Molecular symmetry plays a central role in chemistry education with regard to predicting chemical properties such as bonding and spectroscopic transitions. Better understanding of the symmetry of molecules requires high visual-spatial thinking ability. Conventional teaching methodologies, with limited teaching aides, fall short in providing a…

Computer simulation has significant potential as a supplementary tool for effective conceptual-change learning based on the integration of technology and appropriate instructional strategies. This study elucidates misconceptions in learning on diodes and constructs a conceptual-change learning system that incorporates…

The "Balance of Nature" metaphor is a pervasive idea in ecology. However, the scientific community acknowledged during the last decades that equilibrium conditions are rare, while disturbance events are not uncommon. We suggest that the exclusive teaching of the "Balance of Nature" metaphor produces cultural, scientific and learning misconceptions…

Effectively teaching the concepts of osmosis to college-level students is a major obstacle in biological education. Therefore, a novel computer model is presented that allows students to observe the random nature of particle motion simultaneously with the seemingly directed net flow of water across a semipermeable membrane during osmotic…

A simple, conceptual method is described for using the spreadsheet scroll bar to find the composition of a system at chemical equilibrium. Simulation of any kind of chemical equilibrium can be carried out using this method, and the effects of different disturbances can be predicted. This simulation, which can be used in general chemistry…

The use of computer simulations as educational tools may afford the means to develop understanding of evolution as a natural, emergent, and decentralized process. However, special consideration of developmental constraints on learning may be necessary when using these technologies. Specifically, the essentialist (biological forms possess an…

As the use of 3D immersive virtual worlds in higher education expands, it is important to examine which pedagogical approaches are most likely to bring about success. AET Zone, a 3D immersive virtual world in use for more than seven years, is one embodiment of pedagogical innovation that capitalizes on what virtual worlds have to offer to social…

Evolution is at the center of the biological sciences and is therefore a required topic for virtually every college biology student. Over the past year, the authors have been building a new simulation software package called EvoBeaker to teach college-level evolutionary biology through simulated experiments. They have built both micro and…

Investigated a microcomputer-based system for the diagnosis and remediation of three Aristotelian alternative conceptions of force and motion held by eighth-grade physical science students. Reports that computer simulations exemplifying canonical conceptions facilitate alteration of students' naive conceptions to a significant degree. Suggests…

Investigates whether and how collaborative learning at the computer fosters conceptual change. Employs a suite of computer-simulation programs developed to confront students' alternative conceptions in mechanics. Contains 46 references. (DDR)

Describes the development and use of two computer simulations for investigating systems thinking and environmental problem-solving in children (n=92). Finds that older children outperformed younger children, who tended to exhibit magical thinking. Suggests that seemingly isomorphic environmental problems may not be interpreted as such by children.…

In the first issue of "Australian Educational Computing," in 1986, Cumming and Abbott reported a controlled comparison of top-down and bottom-up teaching strategies for Grade 5 and 6 students' use of a simple logic programming language. They found that both strategies were rated highly by students and teachers, and gave useful learning;…

Computers represent the digital phase of the Industrial Revolution, contribute to centralizing corporate and political power, worsen the growing environmental crisis, and displace local knowledge with data. By framing discussions of computers in terms of these worldwide trends, readers can avoid the simplistic thinking surrounding discussions of…

The question of how children solve force and motion problems in computer simulations without explicit knowledge of the underlying physics was investigated. Keystroke sequences made by children were saved and analyzed, and children were interviewed to understand their perception of the relationship between keyboard input and on-screen action. (CW)

Contains six abstracts of papers from the National Educational Computing Conference of 1986. Topics of the papers focus on the effects of teacher involvement, computer programs in applied mathematics and physics, microcomputer labs in science, graphing misconceptions, science simulations, and mastery learning with computers. (ML)