Presents a survey of user needs for microcomputer software in elementary and secondary schools. Approaches to software development are highlighted and the future of microcomputers is discussed. (RAO)

Data on adoption of 43 user-developed computing applications in 3 large corporations were analyzed to develop an empirically grounded model of the adoption process for intellectual technologies. A five-stage model consisting of Resource Acquisition, Application Development, Adoption/Renewal, Routinization/Enhancement, and External Adoption was…

A national survey was conducted during the 1987-88 academic year to investigate the characteristics of selected high quality elementary schools known for their support of instructional technology. Of the 73 schools contacted, 70% responded to the survey. The findings showed that available computer time was most often divided among three major…

This document reports on a study of several characteristics of the Computer Based Education (CBE) lessons written at military training sites whose CBE projects were sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The purposes of the study were (1) to demonstrate the potential of computer-based scanning of CBE programs as a means…

A programing approach was used to implement a simulated laboratory training situation in which a student is allowed to troubleshoot a defective regulated power supply. The ways in which students can use natural language to ask questions about and manipulate the simulated device are described. The techniques developed to recognize English, to…

Based on responses to a state survey, 173 public elementary schools of Dade County, Florida, were divided into three groups: those who had no instructional microcomputers; those who had them, but did not offer courses in programming; and those who had them and also offered programming. Aggregate measures of faculty characteristics (level of…

This paper is concerned with a low cost alternative for providing computer experience to secondary school students. The brief discussion covers the programmable calculator and its relevance for teaching the concepts and the rudiments of computer programming and for computer problem solving. A list of twenty-five programming activities related to…

The effect of different communicating modes to computers on students' attitudes toward programing was studied. In a computer-related course, 13 students used batch processing mode to solve problems on the computer, while 12 other students used conversational mode to solve the same problems. It was found that those students accessing the computer…

Computer Literacy Objectives developed by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) computer literacy study are given. The objectives are grouped under the six headings: Hardware; Programing and Algorithms; Software and Data Processing; Applications; Impact; and Attitudes, Values, and Motivation. (MK)

The effects of computer managed personal correspondence from instructor to students in three large lecture sections of an introductory educational psychology course are examined. One section received no correspondence while the second received two and the third four personally signed letters. All letters were personally addressed to each student.…

Seven graduate students in a seminar on classroom computing received instruction in LOGO programming. Programming protocols were collected periodically and examined for errors and misconceptions; in-depth interviews were conducted in order to understand specific misconceptions better. As novice students transit from instruction to experience in…

The Navy has long been aware of a literacy gap existing between the level at which Navy technical documents are written and the reading comprehension level of enlisted personnel. In order to provide guidance in the restructuring of text and the limiting of vocabulary to reduce this gap, the Training Analysis and Evaluation Group developed the…

Reports part of a continuing project to develop a theory of children's first-language acquisition using computer modeling techniques. Notes the correspondence of structures formed by the computer program with recognized structures in English. Discusses anomalies in the program's performance. (RL)

Summaries of research performed by the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California for the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 17 areas are provided in this report: (1) Common LISP framework, an exportable version of the Formalized Software Development (FSD) testbed; (2) Explainable Expert…

This study, part of a longitudinal investigation, examined the kinds of thinking which children aged 10 and 11 could carry over from Logo instruction to an algebraic context. Interviews focused on their ability to construct meaningful symbolization for the concept of variable and to construct formalized algebraic rules. (MNS)