This work aims to demonstrate the use of Excel spreadsheets for solving L-L extraction problems. The key to solving the problems successfully is to be able to determine a tie line on the ternary diagram where the calculation must be carried out. This enables the reader to analyze the extraction process starting with a simple operation, the…

The use of the dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra to solve geometric problems on conics and loci from an 18th century textbook will be presented. In particular, examples will be shown of how the use of this program helped the authors to understand the method that our predecessors used to deal with conic sections together with solving loci…

In two experiments, participants judged the average numerosity between two sequentially presented dot patterns to perform an approximate arithmetic task. In Experiment 1, the response was given on a 0-20 numerical scale (categorical scaling), and in Experiment 2, the response was given by the production of a dot pattern of the desired numerosity…

Formal mathematical methods remain, for most high school students, mysterious, artificial and not a part of their regular intuitive thinking. The authors develop some themes that could lead to a radically new approach. According to this thesis, the teaching of programming languages as a regular part of academic progress can contribute effectively…

This article presents key steps in the design and analysis of a computer based problem-solving assessment featuring interactive tasks. The purpose of the assessment is to support targeted instruction for students by diagnosing strengths and weaknesses at different stages of problem-solving. The first focus of this article is the task piloting…

Skill shortages in the area of computer network troubleshooting are becoming increasingly acute. According to research sponsored by Cisco's Learning Institute, the demand for professionals with computer networking skills in the United States and Canada will outpace the supply of workers with those skills by an average of eight percent per year…

We propose to use didactical theory for the design of educational software. Here we present a set of didactical conditions, and explain how they shape the software design of Cabri-Euclide, a microworld used to learn "mathematical proof" in a geometry setting. The aim is to design software that does not include a predefined knowledge of problem…

Refutes Seymour Papert's premises because they: (1) maintain that computer criticism goes through developmental stages; (2) overlook the fact that the computer's newness in education affects the way people speak of computers; and (3) deny the necessity that teaching LOGO, like other pedagogies, should be accountable to experimental research. (PS)

Agrees with Seymour Papert that conventional experimentation has shortcomings when used to study effects of educational programs. Cites three research methods that, in combination, can compensate for the shortcomings of both conventional research and the computer criticism suggested by Papert. (PS)

The objects-first strategy to teaching programming has prevailed over the imperative-first and functional-first strategies during the last decade. However, the objects-first strategy has created added difficulties to both the teaching and learning of programming. In an attempt to confront these difficulties and support the objects-first strategy…

Discusses advantages and disadvantages of two types of research methodologies used to study the effect of LOGO in classroom settings: the treatment methodology and computer criticism. Stresses the importance of testable consequences. (PS)

Problem solving is applicable to all grade levels and subject areas. This study focused on the development of problem-solving skills in fifth grade students using problem-solving software. A pre- and post-test were administered to 21 fifth grade students. Four students were chosen for the treatment group and four for the control group. The…

Demonstrates and compares three commercially available statistical software packages, Statistics Workshop, Data Insights, and Data Desk, using a five-component investigation model to analyze a problem about hat sizes. (MKR)

Describes laboratory-oriented software programs that are short, time-saving, eliminate computational errors, and not found in public domain courseware. Program availability for IBM and Apple microcomputers is included. (RT)

The recent influx of computer programs to aid students in writing has created some confusion between the linear, directed process of problem-solving and the less directed, more chaotic process of putting words down on paper. Though problem-solving and writing-as-process have some points in common, they cannot be taken as equivalent, because…