Social network sites (SNSs) like Myspace and Facebook are now popular online communities with large teenage user populations. Teens use these technologies to interact, play, explore, and learn in significant ways. As scholars become interested in studying these new online communities, I contribute to the emerging conversation by re-examining…

Peer assessment has been implemented in schools as both a learning tool and an assessment tool. Earlier studies have explored the effectiveness of peer assessment from different perspectives, such as domain knowledge and skills, peer assessment skills, and attitude changes. However, there is no holistic model describing the effects of cognitive…

The availability and use of computers in teaching has seen an increase in the rate of plagiarism among students because of the wide availability of electronic texts online. While computer tools that have appeared in recent years are capable of detecting simple forms of plagiarism, such as copy-paste, a number of recent research studies devoted to…

Researchers question how and what students learn from commercial digital games. Using a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study examined 30 students' construction of knowledge and skills while playing a commercial off-the-shelf game for 7 weeks. Quantitative data included students' background survey and pre- and post-assessments for…

The present investigation examined middle school students' evaluations of the usefulness for addressing a social studies inquiry question of a variety of sources of information, and the basis of these judgments. This task situation simulates an early phase of information gathering and selection in the context of inquiry. For each of nine sources,…

This article examines how laptop computing technology, teacher professional development, and systematic support resulted in changed teaching practices and increased student achievement in 47 K-12 schools in 11 Florida school districts. The overview of a large-scale study documents the type and magnitude of change in student-centered teaching,…

Innovative uses of technology to support teacher learning are emerging through professional learning communities that leverage social networking technologies. The value of an online community for educators lies in the rich and open exchange of ideas, experiences, and resources where educators feel both respected and supported. Yet among the most…

The study explored the effects of computer use on the mathematical performance of students with special attention to ELL students. To achieve a high generalizability of findings, the study used a U.S. nationally representative database, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), and adopted proper weights. The study…

In spite of large expenditures on and increased access to educational technologies, a concern remains that computer-based technologies are not being integrated into regular instructional practices. While there is evidence to support the hypothesis that newer teachers' familiarity with technology leads to increased technology integration, a…

While appropriate as an initial focus, it is time that the educational community move beyond an emphasis on 1:1 computing (each child having his/her own personal computer) to a vision of a handheld-centric classroom, where each child not only has his/her own personal, handheld computer, but also has access to networked PCs, probeware, digital…

This study examines online messages in a discussion forum that a group of K-12 history teachers used to discuss curriculum implementations as part of their professional development. It has 3 main research foci. First, it focuses on identifying the types of assistances provided to the teachers in an online forum. Second, it examines teachers'…

In the study of the Technology Immersion model, high-need middle schools were "immersed" in technology by providing laptops for each teacher and student, instructional and learning resources, professional development, and technical and pedagogical support. This article reports third-year findings for the teacher component of the…

Computer-based cognitive tools may have an important role to play in making widespread improvements in history teaching. Scholars agree that one important way to help students understand history is to involve them in historical interpretation, and there have been promising developments in the design of tools that scaffold students' interpretation…

Increasing numbers of states, districts, and schools provide every student with a computing device; for example, the middle schools in Maine maintain wireless Internet access and the students receive laptops. Research can provide policymakers with better evidence of the benefits and costs of 1:1 computing and establish which factors make 1:1…

Handheld devices have the potential to make a large impact on K-12 educational settings, due to their relative low cost, high mobility, and interactive learning capabilities. This article, the outcome of a large-scale project examining the use of handheld computers, examines how handheld computers can improve teaching and learning, what…