Digital inequity starts from kindergarten

As computer technology becomes increasingly available throughout society, Concerns have been raised about reducing the digital divide among children who are benefiting and those who are being left behind? (Light, 2001), the term digital divide is now generally defined as the difference in information technology use based on ethnicity and socioeconomic status. An extract from a long Study done by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, written by Sharon Judge and others (summer 2004) examined young children’s differential access to computers in school and home and the different conditions that affect how children use computers. The sample consists of 10,000 public school children who attended kindergarten and first grade. Lower and higher poverty schools are about equally likely to have computers available for children when they start their formal schooling. The study results suggest that the digital gap starts to widen as children move into first grade. Even though children’s access to most computer resources at school increased from kindergarten to first grade, children attending higher poverty schools had significantly fewer computers and software programs available. Young children’s use of computers in their classrooms differed by school poverty status. The study findings provide evidence that American public schools are making progress towards digital equity for all groups of students. However, the average student-to-computer ratio of 8.4 to 1 in kindergarten and 7.4 to 1 in first grades is still much higher than the recommended ratio. More effort is needed to reduce the gap. Teacher can start reducing the gap through integrating more than one tool in a classroom lesson. I think PowerPoint can do that as it has the ability to combine picture, sound, animation and text. Therefore, all students can a way to acquire new skills.
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