Middle school students’ attitudes towards the use of technology in mathematics lessons: does gender make a difference?

ABSTRACT

The first aim of the study was to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure attitudes of middle-school students towards the use of technology in mathematics lessons and then, to examine elementary students’ attitudes towards the use of technology in mathematics lesson. The study further aimed to investigate gender differences in attitudes towards the use of technology in mathematics lessons. Data were collected from 571 middle-school students aged 10–14. Participating students were from five private and one public school in Ankara, Turkey and the schools were using various technological tools in mathematics lessons. As data collection instrument, Technology Use in Mathematics Lessons Attitude (TMLA) Scale was administered. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis results demonstrated that TMLA Scale was a valid and reliable tool to measure students’ attitudes towards the use of technology in mathematics lessons. In addition, descriptive analysis results revealed that middle-grade students had moderately high attitudes towards the use of technology. Moreover, independent sample t-test results indicated that female students possessed significantly higher attitudes towards the technology use in mathematics lessons when compared with male counterparts.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitudes
• elementary math education
• technology in education
• gender studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Scientific Research Coordination Unit of Middle East Technical University under the project number BAP-07-03-2014-003.