Adrianna Lebrón García Leila M. Alicea Nazario CCCE Pre-College Program Inter-American University-METRO

Abstract The research consists of a questionnaire answered by students from different grades. After this investigation, we will have a more solid idea of how many time students are exposed to computers in daily life.

What is human-computer interaction? Human-computer interaction studies the interaction between persons, which will be called users in this research, and computers. HCI is often regarded as the intersection between computer science and behavioral science. HCI is also sometimes referred to as man–machine interaction (MMI) or computer–human interaction (CHI).

Problem Nowadays, children and computers interact daily. Schools promote and provide the usage of computers. Moreover, having so many social networking websites such as: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and more, children are overly exposed and tempted to use the computers for other than school. Due to this fact, children these days tend to use school work as an excuse to use different sites in the Internet for personal entertainment. For this being a normal interaction at the present day, we are intrigued by how many hours daily a child can interact with a computer, and how does it affects him or her in school work, with friends, family, etc.

Hypothesis Due to the high usage of computers, it is expected that students use computers more than an hour daily. Also, because of the high exposure of students to computers, it is expected that students tend to use more the computer for activities non-related to the school.

How was the research achieved? This research has the objective of measuring statistically student-computer interaction. The investigation considered different factors such as: age, hours on a computer on a school day, hours on a computer on a non- school day, and most common activities done in the computer. We randomly chose 120 students from St. Marys School in San Juan. They each answered the questionnaire, and then the answers were tabulated in order to post the results in charts and graphs.

Questionnaire Human-Computer Interaction Age (circle one): (1-7) (8-11) (12-15) (16-21) School: Circle the one(s) that apply to you. [NOTE: You can mark more than one.] How many hours a day do you interact with a computer during school days? (1-2) (3-5)(6-9) (10-12) (12&UP) How many hours a day do you interact with a computer in a non-school days? (1-2) (3-5) (6-9) (10-12) (12&UP) For what do you use the computer during a school day? a. School Work b. Twitter c. Facebook d. MySpace e. DisneyChannel.com f. s g. browse through the web h. Messenger (chatting) i. Other For what do you use a computer during a non-school day? a. School Work b. Twitter c. Facebook d. MySpace e. DisneyChannel.com f. s g. browse through the web h. Messenger (chatting) i. Other

Charts and Graphs Hours spent on a Computer Daily Ages

Charts and Graphs (cont.)

Results We discovered that students from every age interact daily with a computer one hour or more. Also, that students from 8 to 11 years old are the ones that interact more with computers. The study proved most people wrong thinking that older students interacted more with computers. The web site that students most interact with is Facebook. The other activity that students have the most interaction with is doing school work.

Results (cont.) Hours spent on a computer daily Ages Hours on a school dayHours on a non-school day total %76.42%17.07%6.50% 38.21%41.46%11.38%8.13%0.81%

Conclusion The hypothesis was accepted. As stated, students are highly exposed to computers daily more than an hour. Also, websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, DisneyChannel.com, among others are more popular than school work and s. Nowadays, student tend to use computers for almost everything, and this high usage is affecting, positively and negatively, the humans.

Future Work It would be interesting to keep working in this topic. We would be able to do more research, and amplify our knowledge in the science area by continuing this kind or similar type of studies. Such as: computer hardware, web browsers, computer engineering, and others.

Acknowledgements AGMUS, Student Research Development Center – SRDC Dr. Juan F. Arratia, Executive Director SRDC Prof. Evelyn Haddock, SRDC Co-IP, Inter American University Metro Area Research Mentors: Dr. Ángel Caraballo and Prof. Irma Álvarez Our group of the program at the Inter American University. St. Marys School faculty for supporting us throughout the research.

References Hewett, Baecker, Card, Carey, Gasen, Mantei, Perlman, Strong, and Verplank (1996). ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction. Human-Computer Interaction. (2010). Retrieved September 25, 2010, from er_interaction er_interaction