Including the arts in the curriculum is a tough sell these days. In many districts, budgets have been cut, enrollment has increased, and there are tests to pass--forget about teaching Johnny to paint. But the discipline that many refer to as "the fourth R" may never have been more relevant to students' futures than today. That is because an…

It is well-documented that most students do not have adequate proficiencies in inquiry and metacognition, particularly at deeper levels of comprehension that require explanatory reasoning. The proficiencies are not routinely provided by teachers and normal tutors so it is worthwhile to turn to computer-based learning environments. This article…

For most districts, the dream of arming their students and fellow educators with laptops--perhaps reaching the vaunted status of being a one-to-one school--holds a powerful appeal. Yet whether a district is making that push to get laptops into the hands of each student or simply considering upgrades to mobile carts, districts are facing no…

Students use computer software to construct personalized fractal art. (Contains 7 figures and 1 table.)

Structure/function relationships are fundamental to understanding the properties of biological molecules, and thus it is imperative that biochemistry students learn how to analyze such relationships. Here we describe Chime-based web page templates and tutorials designed to help students develop their own strategies for exploring macromolecular…

This article's main claim is that to support individuals' development toward becoming self-regulated learners requires certain amounts of other-regulation, i.e. scaffolding. Starting from this assertion, we discuss 6 issues that surfaced in the 5 articles of this special issue. First, we argue that designers need good reasons for taking freedom…

The crux in psychometrics is how to estimate the probability that a respondent answers an item correctly on one occasion out of many. Under the current testing paradigm this probability is estimated using all kinds of statistical techniques and mathematical modeling. Multiple evaluation is a new testing paradigm using the person's own personal…

Based on a collective case study of the use of an economics Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tutorial-based package, WinEcon, in 3 British schools, this article examines the activity structures that exist in ICT-mediated lessons situated within their broader sociocultural contexts. Activity theory and its highly developed ideas of…

Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) is a course that is required during the third year in the mechanical engineering curriculum at Binghamton University. The primary objective of the course is to educate students in the procedures of computer-aided engineering design. The solid modeling and analysis program Pro/Engineer[TM] (PTC[R]) is used as the…

German teachers' use of DVDs, purchased abroad, has become increasingly difficult through restrictions imposed by the motion pictures industry on DVDs, DVD-playing equipment and software. In addition, the law, in particular through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has imposed restrictions that negatively affect the fair use of digital…

The new definition of interactivity has as its focal point the skills of people, not the capabilities of the technology. The goal is to enhance the interaction between people and the learning that can only occur among curious and motivated individuals working together. The social nature of people, the increasing capabilities of technology and the…

The 3D computer graphics (3D-CG) animation using a virtual actor's speaking is very effective as an educational medium. But it takes a long time to produce a 3D-CG animation. To reduce the cost of producing 3D-CG educational contents and improve the capability of the education system, we have developed a new education system using Virtual Actor.…

In this article, Andrew Martin, deputy head teacher at Greenside School in Stevenage, provides an outline of the development of the P scales as an assessment tool for pupils working below Level 1 of the National Curriculum. He recounts the difficulties his school found in using P scales to track pupil progress from year to year and describes and…

Researching self-regulated learning (SRL) as a process that evolves across multiple episodes of studying poses large methodological challenges. While self-report data provide useful information about learners' perceptions of learning, these data are not reliable indicators of studying tactics learners actually use while studying, especially when…

Organization and word processing software programs empower students with disabilities to become more independent in their writing. In this article, the authors describe techniques for incorporating organizational programs and word processing features into the writing process. Beneficial features include word prediction, voice output, spell…