Assessment of the functional state of schoolchildren when using computer technology in the modern educational environment
The New Ukrainian School reform envisages further growth in the educational process using new information and computer technologies. However, modern computer technology is characterized by small display sizes, the combination of a display and keyboard (monoblock), the inability to change the distance from the eyes to the screen, and the inability of pupils to maintain an optimal working posture. These technical features of the devices determined the need to evaluate them and study functional changes in the body of the child working with them, as well as to substantiate the hygienic requirements for the safe use of various types of computer equipment in the educational process.
Since 2012, the scientists of the Laboratory of the Safety of Children’s Population Vital Functions have been studying the peculiarities of forming the working posture of middle school pupils while working with personal computer equipment (hereinafter – PCE) with a TFT screen: a netbook (hereinafter – NB) with a built-in keyboard (screen diagonal 9 inches); a tablet (hereinafter – PT) with a virtual keyboard and touch screen (screen diagonal 10.1 inches), as well as the dynamics of the main indicators of the visual, cardiovascular, and nervous systems of schoolchildren under the influence of visual-motor load.
It has been established that work with NB and PT in almost 100 % of cases leads to the formation of a forced “front” working posture, characterized by a significant forward tilt of the head and torso and causing unfavorable conditions for visual work. In addition, there was a substantial deviation from the optimal values of the angles of knee joints flexion, angle of chest, head angle, and line of sight. The distances from the eyes to the center of the screen, from the edge of the work surface to the pupil’s body, and from the pupil’s torso to his(her) elbows all had unphysiological values. The forced working posture of pupils was observed both when reading texts (visual work) and when typing texts manually (visual-motor work). It was found that the percentage of pupils with suboptimal working posture when working with PT was significantly higher than among children who worked with NT. It was proved that reading from the screen of the NB causes visual fatigue in half of the children surveyed, and typing using the built-in keyboard causes visual fatigue in 57% of boys and 59% of girls. After reading from the PT screen, visual fatigue was recorded in 53% of boys and 41% of girls.
The analysis of the cardiovascular system’s response to exercise showed that the process of reading texts from the screen of the NB (72.4%) and PT (65.4%) was accompanied by a significant slowdown in heart rate. Typing texts on the NB caused an increase in the number of heartbeats in 62.1% of boys. In half of the surveyed pupils, work using the NB, regardless of gender, caused mental fatigue. Reading educational texts from the screen of the PT caused the development of severe fatigue, mainly in girls (41.2%), and in boys, we noted the first signs of fatigue (6.7%) and severe fatigue (13.3%). The typing of educational texts further contributed to fatigue in 6.9% of boys and 17.6% of girls.
The results of a comprehensive study of the physiological, hygienic, and psychophysiological reactions of children’s bodies to visual and visual-motor stress using portable computer technology made it possible to determine the degree of such impact and scientifically substantiate the hygienic requirements for safe conditions for children’s health for their use in the educational process and to develop a draft Sanitary Regulation for different types of learning tools in 2024.
Head of the Laboratory of the Safety of Children’s Population Vital Functions,
Doctor of Sciences (Medicine) Alina PLATONOVA
State Institution «Marzieiev Institute for Public Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine»
(date of publication on the website 19.09.2024)