Linear or quadratic effects of ICT use on science and mathematics achievements moderated by SES: conditioned ecological techno-process

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim and background This study investigated the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) use patterns, moderated by socioeconomic status (SES), on science and mathematics achievements. This investigation aims to address the issue of whether ICT use has ‘conditioned’ (linear and quadratic) effects on achievements with SES as social conditions, based on a posited Conditioned Ecological Techno-process (CET) model. Method Data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment for Taiwan were analyzed using regression analysis focusing on the effect of three ICT use patterns (leisure, educational, and school). Results The results support the CET model in the quadratic effects of all the three ICT use patterns on both achievements in addition to the positive linear effects of educational ICT use and the negative linear effects of leisure and school ICT use patterns. The moderation effect of SES only occurs with leisure ICT use on science achievement. Discussion The findings suggest that moderate frequent ICT use predicts the highest achievements. SES may aggravate the negative effect of leisure ICT use on science achievement.