The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) review of the impact of digital technology on learning, "The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation. Full Report" (Higgins et al., 2012) (ED612174), found positive benefits but noted that how technology is used (the pedagogy) is key and that…

A rationale for exploratory learning via computers is presented, emphasizing the need for modeling normal communication development in children with communication handicaps, including deafness, cerebral palsy, and autism. (Author/CL)

A computer language that can be used by people of all ages, Logo allows children the freedom to direct their own learning. Integrating Logo into the curriculum provides students the opportunity to program a computer, to engage in logical, sequential thinking and planning, to solve problems, and to manipulate text, language, graphics, and music…

Discusses informatics policy in Brazilian public schools. Topics addressed include technological dependency; a national informatics policy for education; programed instruction versus discovery learning; the use of LOGO; and the need to change the model of education to create learning environments. (Contains 10 references.) (LRW)

Describes computer simulation programs that take elementary and secondary students exploring. One has students act as Magellan commanding his ship to reinforce history, geography, decision-making, and resource management skills. Another has students use problem-solving skills to venture across oceans and find trading routes to the Orient. (SM)

This article discusses how laptop computers can be used in gifted education to create learner-centered environments, promote independent inquiry, stimulate creativity, risk taking, and development of passions, encourage complexity of ideas and higher level thinking, offer a variety of grouping options, and provide for flexibility and mobility.…

This book shows how and why the computer is so well suited to producing discovery learning environments. An examination of the literature outlines four basic modes of instruction: didactic, Socratic, inquiry, and discovery. Research from the fields of education, psychology, and physiology is presented to demonstrate the many strengths of…

Much constructive computer and programable calculator activity can be stimulated by BASIC programs that are only three or four lines in length. This article illustrates several ideas with accompanying BASIC program, particularly related to the learning of algebraic concepts, that can be explored with both elementary and secondary mathematics…

Real-life expeditions to several regions of the world, offered online by GlobaLearn, Inc., provide social and cultural connections, along with curricular materials that help teachers engage students in active inquiry. Through the eyes of real explorers making actual expeditions, students can discover and become familiar with people and places…

Discusses the nature and function of mental models, explains tools for exploratory and expressive learning, and describes a research program to be conducted in the United Kingdom for 10- to 16-year-olds that is designed to explore characteristics of students' mental models. Highlights include knowledge domains; software, including simulations; and…

Twelve middle school students, working in pairs, used a computer microworld to explore introductory geometric transformational concepts. Despite a tendency for symbolic overgeneralization, the students were able to use visual feedback from the microworld and discussions with partners to correct their own mistakes. (Author/JJK)

About 21% of all U.S. public school students attend schools equipped with multimedia computers, videodisc players, and other software designed to combine text, graphics, and sound in interactive applications. Multimedia software products can nurture the seven multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner, if properly implemented.…

Describes the Microworld Chance, a simulation-oriented computer environment that allows students to explore probability concepts in five subenvironments: coins, dice, spinners, thumbtacks, and marbles. Results of a teaching experiment to examine the effectiveness of the microworld in changing students' misconceptions about probability are…

Three general areas in which technology (microcomputers and video technology) can facilitate learning are discussed: (1) helping students develop fluency (rapid recognition of familiar patterns); (2) providing rich problem-solving contexts that invite thinking; and (3) enabling students to create products that catch the attention of their teachers…

Discusses specific ways to maximize microcomputer use in elementary and secondary schools including peer tutoring, individualized feedback, cooperative and discovery learning, tournament competition, drills and practice, student developed materials, creative problem solving, creative writing, databases, keyboarding, and student software…