Factors influencing skilled use of the computer mouse by school-aged children

Effective use of computers in education for children requires consideration of individual and developmental characteristics of users. There is limited empirical evidence, however, to guide educational programming when it comes to children and their acquisition of computing skills. This paper reports on the influence of previous experience and visual-motor coordination ability on computer mouse speed, accuracy and fluency of 221 five to ten year old children controlling for age and gender. Findings suggest that while speed and accuracy of mouse performance improves, as expected, with age and visual-motor proficiency, fluency appears to be influenced by task conditions and engagement. Findings are interpreted in the context of motor learning to assist in understanding the developmental pre-requisites of skilled mouse use and subsequent implications for educational programming.