Investigation of the effects of an educational software on 4th grade primary school students? attitudes towards mathematics and their achievements on fractions

This study is the investigation of the effects of an educational software on 4th grade primary school students? attitudes towards mathematics and their achievements on fractions. The sample of the study consists of 70 students attending to Gazipasa Primary school in the district of Bolu. Control and an experimental groups were formed by random sampling. In the study, attitude scale towards Mathematics, Fraction achievement test and Attitude scale towards computers were administered to the participants. MANCOVA and paired sampled t-tests statistical analysis were employed in the analysis. Results of the study show that the computer software developed for fractions had a statistically positive effect on the achievements of the students. There is not any statistical difference between traditional instruction and computer based instruction on the attitudes of students. The findings of the study also imply that female students in both control and experimental groups scored better than the male students in the achievement tests. No statistical differences were found in the attitude scale towards mathematics in both groups. Although there is an improvement in the attitudes of experimental group towards computers, it is not as remarkable as to produce a statistical difference.