Kids and Computers: The Interactions and Attitudes of Girls and Boys with Technology

Abstract

This dissertation study examines computer use by second graders in an affluent, suburban community to determine how boys and girls view and participate with computers at home and in an educational setting. This qualitative study examined the students' time spent with computers, software choices, perceptions of technology now and in the future, their computer skills and their perceptions of their skills and the influence of parents through the use of interviews, observations, logs, surveys and artifact collection.The findings from this research demonstrate that there were no drastic differences in the amount of time boys and girls spent on computers at home and at school. In terms of software choices, all students favored games to other types of software. However, girls were more likely to favor games that were less competitive and boys tended to favor sports games. The parents in this study had primarily positive perceptions of the role of computers in their children's lives and the students felt that their parents supported their computer use.Additionally, this study reveals that while all students were able to meet most of the school district's technology frameworks, better assessment tools need to be created to truly capture the richness of what students are able to do with computers and to encourage them to use the computer in thought provoking ways that emphasize more than just skills. Finally, students of both genders were able to envision multiple uses for computers now and in the future.