Research on the Effect of Certain Variables Chosen and Technology-Supported Project-Based Learning Approach on 11th-Grade Students’ Attitudes towards Computers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of certain variables chosen (gender, financial state of thefamily, educational background of the parents, a computer available for use at home and the number of siblings)and technology-supported project-based learning approach applied in the physics course on 11th-grade students’attitudes towards computers and to evaluate the participating students’ views at the end of the study about theapplications they actively took part in. In order to determine the students’ attitudes towards computers, thecomputer attitude scale was used. The study was carried out with thirty two 11th-grade students in the academicyear of 2009-2010. Before starting the applications, the computer attitude scale was applied to the students as apre-test. The three-hour physics courses were executed with simulations and animations in two course-hours andwith the project-based learning approach in the other course-hour. At the end of the applications, the computerattitude scale was applied to the students as a post-test. In order to determine the students’ views about theprocess as well as about computers, semi-structured interviews were held with them. The results of the analysisdemonstrated that there was a significant difference between the computer attitude mean scores of the studentsbefore and after the experimental process in favor of the post-test mean scores. But, there were no differencesamong their attitude scores according to certain variables. The interviews held with the students revealed that thestudents had positive views about the process and computers.