A two-year, follow-up teacher survey to a 1993 study was conducted in 1994-95 to learn how changes in hardware and software markets have changed computer use in early childhood classrooms. Assessed what teachers viewed as important software characteristics, software market perceptions, and future software market directions. Found shifts in kinds…

Examined changing beliefs, practices, and reflections of two elementary teachers who engaged students in project-based learning in a technology-rich environment. Found core beliefs related to knowledge construction: (1) strategic knowledge of how to find and organize information is important; (2) construction of projects leads to constructing and…

Over 2-year period, 83 education majors who served as interns in grade 1-6 classrooms completed narrative observation instruments and conducted teacher interviews on computer usage in classroom. Results indicated that many teachers did not make reasoned decisions about how and when their classroom computer would be used, or by whom, and that…

Examined the prior computer experience of preservice teachers and whether their attitudes and feelings of anxiety are influenced by participation in computer course. Findings suggest that participation in a semester-long systematically designed computer literacy course produces positive attitudes toward computers, reduces computer anxiety, and…

Investigated the efficacy of a computer program approach to help 260 at-risk fourth graders model, practice, and internalize narrative writing skills. Found that the at-risk students responded positively to the use of technology incorporated with instructional strategies for developing higher order thinking and literacy skills. The teachers also…

A case study explored how an effective teacher in an urban multicultural classroom uses computers. Identified effective management and instructional strategies. Results support previous research findings that indicate that effective teaching of minority children involves children in decision making, challenges learners, offers meaningful learning…

Examines teaching styles, technology use, and implementation of thematic units among preservice and practicing teachers. Findings indicated that teachers' instructional styles influenced the ways computer technology and thematic instruction were implemented. Suggests that successful integration of technology and thematic instruction requires…