Provides insight into the interpretative process between instructional designers' practice and a science educator's requirements. Suggests that grounding multimedia design in constructivist philosophy is problematic for two main reasons: interpretation and shared understanding of terms, and limits with respect to the technology. Reports a…

Discussion of learners' prior knowledge focuses on a method for exploring common-sense reasoning by engaging secondary school students in the development of an expert system representing their own intuitive expertise. Students' intuitive concerns are discussed; patterns of reasoning are examined; and epistemic planes are described. (23 references)…

Discussion of teachers' uses of microcomputers in the classroom and the influence of preservice and inservice training focuses on a study of teachers of seventh- and eighth-grade learning-disabled students that examined the amount and type of training they had completed, their attitudes toward microcomputers, and their reported use of…

Describes a survey of secondary school teachers that was conducted to determine their perceptions of their own computer needs and those of their students. The questionnaire, which was completed by 92 teachers, focused on their computer attitudes, needs, and experience. Responses showed that teachers viewed word processing as a high priority for…

Describes a study of high school students that presents two exploratory path analyses of potentially relevant variables influencing both computer course enrollment and self-perceived computer proficiency. Computer attitudes and computer attributions are investigated, and implications for designing educational strategies are discussed. (25…

Describes two experiments, one with undergraduates and one with high school students, that tested instructional strategies for teaching computer programing. The cognitive styles of impulsivity and reflection are examined, completion strategy versus generation strategy is tested, and results support a preferential model rather than a compensatory…

Describes a study that examined the effect of computer programing experience on the mathematical problem solving achievement of high school students. The variables studied are discussed, including gender, ability, socioeconomic status, prior math experience, and access to a home computer, and a path analysis model is explained. (34 references)…