THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENTS’ EXPOSURE TO TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE AND MATH

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on students’ math and science achievement. Recently, ICT has been widely used in classrooms for teaching and learning purposes. Therefore, it is important to investigate how these technological developments affect students’ performance at school. The data for this study comes from the 2009 administration of The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an internationally standardized assessment administered to15-year-old students (9^th grades) in schools. The sample includes 4996 students in Turkey. Hierarchical linear modeling was used for analyzing the effects of ICT in student and school levels by using ICT-related variables such as technology scores and ICT availability at home, etc. The results indicated that students’ familiarity with ICT and their exposure to technology helped to explain math and science achievement gaps between individuals and schools. ICT is an important factor that should be taken into consideration when designing classroom environments.