Kitty Boitnott reports that middle school girls used laptops with no more anxiety than boys.
My findings indicate that having access to computers for (middle) school and personal use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, seems to have had a positive impact on girls’ attitudes toward computers and computer technology. Girls in the study reported feeling virtually no anxiety around their use of computers; they furthermore reported enjoying their computers just as much as the boys did.
Girls use their computers for different purposes from boys. In spite of having full-time access to their laptops, girls don’t report wanting to pursue careers at the same rate as boys.
Kudos, Kitty, for completing your disseratation defense and contributing to the growing body of literature about uses of portable PCs.