International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

Self-efficacy is a perceived competence in performing a particular task, and science self-efficacy can determine the engagement to students' science learning. Based on the theory of learning life approach, this study proposed a conceptual framework to clarify the role of information and communication technology (ICT) on forming science self-efficacy. Furthermore, we compared the difference between boys and girls in the pathways in the proposed framework. 15-year-old secondary school students in China released by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (PISA) in 2015 were as the participants. After weighting, there were 790,611 secondary school students involved in this study (415,066 boys and 375,545 girls) to test the model fit with structural equation models and multi-group analysis by using Lisrel 8.80. Results showed that: 1. The correlations between science self-efficacy and ICT self-regulated ability, out-school ICT science learning behavior, and inquiry-based teaching were significantly positive related. Science self-efficacy was significantly negative correlated with out-school ICT leisure activities. 2. The proposed framework not only had ideal model fit on the whole participants but also on boys and girls. 3. The coefficient of boys of positive impact of out-school ICT leisure activities on ICT self-regulated ability, out-school ICT science learning behavior on science self-efficacy, and the positive impact effect of out-school ICT leisure activities on the indirect positive impact of science self-efficacy were all lower than girls. According to our findings, it is suggested that teachers should not only use inquiry-based teaching strategies in science classrooms, but also encourage students to independently apply ICT's scientific learning behaviors out-school, which is particularly important for girls.