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Elementary schools should make children fit to use digital media. A team at the University of Würzburg is developing a digital diagnostic tool to support teachers in this endeavour.
Digital Competencies in Elementary School Age, or Digit.El for short, is the name of a research project currently underway at the Chair of Elementary School Pedagogy and Elementary School Didactics at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). Under the responsibility of chair holder Sanna Pohlmann-Rother, project manager Caroline Theurer and project team member Tina Jocham are working on "conceptually sharpening, operationalising and measuring elementary digital skills at primary school age", as stated on the project homepage.
As part of the project, a special tool is also to be developed for teachers at Bavarian elementary schools, with the help of which teachers can quickly and easily record the level of learning in individual areas of digital competence in order to offer targeted support based on this.
Digital Media are Part of Everyday Life for Many Children
Why is this necessary? "The world of children of elementary school age is characterised by digital media," says Sanna Pohlmann-Rother. Researching online for homework on their older brother's PC, then meeting up with a friend on their smartphone and then quickly watching an episode of "Checker Tobi" on their tablet: This has long been part of everyday life for many children. And this also has consequences for teachers and lessons, as elementary schools are the first place where all children are trained in the use of digital media and sensitised to the dangers - as required not least by the competence framework for media education in Bavarian schools.
This poses a major challenge for teachers: when it comes to the required "digital skills", they are confronted with a huge variety: Some second-graders already have their own smartphone and are busy using Whatsapp, Tiktok and YouTube, while others in fourth grade are still subject to a strict ban on mobile phones by their parents. Dealing better with this diversity: The digital tool currently being developed by Pohlmann-Rother's team is designed to help with this.
Studies with more than 1200 Elementary School Children
The problem: "So far, there are no German-language diagnostic tools for elementary school children that capture the breadth of digital skills," says Tina Jocham. For this reason, the team initially developed a catalogue of questions and tasks for two areas of competence and used it to investigate in a series of studies how well these skills are developed in elementary school children in Germany in 2025. A good 1,200 children took part.
The term "digital skills" actually covers many different skills and activities. "How do children inform themselves when researching a certain topic? Do they know which sites they can trust and which they shouldn't?" says Tina Jocham, describing one of these skills. Do they know the difference between a public and a private profile on a messenger service? Do they know what phishing means and can they recognise a phishing email? And what about their knowledge and skills in the areas of artificial intelligence, programming and design in the digital space?
The Knowledge about Data Protection and Security is There
The researchers are investigating these and many other aspects as part of the project. They are interested in both the behavioural and the knowledge level. In a specific case, for example, they give the children the task of logging into a supposed messenger service on a tablet. The children are asked to enter a user name and password, optional personal data is requested and they can choose whether the profile should be public or private. They can also decide whether or not their login data should be saved. This is followed by a test in which they are asked about their knowledge of data protection and security.
"The evaluation of this sub-study shows that children at the end of elementary school do have knowledge in the areas of data protection and online security," says Caroline Theurer, summarising the key result. However, the results cast doubt on whether the children act accordingly or whether this knowledge is also reflected in their behaviour.
Attempts at Deception are barely Recognised
The research team conducted another study to investigate whether primary school children are able to correctly evaluate content on the internet. The most important result: "The majority of pupils were unable to solve the tasks successfully, particularly in the areas of 'deception' and 'personality interference'," explains Tina Jocham. She was not surprised by this: "Phenomena such as phishing, clickbait and bots are also challenging for young people and adults," says the researcher.
"Children need to be supported in their digital skills at an early stage and in a customised way," says Sanna Pohlmann-Rother, describing this as an important task for elementary schools. In order for teachers to fulfil this task, they need support. The diagnostic tool that is now being developed is an important aid in this regard. "Teachers can use it to recognise children at risk and plan, evaluate and support lessons according to the children's learning requirements," says the professor. The new tool thus enables elementary schools to "prepare children appropriately for a constantly changing environment".
Prof Dr Sanna Pohlmann-Rother, Chair of Elementary School Pedagogy and Elementary School Didactics, T: +49 931 31-86856, sanna.pohlmann-rother@uni-wuerzburg.de
Digitalkompetenzen von Grundschulkindern Unfassbar und vermessen?! Medienkompetenz messen. Caroline Theurer, Tina Jocham Sanna Pohlmann-Rother. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung,,https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/57/2024.04.30.X
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