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Abstract
Computers are now a ubiquitous part of US elementary school education. With policy reports suggesting that inequities in information and communication technology (ICT) access across US schools are a thing of the past, investigating how such resources and their use may nonetheless continue to vary becomes all that much more important. Through a survey of a statistically representative sample of teachers in Ohio, this research examined computer use among third grade students, including in relation to an array of ICT resources and other key factors. The results indicated that such use was more sophisticated among students in affluent suburban schools when compared to students in all other locations, including various rural and urban locations. These differences were correlated with numerous ICT resource discrepancies. Overall, the discrepancies in ICT use and resources can be understood as not only symptomatic of persistent, broader social inequalities, but also factors that reinforce such inequalities as well.
Notes
The specific question in the survey was as follows: ‘Generally speaking, how would you describe the level of sophistication of your students’ activities with computers while under your instruction?' The five answer options were as follows: Not applicable, students don't use computers; Very unsophisticated; Unsophisticated; Sophisticated; Very sophisticated.
Empirically based research that has examined student computer use in schools somewhat invariably identifies relatively sophisticated activities, particularly at the elementary school level, as including the use of drawing and graphics-based software, presentation software and the presentation of information, word processing, the use of spreadsheets, and acquiring information through the internet. Less advanced applications include using computers for typing practice, test preparation, tutorials, and the use of reference CD-ROMs (Becker 2001; CRITO Citation2001; Duran Citation2002; Hohlfeld et al. Citation2008; Kim and Bagaka 2005; Muir-Herzig Citation2004; Smeets Citation2005). Chi-square tests using data from this survey indicated positive, statistically significant relationships between teachers identifying their students' use of computers as sophisticated and student use of specific applications, on a reasonably frequent basis, as follows: At p < 0.001, instructional games; using the internet for acquiring information; the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint; and writing (e.g., essays); at p < 0.01, relationships existed between teachers reporting sophisticated computer use and drawing/graphics applications as well as internet-based learning modules. Applications that the broader literature typically identifies as relatively unsophisticated, such as typing practice and the use of reference CD-ROMs, were not statistically significantly correlated with sophistication. Various other uses, such as spreadsheets and Web 2.0 applications such as blogs and wikis, were rarely being used by any of the respondents' students, undoubtedly reflecting, among other things, the grade level included in the research.
As a diagnostic procedure related to the statistical assumptions associated with independence of observations, a model was developed that included only one teacher from a given school (by randomly eliminating one case in each of the 20 instances where two respondents were from the same school, and two cases in each of the two instances with three respondents from the same school, resulting in 417 cases in the model). The results were virtually identical to those of the model included in this article, including in regards to the independent variables that were statistically significant.
Many of the questionnaire survey response options were in a Likert Scale type of format. For purposes of brevity, the information reported often includes a summation of responses. For example, in this instance 47.5 and 49.4% of the respondents indicated that they believed student use of computers at school was important, or very important, respectively, for the total of 96.9% as reported in the text.