This paper reports on a study of the effectiveness of BlockAIDS, a computer-based AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) education game that communicates information from the U.S. Surgeon General's reports on AIDS to adolescents, preadolescents, and young adults. Game response protocols were obtained from 3,000 BlockAIDS players at the Houston…

This catalog aims to help educators locate materials which will assist them in effectively teaching thinking skills. Research for Better Schools (RBS) serves as the lead educational laboratory for the Department of Education's national project on thinking skills. A total of 248 resources, including pamphlets, documents of activities, computer…

This study investigated the effects of scorekeeping on student motivation in a computer assisted arithmetic drill and practice game. A 2x2 factorial design was used which incorporated the four treatments formed by time score (present and absent) and rank score (present and absent). Selected on the basis of their previous experience with the…

This paper reviews a set of studies that examined what students learn in various virtual reality environments (VREs) designed to promote an understanding of environmental science. The goal of the reported studies was to provide an update to the classic distinction between the role of media versus method in promoting learning (Clark, 1999). Media…

Discusses general social, moral, and ethical issues connected with computers in education; considers ethical issues related to the development of computer-based learning materials; and examines the use of the computer as a medium for ethical and moral education. Highlights include equity of access, games and learning, and cultural bias. (seven…

Illustrates some of the practical issues and problems connected with the design and use of computerized business games by describing three games which have been developed and operated by staff at Leeds Polytechnic Department of Business Management (United Kingdom). Sample input and output forms are included. (nine references) (LRW)

Describes the design and development of an instructional game, GEO, in which the user learns elements of Canadian geography. The use of knowledge-based artificial intelligence techniques is discussed, the use of HyperCard in the design of GEO is explained, and future directions are suggested. (15 references) (Author/LRW)

Reviews three examples of classroom-tested multimedia technology. The titles reviewed are "Scrabble,""A to Zap!," and "Brain Quest." Reviews include hardware requirements, price, and children's book titles that can be used to expand on the software's use. (ET)

Describes student use of Hyperstudio computer software to create history adventure games. History came alive while students learned efficient writing skills; learned to understand and manipulate cause, effect choice and consequence; and learned to incorporate succinct locational, climatic, and historical detail. (ET)

Describes an interactive computer game developed for secondary school students to promote the teaching of multiculturalism. Discusses contextual difficulties, content, design strategy, prerequisites established by the psychology of education, screen design, and question answering. (AEF)

This study was designed to determine whether differences in performance on a popular instructional gaming package would be observed under differing conditions of color presentation. It was hypothesized that performance would be enhanced under a monochromatic and/or moderately colored condition, and least successful under a multicolored condition.…

Studied 28 pairs of fourth graders using an educational software game under cooperative conditions, in which students played against the computer, and competitive conditions, in which students played against each other. The cooperative environment resulted in more correct answers than the competitive environment. The only strategies related to…

Examined the inclusion of an asthma education space adventure game into fourth-grade classrooms. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that using the game significantly improved students' asthma knowledge in the intervention classroom over the observation period. Knowledge gained was retained over a 4-week period. The addition of physician-led…

A lack of gender-sensitive computer games exacerbates female disinterest in technology. Girls-only focus groups revealed phenomena that may help software developers awaken girls' enthusiasm for computing. For instance, girls placed a premium on richly textured video and audio, on collaborating rather than competing, on interacting with male…

Computer games educate painlessly and incidentally, keeping students motivated and interested and enhancing instruction. Such games are particularly appropriate for English-as-a-Second-Language instruction, because they convey the meaning of language both visually and aurally, occupy all channels of the brain, provide a rich context for the…