Girls' Engagement with Computers While Creating Web Pages During Middle Childhood

The purpose of the research study was to describe girls' engagement with computers during middle childhood and to delineate the factors that initiated and sustained the engagement. The research questions were: 1) What patterns distinguish how girls engage in web page development during middle childhood? 2) What roles do environmental and personal factors play in the girls' engagement in the activity of web page development? 3) What are the perceived reasons for the girls' achievement in creating web pages? The research design followed a qualitative case study approach with descriptive methods of data collection. Four participants were selected through nomination by their elementary school principal based on their computer attitude and aptitude. The data collected included interviews, observations, artifacts, and interviewer's reflective notes. The data were analyzed through coding assisted by NUD*IST computer software. Overall, the access to computers, the relationships with powerful others, and the girls' perceptions of their ability to control influential factors, all worked together as antecedents for engagement with computers. The roles performed and the necessary social interaction sustained the engagement. The product, an educational web page, demonstrated successful achievement. The researcher provided recommendations for educators to create conditions for girls to achieve using computers, which impacts middle childhood girls' perceptions of future career options.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department dc:contributor.department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Chase, Denise

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Lichtman, Marilyn V.

• middle childhood
• computers
• motivation

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-04232001-175011

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/27153