Examines the process that students in grade 6, aged 11 and 12, go through in distance learning using electronic mail. Highlights include a constructivist approach; acquiring basic computer skills through experiential learning; teacher's role; data collection; content analysis; and results that showed the importance of personal contact between…

Describes a study of Norwegian college students that investigated whether gender, group composition, or self-efficacy in computing has any impact on cooperation, giving or getting task-related help, and level of activity in student groups. Results confirms gender differences in self-efficacy in computing. (Author/LRW)

Summarizes the main themes and presents recommendations of the international conference, "Children in an Information Age: Tomorrow's Problems Today," that was held in Bulgaria in 1985. Topics discussed include computer training for children; the need for well designed research; the teacher-computer relationship; artificial intelligence;…

Provides background material on logic programing and presents PROLOG as a high-level artificial intelligence programing language that borrows its basic constructs from logic. Suggests the language is one which will help the educator to achieve various goals, particularly the promotion of problem solving ability. (MVL)

Discusses the complexity of educating teachers so that they can effectively utilize educational software and integrate it into the curriculum. The cognitive orientation of computer learning environments is emphasized, preservice and inservice experiences are suggested, learning theories are discussed, and a sample experience for teachers using…

Considers barriers which inhibit the development of information technology in Latin America and the Caribbean. Highlights include research in science and technology; the publishing industry; information transfer; indigenous database development; and options for developing countries, including national information policies, computer education, and…

Describes a study of undergraduates that was conducted to describe differences in anxiety in students entering two computer courses (i.e., a problem-solving and programing course and a software applications course) and to assess changes in anxiety levels attributed to each course. Further research is suggested. (19 references) (LRW)

Presents the underlying ideas of the Software Cost Reduction (SCR) approach to requirements specifications. Results of applying this approach to the teaching of programing to high school students indicate that students perform better in writing programs. An appendix provides two examples of how the method is applied to problem solving. (MDH)

Describes the process created by the Accreditation Committee of the International Society for Technology in Education for developing and validating National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation standards for computer/technology education degree and teacher certification programs. Included are selected data from…

Among 71 eighth and twelfth graders surveyed in Menominee Indian School District (Wisconsin), eighth-grade males and females had similar school experiences with computers, but twelfth-grade females were significantly less likely than males to enroll in computer-oriented classes or to use computer games and graphics. (SV)

Interpreting teaching in gender and labor process terms, an ethnographic study of the use of a computer-literacy curriculum assessed the effects of these tendencies on teachers' daily lives. Teachers often used a prepackaged curriculum that deskilled them and left them bored and reliant on outside experts and purchased material. (TJH)

Discusses theoretical approaches to teaching and learning in the past 20 years, and their link to computer and communication technology. Presents examples of recent programs to improve science and technology education among junior high and high schools in Israel, which incorporate the use of computers and information systems to diverse degrees and…

Reports on the evaluation of a computer-based learning system at the University of Dundee (Scotland) used for computing courses. Describes use of the World Wide Web, tutorials, interface, motivation, perceived value in relation to lectures and laboratories, student attitudes, improvements made as a result of the evaluation, and future work. (LRW)

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses, as they facilitate structured problem-solving and cooperation. However, most closed laboratories have been designed and implemented without embedded instructional research components for constant evaluation of the laboratories'…

Norms govern the criteria by which students decide what is good and what is not good, and align their learning trajectories accordingly.We found that the high-school students' norm is to produce working, but not necessarily error-free, programs and to argue for their correctness solely on the basis of a few executions. Therefore, they prefer…