Previous research has shown that computer-based tasks can motivate people with autism and encourage learning. As a computer-based medium, Virtual Environments (VEs) offer a potentially useful tool for social skills training for people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, there are some concerns over whether people with ASDs can…

Many students enter mathematics courses with a poor attitude toward mathematics (Gal & Ginsburg, 1994), making attitude as important a consideration as achievement in mathematics (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV), 1992; Marsh, Cairns, Relich, Barnes, & Debus, 1984; Sedighian & Sedighian, 1996). Pedagogical agents are often…

Energy production is an essential part of American society and the economy. In the best tradition of community colleges, Bismarck State College (BSC) in North Dakota has responded to the specialized training needs of industry for over 25 years by forming various collaborative efforts with the energy industry. This article presents an example of…

Finite mixture models are well known to have poorly behaved likelihood functions featuring singularities and multiple optima. Growth mixture models may suffer from fewer of these problems, potentially benefiting from the structure imposed on the estimated class means and covariances by the specified growth model. As demonstrated here, however,…

Data structures and algorithms are core issues in computer programming. However, learning them is challenging for most students and many of them have various types of misconceptions on how algorithms work. In this study, we discuss the problem of identifying misconceptions on the principles of how algorithms work. Our context is algorithm…

Australian higher education increasingly relies on flexible modes of delivery as a means of attracting and retaining students in a highly competitive global education market. While education is among those disciplines that have been most actively involved in the shift from face-to-face to online learning and teaching, the transition for many…

Virtual Europe is a web-based European community from which health education scenarios may be accessed for learning and teaching purposes. Featuring a map giving access to country specific resources, it is populated with different cultural case studies allowing contrasts between cultures to be examined. For example, a student could evaluate the…

An integrated learning object, a web-based inquiry environment "Young Scientist" for basic school level is introduced by applying the semiosphere conception for explaining learning processes. The study focused on the development of students' (n=30) awareness of the affordances of learning objects (LO) during the 3 inquiry tasks, and their ability…

The significant increase of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States raises complex questions about how to provide these students with access to high quality education that can improve both their content knowledge of school subjects and their English proficiency, particularly their academic English proficiency. The development of…

This paper describes a multi-user role-playing environment, referred to as "e-drama", which enables groups of people to converse online, in scenario driven virtual environments. The starting point of this research, is an existing application known as "edrama", a 2D graphical environment in which users are represented by static…

Negotiation skills are essential in everyday life, whether in a professional or personal context. Negotiation enables two parties to address misunderstandings and avoid conflicts through an exchange that depends as much on the interpersonal skills of the negotiators as the tactics employed. Acquiring these skills requires not only sound conceptual…

Many students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are eligible for a signing accommodation for state and other standardized tests. The signing accommodation, however, presents several challenges for testing programs that attempt to administer tests under standardized conditions. One potential solution for many of these challenges is the use of…

Since their introduction into schools, educators have tried to utilize computers in classes in order to make difficult topics more comprehensible. Chemistry educators, when faced with the task of teaching a topic that cannot be taught through experiments in a laboratory, resort to computers to help students visualize difficult concepts and…

During distributed virtual laboratory experiment sessions, a major problem is to be able to collect, store, manage and share heterogeneous data (intermediate results, analysis, annotations, etc) manipulated simultaneously by geographically distributed teammates composing a virtual team. The electronic notebook is a possible response to this…

This study aims to report the effort on teaching vector algebra using free open source software (FOSS). Recent studies showed that students have difficulties in learning basic physics concepts. Constructivist learning theories suggest the use of visual and hands-on activities in learning. We will report on the software used for this purpose. The…