ERGONOMIC CULTURE OF STUDENTS AS COMPUTER USERS

The use of computer as an important educational tool throughout the world is increasing with every year and Latvian schools is no exception. Currently there are some important topical issues in pedagogy, as well as in school ergonomics: student's work posture, time spent at the computer, health friendly work organization on the computer, etc. This paper presents a pilot survey data collected in grade 5-12 (a total of 507 respondents) in several Latvian schools in the school year 2010/2011. Computer usage among school children more deviates to the side of the computer use as a tool for entertainment, thereby reducing the proportion of computer use for educational purposes. However, the total time spent on the computer is likely to increase, therefore, it is especially important to obtain high level ergonomic culture skills as a necessary condition for health friendly work organization at the computer.