://simcitysocieties.ea.com/index.php Sims strategic life simulation game http://www.ea.co.nz/sims/ Star wars lego action / shooting game Supercow arcade game http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/2134/supercow/index.html The cat in the hat educational software based on book character zoombinis logical thinking game Zoo Tycoon Business simulation game http://www.microsoft.com/games/pc/zootycoon.aspx ________________________________ XBOX Project Gotham Racing racing game Spidey and friends spiderman action game

Viva pinata life simulation game http://www.vivapinata.com/ ________________________________ NINTENDO DS Hamsterz caring for pet hamsters http://petz.uk.ubi.com/games/hamsterz/531 Professor layton and the curious village puzzle adventure game