Computer Experience, Gender, and Classroom Environment in Computer-Supported Writing Classes

Abstract

This experimental study explores whether, and to what extent, do differences in gender and experience with word processing affect how students perceive their classroom environment in high school writing classes. The study was conducted in thirty-four classrooms and includes data from 951 students. The experimental group was comprised of twenty-four writing classes implementing an instructional approach to writing through computer-supported instruction. Ten classes which did not use computers in their writing classes served as a control group. The data revealed significant differences in all dimensions of the classroom environment and indicated a more positive perception of the classroom environment among students in the experimental group. The findings also showed that in the control group there are differences in the way classroom environment is perceived by students with, and without, prior experience in word processing. No such differences were found to exist in the experimental group. The findings revealed that within the two different learning environments, there are differences in the ways boys and girls perceive their classroom environment. Also found are differences between boys and girls in both computer ownership and in the actual use of word processing, with more boys having home computers and making more use of word processing outside school.Classrooms have distinct climates which affect the experiences, perceptions, attitudes, values, and behaviors of students [1,2]. It is, therefore, not surprising that the study of classroom environment is considered a key to our understanding of both the social and the cognitive processes taking place in the classroom [3][4][5][6][7]. Nevertheless, relatively little research is available which uses students' perceptions of classroom environment as a source of assessment of 337

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