Webucation

The Internet offers kids invaluable educational tools, interactive entertainment, and connection to the world

By Karen Trent

Bizarre creatures slip fluidly through the murky ocean water thousands of feet below sea level as 15-year-old Sarah joins famed explorer Bob Ballard on a deep-sea expedition. The pair is exploring the Atlantic Ocean’s “Lost City,” an underwater mountain range that is the largest physical feature on this planet.

What’s wonderful about the voyagers’ plunge is that Ballard physically has made the miraculous trip. Sarah is exploring the ocean’s depths from her family room via National Geographic video on the Internet.

Sarah and the scores of other children and teens who navigate the Internet are safe from the dangers of the deep. But unrelenting publicity surrounding the dangers of Internet usage by children has overshadowed the fact that the Internet isn’t all bad. As with many other aspects of life, what can be viewed as risky about the Internet—unfiltered information, easy access, an instant global connection—also makes it a valuable resource for children and adults alike. That’s the nature of the beast.

“Steps can be taken to minimize these risks,” says Caroline Donald, research and information officer for Young Media Australia in Adelaide, South Australia, “with education of the children themselves, parents, and teachers all being important. It is very important that adults do not use their lack of knowledge as an excuse for not being involved in what children are doing on the Internet, because there are many benefits to be shared as well as risks to be countered.”

Once they overcome their fears, many parents recognize that the Internet can unwrap a global package of knowledge for children who use it. In fact, 77 percent of parents in the United States agree that the Internet is one of the most valuable educational tools available to their children, according to a 2006 survey conducted by Common Sense Media, a California-based not-for-profit organization led by parents and individuals with experience in child advocacy, public policy, education, media, and entertainment. The same study showed that 74 percent of parents thought the Internet offered their children the best opportunities to learn and grow.

It should come as no surprise that children worldwide are taking advantage of the opportunity to play and learn using the Internet. In Canada, for example, 82 percent of parents reported that their school-aged children used the Internet, according to a 2001 Canadian Social Trend survey. And 21 percent of Canadian children between the ages of 5 and 9 and 58 percent of teens ages 15 to 18 were using the Internet from home.

The wealth of material available on the Internet is endless, which makes it virtually irreplaceable as a learning device. And equally limitless is how the Internet’s information can be experienced, especially by youth. Children with computer and Internet access, for example, can participate in interactive games, flip through virtual flashcards, work puzzles, listen to interviews, and watch cartoons and videos. A quick click can help kids learn how to better manage their health by linking them to sites offering everything from a virtual tour of the human face to interactive activities addressing girls’ health, infectious diseases, mental illness, and more.

“The Internet uses multimedia and interactivity extensively,” Donald says. “Using multimedia means you can access not only written words but also pictures, music, and sound effects. Interactivity means that the user can choose what they want to see just by the click of a mouse.”

The value of the Internet as an educational tool has not been overlooked by many Kiwanis clubs. The Kiwanis Club of Taman Tun Dr. Ismail in Selangor, Malaysia, for example, sponsors the Kiwanis Centre for Learning Disabilities, a facility that educates children who have learning disabilities and prepares them to continue their education in mainstream schools. Students range in age from 4 to 18 and suffer from Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, or mental retardation. They can enroll in a variety of classes, including computer.

Members of the Kiwanis Club of Weston, Connecticut, also have recognized the value computers and Internet access can have for children. The Weston Kiwanians contributed $15,000 to expand a computer learning facility at the nearby South End Community Center.

“With help from the Kiwanis club, we were able to upgrade to DSL and add wiring, computers, monitors, and desks for 19 computer stations,” says Timothy Bartlett, executive director for the Bridgeport YMCA, which oversees the Community Center.

Each year, hundreds of children benefit from the South End’s computer learning center. Many kids without home access to the Internet use the center’s computers to research homework projects, communicate via e-mail, and play educational games on kid-friendly Web sites. Preschool software featuring larger cursors enables young children with little fingers to learn computer skills, and teens use the equipment to type resumes and search for summer or part-time jobs.

The Weston Kiwanians mixed an awareness of technology’s importance for today’s kids with a desire to support an organization beyond the borders of their own community.

“This has given a whole new lease on life to kids who wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to work on computers,” says Reg Bowden, a past president of the Weston Kiwanis club. “It’s doing all the things we hoped it would.”

And more. By logging on to the Internet, children and teens from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Bridgewater, England, and beyond are only a mouse-click away from experiencing lands, languages, and lives that are far removed and perhaps inaccessible from their own. They can, for example, learn the word “love” in a dozen different languages. They can soak in an Ecuadorian rainforest. They can “meet” children orphaned by the tsunami on Sri Lanka’s east coast.

Kids on the Internet also can correspond instantly with a “pen-pal” thousands of miles away—or with a neighbor next door. The passionate popularity of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook shows just how much children and teens have tapped in to this trendy communication technique. In fact, 61 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds in the US have a personal profile on a social-networking site, according to a 2006 study conducted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications.

Kids have access to social-networking sites at the Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys’ & Girls’ Club in Hamilton, Ontario, and the staff has taken precautions—through strict supervision and filtering software—to ensure young computer-users stay safe while accessing social-networking or other sites. The Boys’ & Girls’ Club even is working on putting a positive spin on the oft-maligned popular sites.

“We want to turn a negative into a positive,” says Glenn Harkness, executive director of the Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys’ & Girls’ Club. “We are looking into ways to advertise our activities on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. That’s where the kids will see it.”

Internet users, including children and teens, often enjoy hooking up—virtually speaking—with other individuals who share a common interest. Members of the Kiwanis family, for example, can log on to their Kiwanis-sponsored organizations’ Web sites and connect with other members around the globe.

Kids with a heart for activism can find many ideas and avenues for action on the Internet. UNICEF’s Web site, for example, features digital diaries and the “What Young People are Saying” newsletter. Recently, a 16-year-old girl from South Africa shared the following thought with UNICEF: “Child abuse is an important issue in our society, but what we must learn is that if our own governments are not doing enough about it the youth should take means to help the victims and the possible victims. Community projects should be formulated in which confidence is built up in children, and when these projects work in more and more communities then government can be approached.”

Organizations with Web sites and a social conscience also champion children’s rights, social justice, bullying, the environment, politics, and service, to name only a few. Kids can save trees, write government leaders, lobby for legislation, and learn how to stand up to bullies. Kiwanis family members can find action opportunities on the sites of some of Kiwanis’ partners, including the Children’s Miracle Network and the March of Dimes.

No matter how many virtual miles children and teens log while traveling the Internet, they’ll never come close to touching the vast wealth of information and experiences available on this never-ending resource. And maybe that’s one reason surfing the Internet is so attractive to kids and teens who are hungry for knowledge and adventure. So, when children dive in to explore the vast unknown of the World Wide Web, parents and adults should remember that there’s treasure to be found. But it’s up to them to provide the safety net.