research-article

Eight-Year-Olds' Conceptions of Computer Viruses: A Quantitative Study

Authors:

Tereza Hannemann,

Tereza Stárková,

Kristina Volná,

Kateřina Kačerovská,

Cyril BromAuthors Info & Claims

WiPSCE '19: Proceedings of the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education

Article No.: 2, Pages 1 - 7

https://doi.org/10.1145/3361721.3361726

Published: 23 October 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Many eight-year-olds use mobile devices. These devices can be attacked by computer viruses, with possible, serious consequences for device owners. Eight-year-olds do not always learn in schools about the concepts of computer viruses and protection against them, but they may still have everyday conceptions about these concepts: acquired outside schools. However, little is known about whether or not children have these everyday conceptions, and if so, how elaborate they are. This study explores these conceptions among 58 second graders from the Czech Republic, who were not taught about computer viruses in school. The children were interviewed, their correct conceptions were quantitatively scored, and their incorrect notions were noted. The results showed that children had few incorrect notions; however, their understanding was generally low and patchy. Approx. 1/3 of the children knew about the existence of software updates, but -- and this is especially worrying -- almost none of them knew about antiviruses. On a practical level, the results support the idea that the topic of computer viruses should be taught early at the primary education level. On a theoretical level, within cognitive constructivism frameworks, the results indicate that children's understanding has to be developed from scratch rather than by means of reconstructing and/or elaborating already held conceptions (because children appear to bring few prior conceptions to school, neither correct nor incorrect ones).

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Cited By

Thomas MElmore EChavez BRuth RAvery CCukier MCateté VMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Equitable Access to Cybersecurity Education: A Case Study of Underserved Middle School StudentsProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653581(625-632)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653581
Löbel ASalmen FMeyer USchroeder U(2023)Behind the Screens: The Security & Privacy Advice Landscape of Children in Grades 5 & 6Proceedings of the 18th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3605468.3609766(1-2)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605468.3609766
Brom CHannemann TTetourová TDrobná AKopáňková NVolná KKačerovská KDěchtěrenko FJežek PStárková T(2023)Eight-year-olds’ naïve and acquired knowledge about computer viruses: a mixed methods studyInternational Journal of Technology and Design Education10.1007/s10798-023-09847-534:3(903-938)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-023-09847-5
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Eight-Year-Olds' Conceptions of Computer Viruses: A Quantitative Study
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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WiPSCE '19: Proceedings of the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education

October 2019

127 pages

ISBN:9781450377041

DOI:10.1145/3361721

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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GI: Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.
University of Glasgow: University of Glasgow

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 October 2019

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Refereed limited

Funding Sources

Charles University
Grantová Agentura, Univerzita Karlova

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WiPSCE'19

WiPSCE'19: 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education

October 23 - 25, 2019

Scotland, Glasgow, Uk

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WiPSCE '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 23 of 43 submissions, 53%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 104 of 279 submissions, 37%

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Cited By

Thomas MElmore EChavez BRuth RAvery CCukier MCateté VMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Equitable Access to Cybersecurity Education: A Case Study of Underserved Middle School StudentsProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653581(625-632)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653581
Löbel ASalmen FMeyer USchroeder U(2023)Behind the Screens: The Security & Privacy Advice Landscape of Children in Grades 5 & 6Proceedings of the 18th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3605468.3609766(1-2)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605468.3609766
Brom CHannemann TTetourová TDrobná AKopáňková NVolná KKačerovská KDěchtěrenko FJežek PStárková T(2023)Eight-year-olds’ naïve and acquired knowledge about computer viruses: a mixed methods studyInternational Journal of Technology and Design Education10.1007/s10798-023-09847-534:3(903-938)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-023-09847-5
Tsarava KNinaus MHannemann TVolná KMoeller KBrom C(2020)Fostering Knowledge of Computer Viruses among ChildrenProceedings of the 20th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3428029.3428033(1-9)Online publication date: 19-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3428029.3428033

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