The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of integrating Microsoft Excel into a high school algebra class. The results indicate a slight increase in student achievement when Excel was used. A teacher-created final exam and two Criterion Referenced Tests measured success. One of the Criterion Referenced Tests indicated that the…

In 1989, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Computers in Education study collected data on computer use in elementary, and lower- and upper-secondary education in 22 countries. Although all data sets from the participating countries had not been received at the time of writing, this paper provides…

A study is reported that examined the relative effectiveness of four computer-assisted-instruction (CAI) manners of presentation and response for teaching irregular verbs to English/Spanish bilingual students in South Texas. Each of 4 types of CAI presentation gave the same 46 selected irregular verbs in context to fifth-graders in 4 subject…

This study was undertaken to determine whether convergent or divergent computer software better enhances children's critical and creative thinking skills. Subjects were 40 elementary students (4th, 5th, and 6th grades), who were randomly assigned to either convergent or divergent software treatment. These students interacted for 25 hours with…

Compares evaluative assumptions built into published sets of guidelines for microcomputer software evaluation with those derived from three small United Kingdom case studies of microcomputer usage in reading/language classes. The case studies provide data on teacher and student reaction to five computer programs used by 9- to 13-year-olds. (MBR)

Describes the development of a method of identifying motivational and educational attributes through student reports of what they like and what they perceive they are learning. Applications of the method to microcomputer software and traditional classroom activities are compared. (23 references) (MBR)

An experiment compared the tagging of two languages: Czech, a highly inflected language with a high degree of ambiguity, and English. For Czech, the corpus was one gathered in the 1970s at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences; for English, it was the Wall Street Journal corpus. Results indicate 81.53 percent accuracy for Czech and 96.83 percent…

Compares a multimedia adult literacy instructional course, Reading to Educate and Develop Yourself (READY), to traditional classroom instruction by studying effects of replacing conventional learning tools with computer-assisted instruction (CD-ROMs and audio software). Results reveal that READY surpassed traditional instruction for virtually…

Presents a study of Archimedes as a HyperCard reference tool at the University of Michigan, and compares uses to similar projects. Results from studied points (i.e., system design and use statistics) support Archimedes: the system sees more use during reference hours when a librarian is unavailable, and user time is comparable to time spent with a…

Use of computers for instruction in public schools in New York City is compared with that in public schools in suburban Westchester County. Survey responses from 90 city and 46 suburban schools emphasize hardware availability, the nature of instructional software, and perceived problems/progress in integrating computers into the curriculum. (SLD)

Describes the development and testing of student remedial literacy portfolios for use in teacher education and discusses the use of case methods in teacher education. Highlights include a review of relevant literature; a sample portfolio case study that contrasted three presentation methods, including hypermedia; and a group reading of a…

Describes an experiment comparing the performance of an automatic full-text indexing software for personal computers (i.e., the Quick-Finder facility in WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows) with the human intellectual assignment of indexing terms to each document in a collection. Results are discussed in terms of ease of use, the time factor, and recall…

Investigating the effects of computer paint programs, the authors observed two groups of first and fourth graders--one using crayons and word processors, the other using a paint program and word processors. Discusses student collaboration, visual/verbal literacy, creativity, advantages and disadvantages, and paint programs in the classroom. A…

Describes projects in a fifth grade classroom that used data collection and graph making activities as part of a collaborative project between the teacher and the library media specialist. Discusses the use of Excel spreadsheets, comparing the effectiveness of different types of graphs, and project planning. (LRW)

Compares results from surveys conducted in 1987 and 1998 on how computer-assisted language learning (CALL) was being used in Canadian universities. Results provided information on what types of hardware and software were being used, languages taught using CALL, the impact of CALL on various courses, and teachers' and students' attitudes about…