Investigators have suggested that faculty attitudes toward diagnostic testing may encourage inappropriate laboratory use. Those attitudes were determined from case simulations prepared by the faculty for senior medical student examinations. Faculty indifference to tests with limited usefulness may be perceived by students as permission for their…

Seven possible applications of microcomputers in high school science programs are discussed. They include computers as calculators, computers as black-box number crunchers, computers for teaching computer literacy, computers as blackboards, computer-assisted instruction, computer simulations, and process control. (JN)

Discusses several ways in which computers are being used in sociology and how they continue to change this discipline. Areas considered include data collection, data analysis, simulations of social processes based on mathematical models, and problem areas (including standardization concerns, training, and the financing of computing facilities).…

Describes a computer-based Wilderness Travel Simulation Model that reduces the complexity of the outdoor system under study, allows students to act as managers (devising and testing their own management strategies), and increases student exposure to characteristics of actual park and wilderness areas. Two scenarios of recreational use patterns are…

Presents a lesson strategy in which students encounter the simulated decision making situation of having to help Ferdinand Magellan plan and choose the food for his voyage around the world in 1519. It is demonstrated that this simulation combines knowledge of geography with economics, health science, and consumer awareness. (MBR)

Faced with beginning the school year without the necessary chemicals for experiments in a newly adopted chemistry textbook, a department chairperson conceived the idea of supplementing the textbook with simulated experiments on microcomputers. The methodology used to select the appropriate software is described, with suggestions for some new…

Hospital ethics committees are unknown entities. The composition of the group, the tasks and cases they address, their jurisdiction and legal status, and the group dynamics that evolve within them play a major role in resolving ethical disputes. A role-playing exercise was devised that simulates an ethics committee. (MLW)

Discusses the implementation of the "Science in Society" project into Oxfordshire schools. The place of the course in sixth form schools, teacher attitudes about the course, local school initiatives, ways of overcoming problems in teaching the course, and other topics are addressed. (JN)

In this unit, elementary students are involved in many activities that introduce them to the basics of anthropology and archaeology. They interpret artifacts and record and interpret archaeological data, learn about environmental indicators and the significance of archaeological findings, and study conservation. The unit's culminating activity is…

A communication theory paradigm typically is used to investigate the relationship between evaluation information and utilization: "Who says what, how, to whom, with what effects?" This study investigates the "how," or medium of presentation, aspect of the paradigm. (Author/LMO)

To sensitize medical students to the complexities of geriatric patient care, the geriatrics faculty of Upstate Medical Center's Clinical Campus developed Geriatrix, a role-playing game. Students attempt to win points in a board game containing Fact, Concept, and Crisis Squares. Crises promote exposure to ethical dilemmas and invite intense debate…

Future studies can provide a variety of useful techniques for teachers of public administration. Three futures methods that relate to public administration are group exercises (e.g., brainstorming and a variation of the Delphi technique), classroom simulation (e.g., role playing and gaming simulation), and scenarios. (Author/CS)

Provides rules for a game which simulates selection pressures on a hominid group. Objectives include an appreciation of how selectivity works, an understanding of how abiotic factors are able to influence a population, and how interactions within the population can influence the group. (JM)

Describes the use and impact of process design simulators in process design courses. Discusses topics covered, texts used, computer design simulations, and how they are integrated into the process survey course as well as in plant design projects. (JM)

Discusses five values of personal computing, including its role as attention grabber, word processing (and related uses), information retrieval, simulation, communications. Also considers four ways of thinking about the future as related to computing and issues related to computers and education. (JN)