The instructional information system (IIS), a method by which instructionally relevant information can be collected, stored, processed, and reported to various users in a timely manner, has considerable potential to improve instruction. To better identify the circumstances in which the IIS will succeed, it is necessary to know more about how…

This overview of the current status of computer-based learning in the United Kingdom (U.K.) begins with a discussion of the Microelectronics Education Program (MEP), which was implemented in 1981 to: (1) provide inservice teacher training in the educational aspects of microelectronics; (2) stimulate and service curriculum development efforts using…

Project DISC (Developing Indian Software Curriculum) was initiated in the Rapid City (South Dakota) school district to improve Native American children's reading and language arts ability and to provide them with microcomputer skills. During the summer of 1982, introductory computer activities were planned, a computer specialist was hired, and…

Presented at a week-long conference on the importance of research in education, this paper focuses on four components of the educational system: the learner, the curriculum, the instructor, and the context. For each of these components, questions are raised and research is suggested. For the learner, these concern the value of research for learner…

Discussion of teachers' acceptance of educational innovations focuses on a study of primary teachers which was conducted in London to determine their use of microcomputers in the classroom. Topics discussed include attribution theory, causal structures, differences between competence and confidence, curricular implementation, and implications for…

The hierarchical model for the teaching of computer programming to children that is presented in this report comprises five content domains: (1) technical skills of controlling the machine; (2) mastery of the programming language; (3) understanding the structure of a computer program; (4) understanding the logical dynamics of the computer program;…

This report of a 1984 conference on the computer as a teaching tool provides summaries of presentations on the role of the computer in the teaching of science, mathematics, computer literacy, and language arts. Analyses of themes emerging from the conference are then presented under four headings: (1) The Computer and the Curriculum (the computer…

Designed to evaluate the use of microcomputer-based labware (MBL) in junior high school science, the Computer as Lab Partner Project examined classroom experience of using MBL; system features used and curriculum designed; classroom procedures, processes, and interactions; gains and benefits of MBL use; and potential difficulties in MBL…

Describes the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP), a plan developed to help British secondary school students learn about microcomputers and the role of technology in society, and its successor, the Microelectronics Support Unit (MESU). Highlights include curriculum development, teacher training, computer assisted instruction and the…

In order to discover the extent to which the rhetoric surrounding computers in schools is matched by reality, a study of computer use and teacher acceptance was undertaken in a large upper elementary school (grades 4-6) in an affluent, semi-rural community near a major metropolitan area. The school was near the end of its five year instructional…

To increase the connection between educational research and educational practice, a process called "curriculum reformulation" was used to incorporate recent advances in research on learning and instruction into science classroom experiences. The cognitive demands of a thermodynamics curriculum were successively refined while maintaining…

Abstracts of most of the papers presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) have been collected in this publication. Papers focus on such areas as cognitive structure, development of scientific literacy in secondary schools, science teaching as a career, improving science teaching,…

This collection consists of 21 papers presented at the July 1983 Annual Summer Conference on "The Computer: Extension of the Human Mind II," in Eugene, Oregon. Six papers were presented at general interest sessions; 15 were from special interest group sessions. The general interest papers include David Ahl's "Keeping Up with Computers in Education…

This paper discusses several interrelated issues that concern four Canadian elementary school teachers who expect to be asked to introduce computer literacy into existing curriculums in the near future. Topics addressed include: (1) how teachers fit computer instruction into their existing practices; (2) status of the subject in their school; (3)…

Microcomputers are already in a majority of American schools, but little is known about their integration into the school curriculum. This study examines the features of an elementary school--Skyline School in the South San Francisco Unified School District (California)--that have contributed to the successful integration of computers in its…