Technology Preference By Gender in the Classroom Kate Barber and Melissa Maquilan Advisor: Professor Cooper

Changing Technology in the Classroom Computers have grown as a lecture tool in the classroom Purpose of our study: to consider the different preferences of college lecture tools along gender lines Hypothesis: students with greater computer usage prior to college will be more receptive to Powerpoint as a lecture tool and this affect will be more pronounced in female students

Computer Anxiety Females generally have more computer anxiety than males: Society expectations (especially coming from parents) often affect female mindsets at young ages More computers bought for young boys than young girls Females often hesitant to perform when they know their performance is an indicator for their gender (stereotype effect)

Computer Anxiety Possible Solutions to the female anxiety dilemma: Change in parental attitudes More access to computers at early ages

Survey 32 Princeton University Students Ranked computer usage on a standardized scale for 3 different age groups: 5-13; 13-18; 18-22 Identified primary uses of computer for each age group (School-related, word processing, games, music, communication, etc) Ranked in order from 1 – 3 (1 being most preferable) three predominant college lecture tools: Chalkboard Overhead Projector Powerpoint

Conclusions Females have pronounced trend between computer usage for school-related applications prior to college (5-13 and 13-18) and preference for technology-based lecture tools (ie: Powerpoint) during college Males produce conflicting results for the 5-13 age group and a less pronounced trend for the 13-18 age group