Computers and the Internet are used widely by children for schoolwork and to obtain information, but whether home computer use can make children "smarter" remains an open question. Nevertheless, playing specific computer games has been found to have immediate positive effects on specific cognitive skills, and use of home computers has been linked to mildly positive effects on academic performance. With narrowing of gender gap in home computer use, early fears that girls are turned off by computer technology appear unfounded.

Computer Games and the Development of Cognitive Skills

Cognitive skills are the skills associated with thinking and knowing the skills required for children to understand language and numbers, to reason and solve problems, and to learn and remember. Although the term "cognitive skills" encompasses a broad array of competencies, research on the effects of computer use on cognitive skills has focused on the development of a specific set of visual intelligence skills crucial to the use of computer technology: spatial skills, iconic (image representation) skills, and visual attention skills.

Computer applications of many kinds, and especially computer games, are designed in ways that emphasize visual rather than verbal information processing. Consider popular action games with their rapid movement, imagery, and intense interaction, plus various activities occurring simultaneously at different locations on the screen. Studies indicate that children who play such games also improve their visual intelligence skills that may provide them “training wheels" for computer literacy. Such skills may be especially useful in the fields of science and technology, where proficiency in manipulating images on a screen is increasingly important. Of course, computer game playing can enhance a particular skill only if the game uses that skill and if the child's initial skill level has matured to a certain level.

Much of the research on the cognitive impact of computer games has measured the effects of game playing only immediately after the practice and does not address questions about the cumulative impact of interactive games on learning. However, many computer games use the same skills that are tested in non-verbal (as opposed to verbal) intelligence tests. Thus, exposure to the proliferation of imagery in electronic technologies may have contributed to the selective increases in non-verbal intelligence scores during the past century.

In addition, studies of the effects of one computer-based after-school program, The Fifth Dimension, show that children who participated in the program had greater advances in reading, mathematics, achievement tests, compared with children who did not participate.

Computer Use and Academic Performance
In the early years of home computer ownership during the 1980s, Alfred Bork, a pioneer in the use of computers for instruction, suggested that "the home computer may well become the primary influence upon the educational system of the future." Since then, the rapid evolution of the personal computer has indeed broadened society's vision of computers from devices for programming and playing games, to tools for developing children's skills and motivation in academic areas such as math, science, language arts, and writing. Today, children and teens frequently use home computers and the Internet for their schoolwork, and parents generally believe that computers are an important educational resource.

Narrowing of Gender Gap in Computer Use
Boys traditionally have been heavier users of home computers than girls, mostly because of their interest in playing computer games. Some research has indicated that the gender difference in home computer use spills over to schools, with girls also lagging behind boys in the use of school computers, and even perceiving school computers to "belong more" to boys. As a result, concerns have been raised that girls may not acquire the important computer literacy skills that will keep them academically and professionally on par with males, particularly in the technology-based careers of the future. Recent data suggests, however, that as the array of non-game applications widens, the gap between the genders in the use of home computers is diminishing. Girls now reportedly use home computers as often, and with as much confidence, as boys.

The core audience for computer game systems, such as Nintendo or Sega, always has been boys between ages 8 and 14. Compared to girls, boys spend more than twice as much time per week playing computer games and are five times more likely to own a computer game system. The reason can be the difference between genders in their play preferences: boys tend to prefer pretend play based on fantasy, whereas girls tend to prefer pretend play based on reality a rare - theme for computer games, even those designed specifically for girl.

The writer is a Computer Science graduate and is currently working in Askari Information Systems, Islamabad.