Provides an annotated bibliography of up-to-date information on computer technology for geographic education in elementary schools. Suggests that, if teachers are made aware of the available resources of sophisticated computer technology, they will be better able to face the challenges in geography education. (AA)

A two-year, follow-up teacher survey to a 1993 study was conducted in 1994-95 to learn how changes in hardware and software markets have changed computer use in early childhood classrooms. Assessed what teachers viewed as important software characteristics, software market perceptions, and future software market directions. Found shifts in kinds…

Describes HyperTales, a computer-based writing application for emergent writers. Discusses principles of developmental literacy approaches which offer guidance for the design of computer-based emergent writing applications. (MM)

Assessed 32 kindergartners' prior knowledge of left and right, then exposed experimental group to software program "Jellybean Hunt" from Edmark Corporation's "Trudy's Time and Place House." Found that students exposed to the software significantly increased their scores on the posttest measure of their understanding of the…

Examines contributions of computer-assisted reading software (CARS) to current teaching practice. Presented framework for evaluating the technical and pedagogic characteristics of CARS. Described case study using proposed framework to evaluate the use of talking books software in British schools. Cognitive and affective benefits are identified.…

Describes the design of a computer-based problem-solving tool for teaching abstraction and classification to elementary school students. The task involves reasoning with attribute blocks. The software keeps a detailed trace of the student's actions, allowing teachers to provide intelligent feedback to the student. Results of a pilot study of the…

Two groups of 9- to 11-year-olds were asked to find and correct spelling errors, one using a typewritten story and a dictionary, the other viewing the story on a computer monitor and utilizing a spell-checker program. Although error detection rates were higher in the spell checker group than in the dictionary group, efficiency and spelling…

Explored responses to interactive multimedia by 3- to 5-year-olds through examination of verbal and facial expressions, use of mouse, body movement, attitudes toward multimedia, and teacher comments. Found great interest in using the technology and little difficulty in adjusting to developmentally appropriate materials, which has implications for…

Investigated elementary school students' responses to two user-computer interfaces while the students solved basic arithmetic problems. Interfaces involved users' direct manipulation of images or interpretation of symbols. Data indicated that students were more comfortable and solved problems more quickly when manipulating images than when…

Reviews problems with the use of the computer for science instruction in preschool and primary school classrooms. Describes efforts by educators enrolled in the Iowa Chautauqua Program to adapt appropriate materials for early childhood science instruction. Describes and evaluates specific computer programs which coincide with current goals for…

Educational microworlds are defined and their potential for developing learners' thought processes is hypothesized to be more realizable than has previously been thought. A structured programing methodology that uses a point-and-click technique and that requires little syntactic sophistication on the part of the participant is presented. (LB)

Compared the effects of LOGO Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI), and a standard curriculum without computer exposure among grade three Zimbabwean children. No significant differences were found between the groups exposed to LOGO and to CAI, but both achieved significantly greater gains that the groups without computer exposure. Results suggest that…

Explored relationships among gender, play style, and skilled performance in LOGO computer-based tasks of four-year-old children. Found no significant gender differences in play styles and LOGO skills. Predictors of LOGO competence were differentiated by gender. Suggests that boys' and girls' routes to competence differ, though both genders display…

Investigated the effects of developmental and nondevelopmental computer software on four- and five-year-old children's intelligence, creativity, and self-esteem. Also assessed the effect of supplementing developmental software with related activities. Children exposed to developmental software supplemented with activities had gains in more areas…

Thirteen 8- to 10-year-old students participated in a Lego-LOGO learning environment, coupling Lego building-block activities with Logo computer programming, to evaluate whether this learning environment was conducive to metacognitive awareness and cooperation. Results suggested positive cognitive and affective outcomes, especially for the younger…