Outlines the current status of satellite-delivered narrowcasting services in Europe; identifies potential applications, including electronic publishing and corporate data communications; compares various transmission technologies; and explores economic issues with the aid of a spreadsheet model for the cases of a facsimile broadcast and a weather…

Discusses how computers can help students learn to design experiments, collect data, and quickly analyze that data both mathematically and graphically. Demonstrates some of the capabilities of the spreadsheet for these purposes with examples of data from gas law experiments. (JJK)

Discusses "REFLEX," a software package for scheduling. Explores the program's applications in preparing a departmental class schedule. Explains that "REFLEX" includes a filter function and some attributes of a spreadsheet but lacks the ability to interact with other databases. Concludes that the program can make scheduling…

Explains how to use the AppleWorks spreadsheet application for estimating labor, time, and materials costs in the construction industry. (SK)

Described is a classroom activity incorporating a computer spreadsheet to study number patterns generated by the Fibonacci sequence. Included are examples and suggestions for the use of the spreadsheet in other recursive relationships. (JJK)

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of integrated software, i.e., software that combines the functions of several independent programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, graphics programs, and desktop publishing so that users can work in a consistent and flexible computer environment. Microsoft Works, a well-known integrated package, is…

Describes the use of core journal network analysis and cocited journal mapping for studying the intellectual structure of scholarly fields and for evaluating journal collections to identify the most important titles in a discipline. Journals in the field of genetics are examined, and the use of spreadsheet software is explained. (31 references)…

Provides an activity to investigate and construct an inductive proof. Claims that this particular example helps students better understand the nature of inductive reasoning and inductive proofs since the expression can be investigated by spreadsheets or calculators, hypothesized, tested, and modeled, both physically and pictorially, to at least…

Describes a spreadsheet model for approximating square roots then extends that model into the intriguing domain of chaos. Focuses on the use of a dynamic model to promote habits of mathematical reasoning, conjecturing, and graphing analysis that support mathematics learning across grade levels. (ASK)

Uses a traditional approach with problem solving, a concrete approach with manipulatives, and a visual approach with computer spreadsheets to teach the arithmetic mean to 22 children in grades 4-6 in three multiage groups. Differences among pretest, posttest, and interview performances suggest some advantage to the use of a visual instructional…

Describes the use of manipulatives for solving simple combinatorial problems which can lead to the discovery of recurrence relations for permutations and combinations. Numerical evidence and visual imagery generated by a computer spreadsheet through modeling these relations can enable students to experience the ease and power of combinatorial…

Looks back over a number of exploratory studies that have researched young children's construction of meaning for graphs produced from data entered into spreadsheets. Discusses children's use of normalizing, an activity in which children 'correct' data towards some perceived norm. (Author/MM)

Shows how some of the simple ideas in complexity can be investigated using a spreadsheet and a macro written in Visual Basic. Shows how the sandpile model of Bak, Chao, and Wiesenfeld can be simulated and animated. The model produces results that cannot easily be predicted from its properties. (Author/MM)

Describes an attempt to systematically incorporate "active learning" into the structure of an elective course designed to instruct students in computer-based approaches to statistics. Concludes that this approach to statistics instruction resulted in both high student learning and high student motivation to learn. Contains 15 references.…