It is important for the teacher to choose effective software for students. It is also important for designers to know what features of educational software make it effective. But the results of studies dealing with the effectiveness of educational software are contradictory. One reason for such results might be the fact that meta-analysis covers…

Interactions of groups of students working with a variety of educational software are analyzed to develop an account of the structure of collaborative educational activities supported by directive software. Argues that the structure of educational activities around directive software can allow for the possibility of embedding exploratory…

Summarizes development of QUEST, a family of general purpose data handling computer programs which support existing curricula; demonstrates their usefulness for administrative recordkeeping and in elementary school history and geography courses for managing large amounts of data from varied sources (i.e., census materials); and compares QUEST with…

Presents a framework for integrating pedagogy and software design and evaluates the framework by designing two educational programs to be used in coaching exploratory talk in small group work in citizenship and science. Results show that combining software design with off-computer coaching of exploratory talk enhances computer interaction and that…

Presents results from an exhaustive survey of Hertfordshire (England) primary schools which provides detailed information on microcomputer provision, classroom use, and headteachers' and teachers' aims and attitudes. An analysis of factors that influence microcomputer use is included. (Author/MBR)