Computers are taking mathematics into the next century : gender differences in attitudes of secondary mathematics students to the use of computers

Secondary students who participated in a computer enhanced mathematics program expressed positive attitudes about the use of computers. They viewed computers as a source of pleasure, success, relevance and/or power in mathematics. Girls were more likely than boys to qualify their support for the use of computers and more likely to view computers as a source of success in mathematics. Boys were more likely to claim that computers brought pleasure or relevance to mathematics learning

Mathematics, computers in mathematics, and gender: public perceptions in context

In Australia, national tests of mathematics achievement continue showing small but consistent gender differences in favor of boys. Societal views and pressures are among the factors invoked to explain such subtle but persistent differences. In this paper we focus directly on the beliefs of the general public about students’ learning of mathematics and the role played by computers, and then we compare the findings with data previously gathered from students. Although many considered it inappropriate to differentiate between boys and girls, gender based stereotyping was still evident

The Perceptions of Elementary School Aged Children, Grades Four through Six, on Traditional Masculine and Feminine School Subjects

The purpose of this study was to determine what school subjects elementary school aged children perceived as more masculine and feminine. A researcher-developed survey was used to obtain students’ perceptions and attitudes regarding a variety of school subjects and areas. The subjects for this study were 300 elementary school boys and girls, grades four through six from both urban and suburban school districts. The surveys were given to various elementary school teachers to administer to their students, which the students were required to complete and return to the teacher. Once these surveys were completed and returned to the researcher, the results were tallied and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. For the purpose of this study, the perceptions of what school subjects boys and girls grade four through six deemed as more masculine and feminine were indicated in terms of perceived ability levels. The results of this study indicated that, in terms of perceived ability levels, by grade six, students believed that boys and girls were predominantly equal at mathematics and social studies. Results indicated that boys were believed to more capable in science and physical education and girls were believed to be more capable in the areas of reading, writing, and music. It seemed that each gender believed themselves to be best in art; in the area of library, attitudes varied between girls being more adept and neither boys nor girls being more adept. The area of computers also had differing views, but by sixth grade, it was essentially believed that neither gender was more capable then the other. However, when ranking the importance of school subjects, it seemed that boys, grades four through six, tended to place mathematics, science, and physical education as the most important school subjects. Girls, grades four through six, typically placed reading, writing, art, and music as the most important school subjects. The areas of social studies and computers were of little interest to students at these grade levels, as these two areas were placed very low in the ranking

Some gender issues in educational computer use: results of an international comparative survey

In the framework of the Computers in Education international study of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), data have been collected concerning the use of computers in 21 countries. This article examines some results regarding the involvement of women in the implementation and use of computers in the educational practice of elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary education in participating countries. The results show that in many countries computer use in schools is dominated by men. Female teachers have less regard for their skills and knowledge than their male colleagues have for their own skills and knowledge. In all countries (except for the French-speaking countries) less than half of the schools had a special policy for the promotion of equal opportunities for boys and girls with regard to computer use. This school policy mostly consists of retraining a female teacher to become a computer science teacher, or a female teacher being selected as computer coordinator

Students’ views about computer use: Interviews with 8th graders

We aimed to explore 8th grade students’ computer use in this research. We carried out the research at Yaşar Doğu Elementary School in Kavak, a district of Samsun province in Turkey. We implemented semi-structured interviews to collect the data. We selected our sample from among volunteers of 3 different classes, striving to select students with different characteristics. Our study group consisted of 3 girls and 4 boys. We recorded interviews with a video camera. We found that students have Internet access in the home; they learn to use computers from their family members and relatives; they think computers positively affect their social lives; they mostly use computers on recreational days; they mostly use computers for fun, although they also do homework and online assignments with computers and the Internet; they do not follow any electronic media or publications; and they think that only their mothers lack knowledge about computers among the family members.We aimed to explore 8th grade students’ computer use in this research. We carried out the research at Yaşar Doğu Elementary School in Kavak, a district of Samsun province in Turkey. We implemented semi-structured interviews to collect the data. We selected our sample from among volunteers of 3 different classes, striving to select students with different characteristics. Our sample consisted of 3 girls and 4 boys. We recorded interviews with a video camera. We found that students have Internet access in the home; they learn to use computers from their family members and relatives; they think computers positively affect their social lives; they mostly use computers on recreational days; they mostly use computers for fun, although they also do homework and online assignments with computers and the Internet; they do not follow any electronic media or publications; and they think that only their mothers lack knowledge about computers among the family members

Perceptions of technology : a Malaysian primary education perspective : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University

Malay language throughoutThis study investigates the perceptions of technology held by Malaysian in primary education. In particular, the study looks into students' understandings of and attitudes towards technology. The study was carried out with 521 primary students, 272 girls and 249 boys, and 28 of their teachers in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. A case study design, using a measure of student perceptions of technology consisting of a writing/drawing activity, a picture quiz, and a technology questionnaire, teacher interviews and curriculum content analysis was employed in this study. The findings from this study show that students' understandings of technology are low. Like the findings obtained elsewhere, students associate technology with products, especially high-tech products and electrical appliances. A comparison by gender, however, shows that there is significant difference in the understanding of technology between boys and girls. Meanwhile, in the comparison related to ethnicity, native students' understandings of technology are slightly lower than those of non-native students. In the comparison by location, the findings show that rural students tend to associate technology with building and low-tech products, while urban students tend to associate technology with computers. Malaysian students' attitudes towards technology, however, are positive. This finding parallels findings obtained in Australia, England, New Zealand and elsewhere. Comparison by gender, ethnicity and location shows that there is no apparent difference between boys and girls and between urban and rural students interest in technology. However, native students are more interested in technology as compared to non-native students, while urban students are more positive about the social aspects of technology. This view about technology among students corresponds to the views held by teachers and as stated in the technology curriculum documents

Digitalized story making in the classroom : a social semiotic perspective on gender, multimodality and learning

The article takes the case of pupils in a fifth-year primary school class (10-11 years old) who use text and pictures in their creative writing on the classroom computers. The study confirms what the research literature indicates, that girls show more interest than boys in writing and storytelling, while boys show greater interest than girls in using computer technology. Social semiotics is used as a theoretical basis for analysing the connection between these differences and relating them to what girls and boys learn. In a social semiotic perspective, learning can be related to the experience of the difference between what we intend to express and what we actually manage to express or mean. In the article, it is argued that social semiotics provides a theoretical basis for asserting that the girls in this case learn more than the boys because they associate themselves with the signs they use through more choices than the boys. The girls, we could say, put their own mark on the signs by coding or creating them themselves while the boys tend more to choose ready-made signs. Ready-made signs require fewer choices than the signs we make or code ourselves. Fewer choices means less experience of the difference between what we wish to mean and what we actually mean, and hence less learning. A pedagogical consequence of this is that boys may be better served by having online work with multimodality of expression organised in such a way that it combines as far as possible the use of ready-made signs with signs they code or create themselves

Children\u27s Video Usage: A Comparative Study of Nine to Eleven-Year-Olds Living in London and New York

The goal of this cross-cultural study identifies which video and non-video related activities are selected by nine-to-eleven year old children living in New York and London, England. Four hundred children were surveyed and interviewed about their television and VCR viewing habits and their use of computers and computer/video games as well their after-school, non-video activities. A uses-gratifications approach provides a general framework for the analyses of the data. These data show that there is a complex interplay between children\u27s activity choices and the occupational status of the child\u27s parents, the child\u27s race/ethnicity, gender, ecological environment, family structure and social structure. Some of the more significant findings show: (1) Children watch TV for approximately two hours and twenty minutes each day. Their viewing threshold is approximately three hours. (2) Ownership and usage of bedroom TVs is positively associated with the amount of time children spend watching TV. (3) Boys are more likely to own and use computers and computer/video games than are girls. Boys are also more likely to watch cartoons than are girls. The content of these TV programs and software items appear to be more gratifying for boys than for girls. (4) There is virtually no relationship between children\u27s reading level and the amount of time children watch TV and the kinds of TV programs they watch. However, children who read for pleasure and own computers are more likely to have high reading levels than are children who do not read and do not own computers. (5) New Yorkers are much more likely to own nearly every kind of video hardware and software than are Londoners. (6) Occupational status is not consistently associated with video hardware and software ownership. High-status parents are more likely to own computers than are low-status parents, but low-status parents are more likely to place TVs in their children\u27s bedrooms. In New York, VCR ownership is positively related to occupational status. In London, VCR ownership is negatively related to occupational status

An examination of sex differences in computing behaviour and intentions to enrol in a computer studies course using the Fishbein-Ajzen and self-efficacy models : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

This study aimed to investigate sex differences in secondary school students' intentions to enrol in a computer studies course, and in the relative contributions of the attitudinal and normative components of the Fishbein-Ajzen model and self-efficacy expectations, to explaining variance in these intentions. Sex differences in other dimensions of computing behaviour were also examined. The study also provided the opportunity to test both the Fishbein-Ajzen and Self-Efficacy models per se. Participants were 363 Form 5 students attending seven schools (two single-sex male, two single-sex female, three co-educational) in the lower half of the North Island. The high school students were administered two questionnaires during the two separate phases of the study, measuring Fishbein-Ajzen (1980) model constructs, self-efficacy expectations, past computing behaviour, demographic variables and an estimate of ability. Results unexpectedly revealed that girls' behavioural intentions to enrol in a computer studies course were not significantly lower. In fact, girls were slightly more likely than boys to express intentions to enrol in computer studies courses when assessed at Phase 2. No significant sex differences emerged in the relative contributions of the attitudinal and normative components of the Fishbein-Ajzen model and self-efficacy expectations to intentions. In contrast, strong sex differences in the expected direction were found in access to computers in general including access to home computers. Boys also used computers more frequently, had more past computing experience and higher levels of computing self-efficacy expectations. The results of the present study provided empirical support for both the Fishbein-Ajzen model as well as for self-efficacy theory. However the independent contributions of two variables external to the Fishbein-Ajzen model to explaining the variance in behavioural intentions, were inconsistent with the Fishbein-Ajzen model. The failure to find predicted sex differences in behavioural intentions was discussed in light of a number of possible explanations. The importance of intervention efforts based on countering traditional views about women's occupational role was highlighted. Results were also discussed in terms of their relationship to previous studies and the adequacy of some of the measures used. Finally some suggestions for future research were offered

Attitudes Toward Computer Use and Gender Differences Among Kuwaiti Sixth-Grade Students

Because computer use become more and more important in the educational environment, the attitudes of students toward computer may play an important role in their learning success. This study investigated the attitudes toward computers and gender differences of sixth-grade Kuwaiti students and examined the relationships between students attitudes toward computers and school, motivation/persistence, study habits, empathy, creative tendencies, and achievement in the Informatics field. The Computer Attitude Questionnaire (CAQ), translated from the English into Arabic Language for this study, was originally developed by Knezek and Miyashita for the Texas Center for Educational Technology (University of North Texas). The CAQ was administered to a random cluster sample of 10 public middle schools: (5 boys and 5 girls schools), with a total of 562 students, (265 boys and 297 girls), in the State of Kuwait during the academic year 1999-2000. The pilot test was conducted to calculate the reliability with Cronbachs alpha = .87 for the CAQ Arabic version. This study found positive attitudes toward computer use (mean = 3.31 on 4-point Likert-scale); however, girls had significantly more positive attitudes toward computers (mean = 3.36) than did boys (mean = 3.26). It also found statistically significant correlations between attitudes toward computers and school (r. = .149), motivation/persistence (r. = .459), study habits (r. = .371), empathy (r. = .308), creative tendencies (r. = .530), and achievement in the Informatics field (r. = .201). A statistically significant gender difference was found in the correlations between attitudes toward computers and empathy. Girls had a stronger correlation (r. = .405) than boys (r. = .215). This study also found that students who use computers at home (mean = 3.40) have more positive attitudes toward computers than did students who do not (mean = 3.22). The main conclusion of the current study is that students like to use computers, therefore, the researcher suggests that computer should be introduced for the students in the classrooms environment and to be integrated into the curriculum of all subject areas