Describes four studies, one experimental and three comparative, that were conducted with university students to assess the instructional effectiveness of separate animated computer tutorials illustrating dynamic processes in microbiology. Results indicated a significant advantage for subjects in the animated condition as opposed to a contextual…

Describes a study that used meta-analysis to compare the academic achievement during a 12-year period of secondary students who were instructed through traditional methods, traditional methods supplemented with computer-assisted instruction (CAI), or CAI alone. Results were compared with earlier research and indicate that the effect of CAI on…

Reviews current educational software evaluation methods, highlights problems, and describes the York Educational Software Evaluation Scales (YESES), an alternative criterion based model. Panel evaluation used by YESES is explained and YESES results are compared with evaluations from the Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) to indicate…

Discusses whether the mathematics achievement of at-risk fifth-grade students using computer-assisted instruction (CAI) differs from that of at-risk students using other methods of instruction. Found that boys using CAI made greater gains than boys using paper and pencil activities, and that at-risk girls made gains in math skills regardless of…

Describes a study that compared the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and lecture approaches in teaching vocal anatomy and function to 60 undergraduate music students with different learning styles. Highlights include background on learning styles, implications for the use of CAI with various learning styles, and recommendations…

Describes a study of high school students that investigated the impact of embedding an instructional map into hypermedia courseware on student achievement. Treatment of experimental and control groups is described, results of pretests and posttests are compared, and implications for software designers and teachers are suggested. (Contains 23…

Describes study that compared the performance of high achieving and low achieving undergraduates on two computer assisted instruction modules, one in which learners were forced to review informational frames following errors and one where the review was optional. Dependent and collateral variables are discussed and criterion referenced tests used…

Discussion of the writing process of elementary students with learning disabilities focuses on studies of a HyperCard stack that was developed to help beginning writers and their teachers. Texts created with the hypermedia are compared with texts created using paper and pencil and word processing. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study of college students that investigated the interaction between instructional mode and testing mode. Computer learning and testing versus paper-and-pencil methods are compared, and treatments for the experimental and control groups are described. Areas for further research are suggested. (20 references) (LRW)

Describes a study that was conducted to determine whether learning to program a computer in Pascal or FORTRAN improved problem-solving skills of college students when compared to a control group and to determine which programing language was more effective in the development of problem-solving abilities. (26 references) (LRW)

Describes a study of graduate students that investigated whether a lengthened HyperCard stack treatment could promote problem-solving ability and reduce computer anxiety. The study was based on previous research that compared BASIC programming with HyperCard. Highlights include authoring languages and the effect of different instructional formats…

Describes results of a survey that was conducted to determine qualifications and roles of computer lab specialists in elementary schools. Integration of computer lab use and classroom instruction is discussed, the effect of microcomputers on student outcomes is examined, and the answers of the specialists are compared with those of classroom…

Discussion of the selection of appropriate statistical procedures by educators highlights a study conducted to investigate the effectiveness of decision aids in facilitating the use of appropriate statistics. Experimental groups and a control group using a printed flow chart, a computer-based decision aid, and a standard text are described. (11…

Discussion of changes in learning as a result of computer-assisted instruction focuses on a study that compared interactions between at-risk high school students and teachers. Use of two different integrated learning systems with interactions between the same students and teachers during traditional classroom instruction was examined. (Contains 26…

The effects of teaching with analogies on students' conceptual understanding and explanations of educational computing were examined with three groups of preservice teachers in a computer literacy course. Students who were taught using complete analogies were found to have a better grasp of computing concepts than those taught using undeveloped…