Demonstrates a less utilized feature of the TI-92+: its natural and powerful programming language. Shows how to implement several linear algebra related algorithms including the Gram-Schmidt process, Least Squares Approximations, Wronskians, Cholesky Decompositions, and Generalized Linear Least Square Approximations with QR Decompositions.…

An approach to the teaching and learning of high school computer science (CS) to and by educationally disadvantaged students (EDS) is described, as well as the implementation of six pedagogical principles in two learning environments developed for Israeli schools. Following a brief description of the main characteristics of EDS classes and a…

The paper presents a study of novice difficulties with range conceptions in loop design. CS2 students were asked to solve four related enumeration tasks, which required various loop boundary specifications. The student solutions varied considerably in conciseness and efficiency. The solution diversity reveals significant differences in range…

This essay is an attempt to understand how technological metaphors, particularly computer metaphors, are relevant to moral education. After discussing various types of technological metaphors, it is argued that technological metaphors enter moral thought through their "functional descriptions." The computer metaphor is then explored by turning to…

The research reported here investigates variation in first year university students' early experiences of learning to program, with a particular focus on revealing differences in how they go about learning to program. A phenomenographic research approach was used to reveal variation in how the act of learning to program may be constituted amongst…

Practise is one of the most important steps in learning the art of computer programming. Unfortunately, human grading of programming assignments is a tedious and error-prone task, a problem compounded by the large enrolments of many programming courses. As a result, students in such courses tend to be given fewer programming assignments than…

Among educational researchers and practitioners, there is a growing interest in employing computer games for pedagogical purposes. The present research integrated a technology education class and a science class where 5th graders learned about environmental issues by designing games that involved environmental concepts. The purposes of this study…

This paper proposes a learning based method that can automatically determine how likely a student is to give a correct answer to a problem in an intelligent tutoring system. Only log files that record students' actions with the system are used to train the model, therefore the modeling process doesn't require expert knowledge for identifying…

Over the last decade, the Intelligent Computer Tutoring Group (ICTG) has implemented many successful constraint-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in a variety of instructional domains. Our tutors have proven their effectiveness not only in controlled lab studies but also in real classrooms, and some of them have been commercialized.…

Adaptation and personalization services in e-learning environments are considered the turning point of recent research efforts, as the "one-size-fits-all" approach has some important drawbacks, from the educational point of view. Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems in World Wide Web became a very active research field and the need of…

Although Web 2.0 technologies have been recognized as effective means of conducting group learning activities, a critical and challenging issue of Web 2.0-based learning is the lack of mechanisms for promoting information exchanges and sharing among participating students. To cope with this problem, an intelligent blog system is proposed in this…

The test scores of spatial ability for women lag behind those of men in many spatial tests. On the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), a significant gender gap has existed for over 20 years and continues to exist. High spatial ability has been linked to efficiencies in typical computing tasks including Web and database searching, text editing, and…

This article presents the features, design and architecture of the Myst pervasive game platform that has been applied in creating pervasive mobile learning games in various contexts such as science festivals and museums in Finland. Based on our experiences with the development, we draw a set of design principles for creating successfully a…

This paper examines the concept of learning objects, the advantages they offer, and related issues. Learning objects focus on content, while the Learning Design specification addresses pedagogy. Underlying both of these approaches is the motivation to reuse, which has cost and quality benefits. Despite these benefits, adoption of the two…

Describes the use of a commercial hypermedia package for the development of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for the Army's Mobile Subscriber Remote Telephone. Time comparisons with an ITS developed by programmers are discussed; users' evaluations of the two versions are described; and questionnaires used in the study are appended. (Contains…