The attitudes of Slovak and Turkish high school students to the ICT used in biology according to gender and age differences

The impact of information and communication technologies on our daily lives has been constantly increasing. This fact influences the modification of attitudes towards information and communication technologies. This study is focused on finding the gender differences in computer attitudes. A questionnaire with 33 Likert's type items was used in our research. The questionnaire was called Information and Communication Technologies' Attitude Questionnaire (ICTAQ). The sample consists of 518 students from 9 high schools. Data was evaluated with the factor analysis with Varimax rotation, ANOVA, Pearson's chi-square test, Pearson's product moment and Cronbach's alpha which was calculated to find out the reliability of the questionnaire. The items of the questionnaire were divided into five dimensions: 1) The positive influence of ICT; 2) The negative influence of ICT; 3) Advantages of ICT; 4) ICT used in biology lesson; 5) Disadvantages of ICT. In our research students' positive attitudes towards the computer have been confirmed and students consider using ICT in biology lessons to be very useful. They prefer a mixed-mode learning environment, i.e. a combination of face-to-face interaction and online activities. Furthermore, boys have more positive attitudes than girls do.