Comparative study of urban and rural elementary schools' ICT-education

Abstract

The study aims to exam if there were significant differences among urban and rural elementary schools in the implementation of ICT education. The study focused on information technology curriculum. A questionnaire according to three dimensions (learning, instruction, surroundings of learning) was the measurement tool for the study. The target population was all 5th grade schools students from three selected elementary schools located in Zhejiang Province (one was urban school, another was rural school, and the third one was urban school for rural kids). 490 students were randomly selected to fill in the survey. Results of data analysis found that: (1) the overall quality of ICT education in the selected schools is satisfactory. However students from different schools differed significantly in their learning behavior; (2) teachers from different schools performed significantly differently in the classroom; (3) there were significant differences among different schools' learning environments; (4) gender and having PC or not had significant impact on students' learning behavior in ICT course; (5) all of the selected schools ignored cultivation of computer culture in schools. Based on these finding, researchers put forward some proposals.