Years ago, as personal computers and other technological advancements began to find their way into classrooms and other educational settings, teachers and administrators sought ways to use new technology to benefit students. The potential for improving education was clear, but the limitations of the available education technology made it difficult…

New representational technologies, such as virtual microscopy, create new affordances for medical education. In the article, a study on the following two issues is reported: (a) How does collaborative use of virtual microscopy shape students' engagement with and learning from virtual slides of tissue specimen? (b) How do visual and conceptual cues…

Student reliance on social media is undeniable. However, while we largely regard social media as a new phenomena, the concepts underlying it come directly from social network theory in sociology and organizational behavior. In this article, the authors examine how the social network concepts of size, quality, complexity, diffusion, and distance…

When one thinks of the amazing creatures of Antarctica, an insect probably does not come to mind. But this unlikely animal, and a scientific expedition to Antarctica, was the foundation for a learning event that created a community of learners spanning kindergarten through sixth grade and extended beyond the classroom. Miami University's Antarctic…

The purpose of this work was to investigate ways in which everyday computers can be used in schools to fulfil several of the roles of more expensive, specialized laboratory equipment for teaching and learning purposes. The brief adopted was to keep things as straightforward as possible so that any school science department with a few basic tools…

This case study examines 18 elementary school teachers' perceptions of the barriers to technology integration (access, vision, professional development, time, and beliefs) and instructional practices with technology after two years of situated professional development. Months after transitioning from mentoring to teacher-led communities of…

This article discusses the planning and initial research behind the design of an online support community for pre-service teachers. This community is initially being designed to support pre-service teachers with their technology integration efforts during their student teaching experiences, but may also grow to serve special teaching cohorts in…

Purpose: The paper's aim is to describe the first experiences of, opinions and attitudes toward, continuing education using the internet of a group of Puerto Rican pharmacists after an online course. Design/methodology/approach: This is a descriptive study using a focus group of practicing pharmacists who participated in continuing education using…

Research suggests that difficulty in making connections among three levels of chemical representations--macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic--is a primary reason for student alternative conceptions of chemistry concepts, and computer modeling is promising to help students make the connections. However, no computer modeling-based assessment…

A science methods instructor intentionally encouraged cell phone use for class work to discover how cell phones can be used as research tools to enhance the content and engage the students. The anecdotal evidence suggested that students who used their smartphones as research tools experienced the science content and pedagogical information…

This column describes multimedia resources available to teachers on the Smithsonian Folkways website. In addition to massive collections of audio and video recordings and advanced search tools already available through this website, the Smithsonian Global Sound educational initiative brought detailed lesson plans and interactive features to the…

The role of technology in education has mystified the contributors to "Theory Into Practice" ("TIP") during its 50-year history. In the first issue of "TIP," Guba (1962) was confident that "teaching machines are here to stay" and would help education, but raised various practical concerns, such as costs,…

It is still unclear on what and how tool and learner characteristics influence tool use and consequently performance in computer-based learning environments (CBLEs). This study examines the relationships between tool-related characteristics (tool presentation: non-/embedded tool and instructional cues: non-/explained tool functionality) and…

The open educational resources (OER) movement has gained momentum in the past few years. With this new drive towards making knowledge open and accessible, a large number of OER repositories have been established and made available online throughout the world. However, the inability of existing search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing to…

This article is intended to highlight peer response discourse trends and to initiate a dialogue about the ways in which educators, and designers of educational environments, can play a central role in creating more democratic discourse in classrooms. We report on a research and development project involving education experts, computer engineers,…