The particulate nature of matter is identified in science education standards as one of the fundamental concepts that students should understand at the middle school level. However, science education research in indicates that secondary school students have difficulties understanding the structure of matter. The purpose of the study is to describe…

This study examines one NSF-funded Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation and describes the complexities of such a science education reform effort. A theoretical model based in community, culture, and identity is used to address key questions: How did institutional ideologies, structures, policies, and practices influence the…

Large-scale assessment programs rely on teachers to administer the tests and to interpret and communicate the results. Consequently, it is important that teachers have up-to-date knowledge about the testing programs. Education Departments' web sites are ideal tools for communicating such information to teachers. The web sites of Education…

Holding the premise that the development of expertise is a continuous process, this study concerns expert models and modeling processes associated with a modeling tool called Model-It. Five advanced Ph.D. students in environmental engineering and public health used Model-It to create and test models of water quality. Using "think aloud" technique…

There is no doubt that the Internet has made a profound effect on everyone's lives. It has also begun to liberate education from the confines of traditional time and space. The first incarnation of what everyone think of as K-12 virtual school appears to have been launched in the summer of 1995, with the CyberSchool Project in Eugene, Oregon.…

In this article, the author describes his experience conducting an inquiry investigation in his classroom in which high school physics students design, create, and race a solar-powered vehicle. Students learn invaluable science, technology, mathematics, communication, and critical thinking skills. Fueled by their knowledge, creativity, and the…

In an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Computer & Information Technology (CIT) and Nursing (NSG) Departments at the Middletown and Hamilton regional campuses of Miami University (of Ohio), student team members created a Web-based application to create Electronic Nursing Notes. Students from the two departments worked together to…

This study investigated potential differences in learning between two instructional activities: reading from a text and using a computer simulation. Participants were undergraduate students with limited knowledge of the domain topic (project management). Participants in both conditions (Simulation and Text) improved equally on a decontextualized,…

This article presents the results of an action research study that sought to determine the most effective e-portfolio system for our teacher education programs. Three e-portfolio systems (LiveText, TaskStream, and a university-developed system called Epsilen) were implemented throughout a semester course in which students and faculty evaluated…

Modern communication technologies have modified the tradition of instructor's office hours in numerous ways. This article explores the use of Instant Messenger (IM) software in the context of "online office hours". The authors discuss strengths and weaknesses of IM interactions for instructor/student communication, and examine a sample of such…

Teaching is a moral and educational enterprise. Therefore, teachers are expected to explain and justify the instructional methods and designs they use in their teaching to demonstrate how they meet the moral and educational ends of the teaching enterprise. To justify the use of particular instructional methods and designs goes beyond giving a…

Most schools are unwilling to consider decreasing computer use at school because they fear that without screen time, students will not be prepared for the demands of a high-tech 21st century. Monke argues that having young children spend a significant amount of time on computers in school is harmful, particularly when children spend so much…

Although instructional technology has made large gains in the last 15 years in terms of the quantity and quality of computers available in schools, major questions remain about the effects of all this technology on student achievement. The author has conducted a series of studies to address these questions. By analyzing test score and…

In this article, the author contends that there are three types of students: (1) students who are truly self-motivated; (2) students who go through the motions; and (3) students who "tune out." It is the latter group that is the most challenging for teachers. The author believes that all students have something in their lives that is really…

Substantial disagreement exists in the literature regarding which educational technology results in the highest cognitive gain for learners. In an attempt to resolve this dispute, we conducted a meta-analysis to decipher which teaching method, games and interactive simulations or traditional, truly dominates and under what circumstances. It was…