Some of the characteristics of attitudes toward computers among secondary school students in Kenya

Abstract

Student attitudes toward computers are important to success in computer-related programs.

The present study examined the effects of Sex, Educational Level, Computer Usage, . and Mathematics Anxiety on the computer attitude scales based on four items on computers. Fifty-four students from two urban secondary schools in Kenya one Co-educational and one Girls' Secondary school, responded to a questionnaire consisting of seven items: 4 on computers and 3 on mathematics anxiety. Descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney Rank U-Sum test were used to examine the data. It was found that, in general, the students had positive toward computers and mathematics. However, on average, they had more positive attitudes toward mathematics than computers. Sex and Educational Level were found to be significantly related to attitudes toward computers based on two items on computers. One score of a mathematics anxiety item and the total score on mathematics anxiety items were found to significantly correlate with only one score out of the four scores on computer attitude items. Computer usage was not found to be significantly related to computer attitudes on any of the computer attitude scales