Student views of computer based-mathematics in the middle years : does gender make a difference?

How the use of computers in mathematics classrooms was viewed by students in two middle years mathematics classrooms was the focus of the research described in this paper. The primary data sources consisted of questionnaires, classroom observations supported by videotaping of mathematics lessons, and interviews with two girls and two boys from each class. Thus both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Girls viewed the computer-based lessons less favourably than did boys. In general, the boys were likely to believe that computers contributed to their experiencing pleasure in these lessons, and to making mathematics more relevant to them. Girls were typically more concerned about whether computers facilitated learning and enabled success in mathematics. The attitudes of students to computer-based mathematics were related to their views of computers.