The Effects of Psychosocial Factors on Indian Children's Attitudes toward Computers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of such psychosocial factors as computer experience, computer usage, future plans regarding computers, and various types of anxiety on children's attitudes toward computers. Subjects consisted of 120 males and 159 females in grades six ( N = 120) and seven ( N = 159), who were enrolled in two single-sex, private, residential schools in Dehru Dun, India. The Bath County Computer Attitudes Survey was used to measure attitudes toward computers. The Spielberger Trait-Anxiety Scale and the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale were used to measure subjects' trait anxiety and mathematics anxiety levels, respectively. Results indicated that computer experience, usage, future plans, trait anxiety, and mathematics anxiety were significant factors in predicting computer attitudes. The results were consistent with similar research on North American children. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

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

“…Other research studies report similar findings demonstrating that computer experience-both the type as well as the amount-is the most significant factor affecting students' attitudes toward computers [30,[40][41][42][43][44], and is also associated with lower levels of computer anxiety [45]. These findings suggest that sufficient opportunity to gain experience with computers leads to positive attitudes toward them and to a reduction in anxiety related to present or future use of computers.…”

“…Previous studies show that boys have greater access to, and make more use of computers at home [30,39,43,[46][47][48]. Although in some studies such differences were found to be relatively small, none of them showed girls to have greater access to home computers.…”

“…In addition, several studies have shown that more boys than girls enroll in computer classes in schools and in computer camps [49][50][51][52]; and also, that boys hold more positive attitudes toward computers than girls [31,53,54]. An exceptional finding demonstrating a smaller gender difference in computer attitude and in school computer usage in favor of girls (in a single sex educational setting) was reported by Miller and Varma [30]. Yet, their finding also demonstrates that gender differences in attitudes toward computers are reduced or else disappear where exposure to computers has been controlled.…”

Examining the Relationship Between Computer Familiarity and Performance on Computer‐Based Language Tasks

“…Four national studies have reported on the use of computers by non-American students. In a study of Indian children enrolled in two private residential schools, more than 30% of the children reported never using a computer or using a computer a little at school (Miller & Varma, 1994). Israeli children in Tel Aviv in Grades 8 to 10 (where computers had not yet been introduced at school) were asked if they knew how to use a computer; 72% of the female students did not know how, versus 46% of the males (Levin & Gordon, 1989).…”

E-Learning, Traditional Education, and the Corporatizing of Higher Education

“…First among them is the discussion of factors that predict students' attitudes to e-learning. Research has established that factors such as age, gender, personality, and previous computer experience are important in shaping students' attitudes toward e-learning (Miller & Varma, 1994;Taylor & Todd, 1995;Sanchez et al, 2006). Thus, users who are young, male, have a higher risk tolerance, and have more experience with computers are more inclined to have positive views of e-learning than users who are not.…”