Journal of Educational Psychology 2014. Vol. 106. No. 2. 348-363 © 2013 American Psychological Association 0022-0663/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0O34398 The Role of Arts-Related Information and Communication Technology Use in Problem Solving and Achievement: Findings From the Programme for International Student Assessment Gregory Arief D. Liem Nanyang Technological University Andrew J. Martin, Michael Anderson, and Robyn Gibson University of Sydney David Sudmalis Australia Council for the Arts Drawing on the Programme for International Student Assessment 2003 data set comprising over 190,000 15-year-old students in 25 countries, the current study sought to examine the role of arts-related information and communication technology (ICT) use in students' problem-solving skill and science and mathematics achievement. Structural equation modeling indicated that the quality of arts-related ICT use positively predicted problem-solving skill, whereas the quantity of arts-related ICT use negatively predicted problem-solving skill. Importantly, however, there was an interaction between quality and quantity of ICT use such that the detrimental effect of the frequency of arts-related ICT use was more pronounced among students with low-quality ICT use than for those with high- and moderate quality ICT use. Analyses also showed that the effects of arts-related ICT use on achievement were primarily mediated by problem-solving skill. Findings hold educational implications for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers seeking to optimize the cognitive and academic benefits of ICT in the arts and the school more broadly. Keywords: arts, ICT, PISA, OECD, problem-solving skill A growing body of international research has suggested poten- tial benefits of participation in arts activities for students' higher order thinking and academic performance (Aprill, 2001; Bamford, 2006; Catterall, 2009; Catterall, Dumais, & Hampden-Thompson, 2012; Deasy, 2002; Fiske, 1999; see also President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 2011).' Another body of research has pointed to the adaptive consequences of information and commu- nication technology (ICT) on cognitive skills and academic achievement (Attewell & Battle, 1999; Wenglinsky, 1998), with recent evidence pointing to the presence of an "optimal" amount of ICT use for academic benefits (e.g., Thiessen & Looker, 2007). This latter finding appears consistent with the current notion of the "digital divide" (Attewell, Suazo-Garcia, & Battle, 2003; Peter & Valkenburg, 2006) concerning not only how much ICT is used This article was published Online First September 30, 2013. Gregory Arief D. Liem, Department of Psychology, Nanyang Techno- logical University, Singapore; Andrew J. Martin, Michael Anderson, and Robyn Gibson, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; David Sudmalis, Australia Council for the Arts, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia. We thank the Australian Research Council and the Australia Council for the Arts for their funding and assistance in this research. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gregory Arief D. Liem, who is now at the Psychological Studies Academic Group, National Institute of Education, N1E2-03-100, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616. E-mail: gregory.liem@nie.edu.sg (i.e., the quantity or ft-equency of ICT use) but also how well it is used (i.e., the quality or effectiveness of ICT use). With increasingly popular applications of ICT in the creative arts, particularly in visual graphics and music (Crow, 2006; Mak & Degennaro, 1999; Webster, 2007), a growing body of research has now centered on understanding how the integration of ICT in arts activities may bring about improvements in students' cognitive functioning and academic attainments (e.g., Gadanidis, Hughes, & Cordy, 2011 ). To contribute to this emerging body of literature, we sought to investigate in the current study the extent to which students' use of ICT for arts-related purposes is associated with their problem-solving skill and science and mathematics achieve- ment. In doing so, we aimed to extend prior work in a number of ways. First, we sought to examine the potential role that problem- solving skill plays in mediating the relationships between arts- related ICT use and science and mathematics achievement (see Figure 1). Second, consistent with concerns encapsulated in recent arguments about the digital divide (Attewell et al., 2003), we sought to disentangle the quality from the quantity of arts-related ' Consistent with the recent operational definition by the National En- dowment for the Arts (NEA, 2009), arts participation encompasses various activities relevant to art, dance, drama, film/media, and music involving active (e.g., playing a musical instrument, singing in a concert) or receptive (e.g., visiting the art gallery, attending a concert) engagement, including that involving information and communication technology, or ICT (e.g., downloading and listening to recorded music, watching drama or dance performance online). 348