The different effects of digital devices on students' motivation - Evidence from the United States

Abstract: The usage of computers in classrooms is becoming increasingly common in the US. Digital devices are gaining more and more relevance for teachers and their students. This study uses the TIMSS 2015 data to examine the impact of using digital tools in classrooms. To capture these effects, we use a fixed effect model and exploit the variation between the subjects maths and science. While we find only small effects on students’ overall achievement and cognitive skills, positive and significant effects are observed for students’ motivation. Further, we examine heterogeneous effects by gender, number of devices the students have at home and by the students’ socioeconomic background. We cannot find significant differences between genders and the number of available devices, but differences by students’ socioeconomic status (SES) are proven to be significant, with stronger effects for low SES students.