A new approach to teaching COBOL allows the student to test his program on the first or second day of class. (Author/IRT)

Presents data on COBOL syntactical error frequencies and an approach that instructors may use to assist students to avoid errors while learning the COBOL language. (Author)

Discusses a variety of issues concerning the introductory course in computer methods in the business curriculum. Among the topics discussed are the nature of the students, the choice of programming language, the choice of online or batch environments, and the approach to instruction taken. (Author/IRT)

Describes an interactive simulated hypothetical instructional computer that significantly improves the student's understanding of how a computer works and how high-level language constraints are handled by essentially simple machines. (Author/IRT)

Discusses the rationale for sharing courseware between educators, describes the problems of hardware incompatibility associated with software sharing, and introduces a multilingual interpreter system which allows instructional software implemented in different computer languages and on different machines to be shared with a minimum of work. A…

Describes an investigation which assessed predictive value of Iowa Test of Educational Development, Science Research Associates Inc.'s Computer Programming Aptitude Battery, and Wolfe Programming Aptitude Test for predicting secondary school students' success in computer science courses, to develop a prediction model, and to estimate mastery…

Reviews a study of 117 students at the University of Saskatchewan which examined the relationship between high school computer experience and university achievement in introductory computer science. The pretests used are described, findings are analyzed, and student withdrawal patterns are discussed. (Author/LRW)