Perceptions of Missouri secondary and area vocational school computer teachers toward trends of computer hardware and software technologies by year 1995 (abstract)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference between the perceptions of secondary school and area vocational school computer teachers regarding the trends and advancement of computer hardware and software technologies.Data for this study were collected by questionnaire. A total of 135 (63%) questionnaires from computer teachers in secondary schools and 60 (75%) questionnaires from computer teachers in vocational schools were used in the study.The null hypothesis was tested at the .05 level of significance. A significant difference among the perceptions of secondary school computer teachers and area vocational school computer teachers was found. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.The conclusions reached were: (1) less than one-tenth of the secondary school and one-tenth of the area vocational school computer teachers hold computer science degrees; (2) on an average, there are 12.6 computers available in the secondary schools and 28.9 computers available in the area vocational schools; (3) BASIC language is being taught in three-fourths of secondary and vocational schools; and (4) secondary and vocational computer teachers anticipate that Missouri will require computer literacy courses as a part of secondary school graduation requirements and that computer teachers will be required to obtain program specific teaching certificates.