Do Male Students Often Perform Better Than Female Students When Learning Computers?: A Study of Taiwanese Eighth Graders' Computer Education through Strategic and Cooperative Learning

This study investigated the impacts of strategic learning, cooperative learning, and their combination on junior high school students' computer achievement, attitudes, and anxiety. A total of 155 Taiwanese eighth graders participated in this study. Regarding computer achievement, a significant interaction was found between gender and learning context. No significant difference was found in students' computer attitudes due to either learning context or gender factor. With respect to computer anxiety, however, the boys exhibited a significantly higher level than did the girls. Students' computer anxiety in the cooperative learning group was also significantly higher than that in the control group. It is believed that the culture of socialization involving computers plays an important role in junior high school computer classrooms. In addition, strategic learning is regarded as an effective approach to promote female students' learning with computers.