8th Grade Students’ Attitude towards Technology

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate eighth graders’ attitude towards technology by gender, type of school (state and private), type of preferred high school, and technological devices owned. The study was carried out with 300 eighth graders in Büyükçekmece town of İstanbul during 2013-2014 education and instruction year. “Technology Attitude Scale” was administered to participants. Study data were analyzed by using SPSS 18. It was found out that there is a significant difference between types of school the students attend in relation with the “Negativeness of Technology” subscale only, whereas gender made a significant difference across the scale as well as three subscales except for “Contribution and Importance of Technology”. Students’ overall attitude towards technology, disadvantages of technology and their tendency to technology showed a significant difference according to the type of high school for which the students prepare. Such difference was in support of the participants preparing for science high schools. In addition, it was seen that those having technological devices had higher attitude scores than the others. Specifically, significant difference was found between those having and not having tablets in the second subscale, which is “Disadvantages of Technology”.