A Study of High School Students' Computer Awareness in Taiwan.

This study was designed to gain a better understanding of interactive video instruction and its effects on individual learning in high school students in Taiwan. The study had three objectives: (1) to identify students' background information and involvement in computer assisted instruction; (2) to assess whether there is a linear relationship between computer awareness or literacy and academic achievement; and (3) to compare the learning achievement between sequential learning and interactive learning. Fifty-six 10th-grade students were divided into two instructional groups; one received sequential instruction on computer awareness and the other received instruction on the same content via interactive video. Statistical analyses were conducted of the background information, the students' learning behavior, and their learning achievement. The learning achievement of students who received computer exposure (interactive video) and students without computer exposure (sequential) were then compared. The results indicated a high level of interest in computer assisted instruction and in computer related occupations; students with prior experience with computers scored significantly higher than those who had never learned computer awareness; and students' computer awareness came primarily from television. The results of the data analyses are presented in both narrative and tabular formats. (Contains 32 references.) (DB)