Educational software is a growing industry, creating demand for professionals with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop high-quality learning software. This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of professionals who have made a career of developing educational software and suggests educational paths useful for professionals in…

An intelligent advisor computer program designed to assist undergraduate computer science students in producing an entity-relationship diagram, a conceptual model of a database. The advisor helps students perform modeling exercises and monitors student performance. (MSE)

A detailed analysis and computer-based solution to a puzzle addressing the arrangement of dominoes on a grid is presented. The problem is one used in a college-level data structures or algorithms course. The solution uses backtracking to generate all possible answers. Details of the use of backtracking and techniques for mapping abstract problems…

A teaching method for introductory computer science based on visualization and using extensive amounts of software is explained. Visualization is used to integrate other student activities, including reading algorithm and data structure descriptions, studying code for model programs and toolkits, designing software components, and building or…

SIGMA (Simulation Graphical Modeling and Analysis) is a computer graphics environment for building, testing, and experimenting with discrete event simulation models on personal computers. It uses symbolic representations (computer animation) to depict the logic of large, complex discrete event systems for easier understanding and has proven itself…

The use of cellular automata to analyze several pre-Socratic hypotheses about the evolution of the physical world is discussed. These hypotheses combine characteristics of both rigorous and metaphoric language. Since the computer demands explicit instructions for each step in the evolution of the automaton, such models can reveal conceptual…