Interactive simulations allow students to discover the underlying principles of a scientific phenomenon through their own exploration. Unfortunately, students often struggle to learn effectively in these environments. Classifying students' interaction data in the simulations based on their expected performance has the potential to enable adaptive…

This dissertation focuses on three manuscripts all related to bolstering science achievement through recommendations from the National Research Council (NRC) regarding the teaching and learning of science. The manuscripts address meeting the NRC's call to incorporate curriculum and assessment that lead to more in-depth knowledge that can be…

There is a growing national recognition that teachers and teaching are at the heart of successful educational reform. However, few tools exist for measuring classroom instruction. The primary purpose of this article is to describe methods we developed to measure and study teaching, specifically while teachers were using a multimedia intervention…

The instructional media created by microcomputers interconnected by modems to form long-distance networks present some powerful new opportunities for education. While other uses of computers in education have been built on conventional instructional models of classroom interaction, instructional electronic networks facilitate a wider use of…

The educational potential of computer networks will be realized only when educators stop focusing on technical connections and start asking how educational activities that are supported on computer networks can make a significant contribution to education. Computer networks can contribute to accomplishing educational goals in language arts (by…

This research explored the challenge of how students might successfully perform real laboratory experiments over the Internet without being in a laboratory. Numerous distance learning environments were surveyed, and the effectiveness and disadvantages of laboratory facilities currently available over the Internet were assessed. Full and part-time…

A worldwide international computer network, called the Intercultural Learning Network, has been developed to provide students from different cultures with opportunities to work cooperatively. Prototype activities have been developed and tested which facilitate and contextualize interactions among secondary and college students. Joint projects in…

Electronic networks provide new opportunities to create functional learning environments which allow students in many different locations to carry out joint educational activities. A set of participant observation studies was conducted in the context of a cross-cultural, cross-language network called the Intercultural Learning Network in order to…