Computational thinking aims to outline fundamental skills from computer science that everyone should learn. As currently defined, with help from the National Science Foundation (NSF), these skills include problem formulation, logically organizing data, automating solutions through algorithmic thinking, and representing data through abstraction.…

This paper addresses the problem of probabilistic reasoning as it applies to Truth Maintenance Systems (TMS). A computer-based Belief Maintenance System (BMS) has been constructed which manages a current set of probabilistic beliefs in much the same way that a TMS manages a set of true/false beliefs. It may be thought of as a generalization of a…

This 10-day study compared the effects of alternative ways of using microcomputer simulations on the achievement and attitudes of sixth- and seventh-grade science students (N=173). Nine classes were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: (1) microcomputer simulations; (2) laboratory activities; (3) a combination of simulation and laboratory…