What are the benefits and drawbacks of children's computer usage in the preschool and early school years?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: The majority of 2- to 4-year-olds have used a computer at one time or another, with more than one-third doing so regularly—from once a week to every day. Because computers can have rich educational benefits, most early childhood classrooms include computer-learning centers. Computer literacy and math programs, including online storybooks, expand children's general knowledge and encourage diverse language, literacy, and arithmetic skills. Kindergartners who use computers to draw or write produce more elaborate pictures and text, make fewer writing errors, and edit their work as much as older children do. With adult support, simplified computer languages that children can use to make designs or build structures introduce them to programming skills, which in turn promote problem solving and metacognition.
Children also use computers for game playing. Games designed for young children generally have specific educational goals, including literacy, math, science, colors, and other concepts. But on the whole, TV and game media are rife with gender stereotypes and violence.