Evaluation of the Primary School Students’ Attitudes towards Computers in Relation to the Computer Usage Frequency

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the attitude of the primary school secondary level students towards computers depending on the frequency of computer use. In this context, based on the computer usage frequency of the students, pre-test and post-test attitude scores are evaluated in relation to gender, class, age, and income level. The study was carried out in 2006-2007 academic year, based on the experimental design with pretest, post-test and control group. As a sample group of the study, 270 students attending Nazım Akcan Primary School in Altındağ district of Ankara were involved under 6 groups (one control group and one experimental group from each of the 6th, 7th and 8th classes). Experimental groups utilized computer laboratory available in the school 30 hours more than the control groups during lunch breaks throughout the academic year. For data collection, “Computer Attitude Scale” developed by Ekici and Bahçeci (2006) were used. Descriptive statistics, t-test and One-Way Variance Analysis were used for data evaluation. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be α=.75. At the end of the study, depending on the frequency of the computer usage, the attitude scores of the sixth and seventh class students towards computer have been significantly increased. Moreover, pre-test and post-test attitude scores of the students did not significantly vary with gender, age, and income level.