The concern with a "digital divide" has been transformed from one defined by technological access to technological prowess--employing technologies for more empowered and generative uses such as learning and innovation. Participation in technological fluency-building activities among high school students in a community heavily involved in the…

The notion of scaffolding learners to help them succeed in solving problems otherwise too difficult for them is an important idea that has extended into the design of scaffolded software tools for learners. However, although there is a growing body of work on scaffolded tools, scaffold design, and the impact of scaffolding, the field has not yet…

This research investigated the amount of time that children from different socio-economic strata spend watching television per week and whether there was a difference among children from low, middle and upper socio-economic strata with regard to viewing programme types, including action adventure, news and information, competitions, sports,…

The paper reports on an examination of predictors of success for an "objects-first" course. The predictors considered included prior programming experience, mathematical ability, academic and psychological variables, gender, and measures of student effort. Cognitive and academic factors such as SAT scores and critical thinking ability…

This document, which is intended for use by community and junior colleges throughout Mississippi, contains curriculum frameworks for two programs in the state's postsecondary-level computer information systems technology cluster: computer programming and network support. Presented in the introduction are program descriptions and suggested course…

We discuss teachers' perception of the use of group work in the Information Technology (IT) classroom. We describe the current situation regarding the implementation of group work in IT classrooms in South Africa as well as the challenges that IT teachers face when implementing group work. This information will be used in further research to…

Few studies have examined maternal characteristics associated with heavy or inappropriate television viewing on the part of their children. We investigated the relationship between children's television viewing habits and maternal depressive symptoms and parenting beliefs. The participants were 175 low income children (mean age = 62.1 months) and…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a case-based reasoning tool would improve a student's understanding of the complex concepts in a Java programming course. Subjects for the study were randomly assigned from two sections of an introductory Java programming course. Posttests were used to measure the effects of the case-based reasoning…

In a recent study of the Tampa (Florida) market, TRAC Media Services acquired some interesting information about the market's response to its two public television stations. WEDU is a VHF-signal community station that reaches about 745,000 households in a week, and WUSF is a university-licensed UHF station that reaches about 547,000. Month-long…

This study investigated the ability of high school students to cognitively understand and implement parallel processing. Data indicates that most parallel processing is being taught at the university level. Instructional modules on C, Linux, and the parallel processing language, P4, were designed to show that high school students are highly…

A study examined the promises and limitations of the entertainment-education strategy used in development communication and charted some future directions for this approach. The approach began in the 1970s with the recognition that mass media has its limitations in fostering national development; a more participatory development theory emerged…

These classroom guides for the daily CNN (Cable News Network) Newsroom broadcasts for the month of June provide program rundowns, suggestions for class activities and discussions, student handouts, and a list of related news terms. Topics covered by the guides include: (1) amusement park physics, media resources and literacy, and the war in Bosnia…

These classroom guides for the daily CNN (Cable News Network) Newsroom broadcasts for the month of July provide program rundowns, suggestions for class activities and discussion, student handouts, and a list of related news terms. Topics covered by the guides include: (1) British Prime Minister John Major, trade and Tijuana, sports physics, and…

A study examined the effects of the Children's Television Act of 1990 on television stations' freedom to schedule programs. Subjects were programming directors responsible for scheduling children's blocks in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan, TV market, the nation's 60th largest. The four program directors, whose stations were major network…

These classroom guides, designed to accompany the daily CNN (Cable News Network) Newsroom broadcasts for the month of January, provide program rundowns, suggestions for class activities and discussion, student handouts, and a list of related news terms. Topics covered by the guides include: teen obesity, the Yangtze River Dam and its hydroelectric…