Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education ISSN: 0962-029X (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtpe19 Cross cultural Similarities in Attitudes toward Computers and the Implications for Teacher Education Gerald Knezek, Keeko Miyashita & Takashi Sakamoto To cite this article: Gerald Knezek, Keeko Miyashita & Takashi Sakamoto (1993) Cross cultural Similarities in Attitudes toward Computers and the Implications for Teacher Education, Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 2:2, 193-204, DOI: 10.1080/0962029930020207 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0962029930020207 Published online: 11 Aug 2006. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 109 View related articles Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalinformation?journalcode=rtpe20 Download by: [178.63.86.160] Date: 04 July 2016, At: 02:10
Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1993 Cross-cultural Similarities in Attitudes toward Computers and the Implications for Teacher Education GERALD KNEZEK University of North Texas, USA KEEKO MIYASHITA Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan TAKASHI SAKAMOTO National Center for University Entrance Examinations, Tokyo, Japan ABSTRACT Results of a three year longitudinal study of elementary school children's attitudes toward computers in Japan, Mexico, and the United States of America are presented, along with implications of the findings for teacher education. Two types of attitudes toward computers (importance and enjoyment) were found to be positively influenced by the introduction of computer activities in primary school. No novelty effect was found regarding enjoyment of computers, and perceived computer importance declined less from Grades 1-3 than several other dispositions measured. No consistent gender differences were found for attitudes toward computers among the three nations. These findings imply that students begin school eager to learn about computers and lacking the gender biases often found in older age groups, and that teachers should be educated to help preserve interest in and access to information technology for all students. Reflections for teacher education conclude the article. Introduction At the International Congress of Applied Psychology during the summer of 1990, the third author chaired a panel containing presenters from four nations on the topic 'Psychological Impacts of Microcomputers on Instruction and Child Development' (ICAP, 1990). Discussion concluded with the point that not much was known about the effects of microcomputer 193
GERALD KNEZEKETAL usage on young school children, and that more research needed to be done. Now, three years later, several new studies, including the authors' cross-cultural study of computer use by first- through third-grade students in the United States of America (USA), Japan, and Mexico, have provided some additional answers. The first portion of this paper describes our longitudinal research design, while the second summarizes recent findings related to young children's attitudes toward computers. The third section contains implications of these findings for teacher education. Research Methodology Sample Our study involved approximately 3000 students in Grades 1-3 from 21 schools in the USAA, Japan, and Mexico, as of 1992. The instrument developed for this research was the Young Children's Computer Inventory (YCCI; Miyashita & Knezek, 1992), a 48 item Likert-type self-rating questionnaire measuring six psychological dispositions (prevailing attitudes): Computer Importance, Computer Enjoyment, Motivation, Study Habits, Empathy, and Creative Tendencies (Knezek & Miyashita, 1993a & b). The YCCI was pilot tested in the USA and Japan during 1990 (Knezek & Miyashita, 1991; Miyashita & Knezek, 1992), administered to first- and second-grade students in Japan and the USA during March 1991 (Miyashita, Knezek, & Sakamoto 1992), and administered to first-, second-, and third-grade students in Japan, the USA, and Mexico during March-April 1992 (Miyashita et al, 1993). Post-hoc reliability analyses, based upon results from confirmatory factor analysis, indicated that subscale internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 0.66 for a six item subscale, to 0.85 for a 13 item subscale. Reliability for the entire instrument, with data from all three cultures and language editions combined, was 0.92. Context Our research method was devised to take advantage of Japan's decision to delay the large scale introduction of computers into elementary schools until the early 1990s (Knezek et al, 1990). The strategic plan was to compare quantitative data on attitudes among students at schools newly equipped with computers in Japan, to attitudes at comparable Japanese schools without computers, using time-synchronized data from the USA as a cross-cultural control. Mexico was added as a new research initiative for 1992, in keeping with Foschi's (1980) judgment that an explanatory model can be considered robust if it is supported in at least three cultures. Because our study was largely theory building rather than theory testing (Poirot & Knezek, 1992), we gathered qualitative data about the 194
CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES children as well. Site visits, videotape recording and viewing, and discussions with principals, teachers, parents, and students were completed as a qualitative component of the research. Major Findings In this section we summarize briefly some main results of the research, results which appear to have particular relevance to teacher education. Full details of the research can be found elsewhere (see the various reports by the authors in the reference list). Types of Attitudes Toward Computers The YCCI measures two types of attitudes toward computers: Computer Importance and Computer Enjoyment Listings of the factor validated items summed to represent each construct can be found in Table I. Factor loading Computer importance (alpha=0.77) 9.1 can learn many things when I use a computer 0.68 12.1 believe it is very important for me to learn how 0.62 to use a computer 8.1 know that computers give me opportunities to learn 0.6 many new things 3.1 will be able to get a good job if I learn how to 0.55 use a computer 11.1 believe the more often teachers use computers, 0.45 the more I will enjoy school 6.1 would work harder if I could use computers more often 0.41 10.1 enjoy lessons on the computer 0.33 Computer enjoyment (alpha-0.72) 1.1 enjoy doing jobs which use a computer 0.59 2.* I am tired of using the computer 0.54 10.1 enjoy lessons on the computer 0.42 5.1 enjoy computer games very much 0.38 4.1 concentrate on a computer when I use one 0.3 * reversed item TABLE I. YCCI items representing computer importance and computer enjoyment 195
GERALD KNEZEKETAL Effect of Computer Use on Attitudes Toward Computers Our findings support the hypothesis that young children with computer experience in school will tend to have higher attitudes toward computers than young children without computer experience in school. Students in Japan who used computers, students in the USA who used computers, and students in Mexico who used computers, all rated the computer as higher in Importance and Enjoyment than did Japanese students who did not use computers. Early exposure of 40 minutes or more per week in school boosted perceived Computer Importance and Computer Enjoyment 0.5 to 1.0 standard deviations, to a point where 8 to 12 years (based upon regression slopes) would be expected to elapse before the attitudes of computer users again match those of non-computer users (Miyashita et al, 1993). These results are shown graphically in Figures 1 and 2. 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade Figure 1.1991 and 1992 Mean ratings for computer importance: grades 1-3 for USA, Japan with computers and Japan without computers. 196
CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade FIGURE 2.1991 and 1992 mean ratings for computer enjoyment grades 1-3 for USA, Japan with computers and Japan without computers. Effect of School Computer Use on Other Psychological Characteristics Research we have completed to date does not indicate that Motivation/Persistence, Creative Tendencies, Empathy, or Study Habits are strongly influenced by one or two years of school computer use. Analyses of student scores on these subscales have shown no consistent differences between Japanese students using computers, versus those not using computers, in the 1991 or 1992 data (Miyashita et al, 1993). Nevertheless, the factor Computer Importance is positively correlated with Creative Tendencies (r=0.48), Empathy (V=0.41), and Study Habits (r=0.34), so it is believed that the long-range influence of these dispositions on each other is worthy of further study. Computer Enjoyment does not appear to be strongly 197
GERALD KNEZEKETAL associated with any of the other factors, except Computer Importance (r=0.35). Further research is needed to determine if the associations we have found with Computer Importance are causal in nature. Likewise, additional research is needed to determine if Computer Enjoyment is more strongly associated with non-school activities, such as home computer use, as we surmise. One absence of a significant finding that is good news is that early computer exposure in school does not appear to lower student empathy, as the National Council on Educational Reform in Japan (1986, 1987) once feared might take place. Based upon the positive (r=0.41) correlation between Computer Importance and Empathy, and the strong influence of computer use on ratings of Computer Importance, we might now even hypothesize that the opposite effect takes place. Effect of Types of Computer Use The most common type of computer use in primary schools in the USA has historically been drill and practice (Becker, 1990), but the trend is toward more tool-type applications such as word processing, databases, or simulations (Martin et al, 1992). Guidelines developed by the National Association for the Development of Young Children in 1991 encourage open-ended tools and tutee-mode applications such as Logo programming to enhance children's development and creative potentials (Clements et al, 1993). In our study, computer applications spanned a wide range from drill & practice, tutorials, and educational games in computer laboratories, to free-form story composition and graphics production in laboratories and classrooms, and group participation in single computer story construction in a classroom. No particular form was restricted to any country. However, there was a tendency toward guided, uniform participation whole group or small group activities in Japan and Mexico, while individual student or small group activities dominated in the USA. The Japan population of our study, in which three schools were each matched with comparable schools not using computers, confirmed that any of several different kinds of educationally relevant computer experiences can be related to positive attitudes toward computers: CAI at the urban site (p < 0.005), Logo programming plus CAI at the suburban site (p <0.001), and word processing plus graphics production at the rural site (p <0.001). Our findings are consistent with those of the recent USA-Soviet study reported by Martin et al (1992) that "... most of the children thought that whatever they were doing on the computer was fun" (p. 182). 198
CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Computers We found no strong (p<0.01) gender differences among computer users in their attitudes toward computers at the first-grade level, and no consistent differences at the second- or third-grade level (Knezek & Miyashita, 1993b). This is true for the USA, Japan, and Mexico. These findings are especially convincing in light of the consistent gender differences in 'empathy' (which we defined as a caring identification with the thoughts or feelings of others) which did appear in our data. Females appear to be more empathetic, even at this early age. Novelty Effect of Comp u ters In Wilder et al's 1985 study involving 1600 K-12 students in the USA, "The most striking finding with respect to attitudes toward the computer... was one of decreased liking by all students (with increased age)" (p. 218). This phenomenon has come to be known as the novelty effect It has recently been reconfirmed for 339 fourth- through tenth-grade students in the USA (Krendel & Brolier, 1992, p. 217). We however, did not confirm a novelty effect for young children using computers. Our results appear to be mixed for Computer Importance. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate that on the one hand, among USA and Japanese students who have used computers, 1992 third-grade student ratings of Computer Importance tended to be lower than second-grade student ratings, and both of these groups tended to rate Computer Importance lower than first-grade students. These trends were also found to be true for Mexico in 1992. But on the other hand, Computer Importance for our 1992 second-grade students, viewed as a class by nation, did not significantly (p<0.01) decline from one year earlier, when they were first-grade students. Neither was there a significant decline for the 1992 third-grade students in Japan or the USA. In addition, there was no significant decline in Computer Importance or Computer Enjoyment for 89 third-grade students at one Texas public school whose responses were paired with their own questionnaire responses from one year earlier (Miyashita et al, 1993). Computer Enjoyment trends, however, run the opposite direction anticipated for a novelty effect (see Figure 2). Computer Enjoyment either remains very high among computer-using students or continues to rise across Grades 1-3. This is true for Japan, the USA, and Mexico (not shown). Even among Japanese students who have never used computers in school, the trend is toward increased computer enjoyment with age. Also, through an analysis which space does not allow us to present here, we found that, as a whole, attitudes toward computers of the students without school computer access fall at the very bottom of the clusters of 199
GERALD KNEZEK ET AL student disposition variables (in particular, Creative Tendencies, Study Habits, and Empathy), while attitudes toward computers of students with computer access lie at the top. Combining all these factors, our current best guess is that the novelty effect is real for Computer Importance and many other learning related dispositions. However, the fact that Computer Importance does not decline (regress) as much as some of the other dispositions we have measured, and that Computer Enjoyment does not appear to regress at all, may be due in part to the 'chameleon effect' of computers. As universal machines, through changes in software and activities, computers have the capability to grow with children. Our qualitative data indicate this has often taken place with the students in our study. Implications for Teacher Education Several recommendations for the field of teacher education can be derived from these and other related research findings. We discuss them here, in six categories.- New Teachers in the Future Will Have Computer Use Skills and Positive Attitudes Teacher educators can be optimistic that future generations of teacher trainees will come to their pre-service training with well developed computer skills and positive attitudes toward computers. The findings presented in this article are thus optimistic for teacher education, in the long run. When the current generation of primary school computer users takes its place as teachers, they should be confident about working with computers and have had a lifetime of enjoying computers. There is even some evidence that members of this new generation will have improved creative talents and increased motivation to learn because of their long association with computers. There is at least no evidence that this group will have decreased feelings of empathy because of their association with computers. Different Types of Software Can All Be Associated with Positive Attitudes Teacher trainees should be taught that they are free to choose from many different types of educational software for the initial exposure of students to computers, at least if the primary goal is for students to become comfortable with computers and develop positive attitudes toward computing. This conclusion is different from the many position papers which appear, advocating one or another particular type of software as most appropriate for use with young children (for example 'tool' type as being 200
CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES more favored than tutorial). Our Japan findings specifically show that well implemented CAI experiences can be effective in promoting interest in and comfort with computers for children in Grades 1-3. Our qualitative data and that of others show that most young children enjoy whatever they are doing with computers in school. Perhaps more emphasis should be placed in teacher training on encouraging teachers to select educational software to match their own teaching preferences and situational realities, than on selecting software of a certain type or philosophy. Teachers Can Influence Positive Attitudes Toward Computers Teacher trainees and practising teachers should be told to have faith they can preserve equal interest in, as well as access to, computing for future generations of children, both male and female. Our findings indicate that students typically do not start school with differences regarding perceived Computer Importance or Computer Enjoyment, based upon gender. Unlike empathy, differences in attitudes toward computers appear to evolve during the years students are in school, and even high school gender differences in this area may be largely explainable due to differences in amount and type of computer exposure (Chen, 1986). This implies teachers can have a strong role in preserving the opportunity for gender equality regarding attitudes toward computers through appropriate modelling behaviors (Clements et al, 1993), student encouragement, and the selection of software and computer activities appealing to both genders. Children Accept Computers Readily Current teacher trainees should be forewarned that most children accept computers much more readily than most adults. Apparently young computer users view computers in ways entirely different from adult teachers. A review of the literature by Dupagne & Krendel (1992) showed that more than fifteen years were required for teachers in the USA, as a group, to evolve from a "less positive than the general public" attitude toward computers, to their current, generally positive state. In retrospect, it is easy to see why "the early studies found that negative attitudes and fears about computers were exhibited mostly by teachers, not children, in the schools" (Martin et al, 1992, p. 157). Particular Value for Children for Whom the Language of School is not their Mother Tongue Current and future teachers should be made aware that the computer can be particularly helpful for helping children for whom school is a second language environment achieve success and a sense of satisfaction in school. 201
GERALD KNEZEK ET AL Several options in the student benefit category have emerged from our hybrid quantitative-qualitative data analysis. For example, the mean rating for Computer Importance across the five USA bilingual Hispanic schools included in the 1992 analysis was roughly 0.5 to 1.0 standard deviations higher than any other group (Knezek & Miyashita, 1993b). Site visits while students were working, and discussions with bilingual teachers and principals confirmed that for the limited English student, computer time was a prestigious activity because he/she could quickly become as proficient as native English speaking peers. This finding illustrates a new application of the concept that as a child's sense of competency in computer use increases, self-confidence, personal satisfaction, and feelings of success also increase, leading to a sense of autonomy as a learner (Barnes & Hill, 1983; Clements, 1985; Bialo & Sivin, 1990). Prospective teachers could be taught to capitalize on devices such as this to help immigrant children adjust to their new homes. Effects of School Computer Use Appear Robust across Countries The goals for information technology use in schools in different countries seem to often differ. For example, in Japan, the purpose of introducing computers into elementary education is primarily to expose children to information technology. In the USA, the anticipated outcomes are usually more content specific, such as, for example, improved writing skills. However, our analysis of many different attitudinal and dispositional variables supports the conclusion that the overall effects of meaningful school computer use by 'typical' young children are roughly the same, regardless of different educational frameworks in the schools. However, even though the psychological impact of computer use in early elementary school appears to occur similarly in the three countries we have studied carefully, that should not lead to the conclusion that the impact will be the same for all students. The variation within nations, cultures, and schools may well be greater than the variation between nations, relative to young children and their attitudes toward computers. Correspondence Gerald Knezek, Associate Professor of Computer "Education and Cognitive Systems, PO Box 5155, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA. Fax: (817) 5654425. Email: gknezek@tenet.edu References Barnes, BJ. & Hill, S. (1983) Should young children work with microcomputers: Lego before Logo? The Computing Teacher, 10, pp. 10-14. 202
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GERALD KNEZEKETAL National Council on Educational Reform (1987, April 1) Third Report on Educational Reform. Tokyo: Government of Japan. Poirot, J. L. & Knezek, G. A. (1992) Experimental designs for determining the effectiveness of technology in education, The Computing Teacher, 20(3), pp. 8-9. Wilder, G., Mackie, D. & Cooper, J. (1985) Gender and computers: two surveys of computer-related attitudes, Sex Roles, 13 (3/4), pp. 215-228. 204