The focus of this research project was to examine how problem- based learning (PBL) impacts students' interest and knowledge in computer science (CS) at the elementary level. By focusing on a problem that emphasizes social activism, we hypothesized that PBL CS could increase interest for students. We employed an iterative design-based research…

Presents various programing activities using the BASIC and LOGO programing languages. Activities are included in separate sections with a title indicating the nature of the activities and the "tools" (commands) needed. For example, "Old-fashioned drawing" requires several tools (PRINT, LIST, RUN, GOTO) to make drawings using…

Presents a collection of teaching activities suitable for students in the upper grades. These activities focus on practical programming projects, use of word processors for learning a foreign language, an Atari program for making a starburst, and a program (with deliberate errors) to determine the thickness of folded paper. (JN)

Presents four activities suitable for upper elementary and middle/junior high school students. These activities focus on: (1) a customized spelling program; (2) designing fashions; (3) a student-generated form letter to parents; and (4) computer debates. (JN)

Presents a collection of teaching activities suitable for middle grade students. They include a program for an Apple sketch pad and a Logo procedure to determine what angles produce polygons. Comments related to inputing variables, replicating patterns and figures, and using electronic spreadsheets are included. (JN)

Presents a collection of computer-oriented teaching activities for the middle grades. They focus on Logo activities to sharpen visualization skills, use of spreadsheets, various uses of Apple microcomputer paddles, and writing a program from program output. All activities may be adapted for lower or higher grade levels. (JN)

Describes computer-oriented teaching activities for the upper grades. They focus on the use of databases in history classes, checking taxes, examining aspects of the joystick button on Atari microcomputers, printing control using Logo, and a Logo program that draws whirling squares. All activities can be adapted for lower grades. (JN)

Five ideas for computer-oriented classroom activities are presented. They include sending secret messages (while introducing the American Standard Code for Information Interchange- ASCII), conducting a computer survey, playing adventure games, showing why the END command is needed, and using control characters to protect a program. (JN)

Describes five computer-oriented activities suitable for middle grade students. Activities focus on use of spreadsheets to record nutrition data, programs that cause lights to twinkle on a Christmas tree and balloons to burst, an arithmetic problem, and a mathematics exercise using a spreadsheet. (JN)

Presents a problem to produce a chart in which a driver can look up the time in seconds it took to travel one mile and find out how fast the car was traveling in miles per hour. Several programs to solve the problem are listed and discussed. (JN)

Investigates whether the use of the computer to mediate text affects reading comprehension and concludes that computer-mediated text can influence reading comprehension and that comprehension was most consistently increased when manipulations of the text were under computer control. (HOD)

Suggests having students design a football field (looking at it from above) as the final project of a unit on computer graphics. Includes listings for 13 short Applesoft programs (involving LO- and HI-RES graphics) which students can use in making the field. Advanced students can use the animation techniques. (JN)

Surveyed the entire middle school population of a rural-suburban school district to determine the general attitudes of students toward computers. Findings are reported for differences in general attitudes toward computers between boys and girls, seventh and eighth-graders, and those who had computers and those who did not. (JN)

Examined effects of beginning computer programing instruction, sex, and home computers on the attitudes of fifth-grade students (N=49). Results of this pilot study showed higher attitudes following instruction and no differences between the sexes or between those who had computers and those who did not. (JN)

Six practical computer-oriented classroom activities are presented. They include making cryptograms using the search-and-replace function of word processors, making a frame for a Logo picture, examining Atari POKE commands, and comparing equivalent commands on different microcomputers. Also indicates the usefulness of marking on monitors with…