There is a growing call for research into how digital technology usage during childhood contributes to shaping contemporary digital divides. To our knowledge, the current study is the first to examine ways of maximising children’s chances of developing modes of use that involve greater engagement with more advanced and creative digital activities. Drawing on our prior research identifying four distinct modes of using digital technologies in 8-year-old New Zealand children (Creative, Entertainment, Emergent and Limited), we used hierarchical logistic regression in a large sample (N = 3325) to explore the predictors of these modes of use. Several modifiable screen parenting practices associated with modes of use were identified. Collectively, these results indicate that parents can facilitate more constructive digital technology use by fostering active engagement with screens from an early age, discouraging passive screen time and environmental TV exposure, providing access to laptops or computers, implementing software controls judiciously and adhering to social media age restrictions. Socioeconomic status influenced all four modes of use, highlighting the persistence of first-order digital divides. Together our findings offer insights into how parents can support their children to develop more effective digital skills, which may go some way towards mitigating the impact of digital divides.

Qualitative research methodologies that collect data through interviews, focus groups and ethnographic studies, are valuable approaches to understand the educational experience. Participant drawings can be used as prompts to access implicit understandings and have been shown to contribute to effective data collection in related fields, but are not widely used in computing education research. We report on a case study in which sixteen New Zealand primary and secondary school digital technologies teachers were interviewed and asked to draw their ideal computing student. This case study illustrates how drawings can be used to enhance semi-structured interviews in the context of computing education. The contributions made here come in the form of a case study demonstrating the draw-a-person method in a computing education context, along with recommendations for researchers considering applying this method in their work.

A comprehensive understanding of computing has become a necessary skill for students in an increasingly digital world. Consequently, many countries around the world have updated their national pre-tertiary curriculum to include the topic of computing. However, the structure and presentation of these curricula varies greatly. This makes it difficult to compare the timing that students are exposed to computing and as a result, increases the difficulty for producing effective and well-timed educational resources that are relevant for varying implementations. This research investigates the structure of international computing curricula, identifying and comparing the timing that students are exposed to computing. This will better inform researchers and resource developers about where and when their interventions are most applicable. This will also provide valuable insights for the creation of future computing curricula, by informing curriculum designers about the perspectives of various curricula and the most common approaches they have taken.