Decades of research have provided evidence that food irradiation is a safe technology that can decrease the incidence of foodborne diseases; however, adoption of this technology has been slow. The purpose of our study was to qualitatively explore the effectiveness of various components of a professional development training on family and consumer…

Two groups of twelve dyslexic children and twelve good readers attended a two-week class during the summer following their enrollment in grades 4-6. The topic was the marine environment and focused on the adventures of an orca whale that had lost its family and needed the children's help. The children attended class for three hours each day, 45…

In this article the author explores the seamlessness between children's online and offline worlds. For children, there is no dichotomy of online and offline, or virtual and real; the digital is so much intertwined into their lives and psyche that the one is entirely enmeshed with the other. Despite early research pointing to the differences that…

Virtual environments are more and more used in primary schools. One of the most interesting potentialities of these environments is to foster cross-national applications. Yet, this specific feature is not fully exploited. This paper presents a successful virtual learning environment for primary education involving two European countries and…

This booklet summarizes the science chapter from the "Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement," a report sponsored by the Alliance for Curriculum Reform and also published by the Educational Research Service. The handbook is based on the idea that efforts to improve instruction must focus on the existing knowledge base on…

This collection of conference presentations contains 48 papers and 122 abstracts (for which there are no formal papers). The papers and abstracts are presented in two separate sections, but both are categorized by special interest groups: (1) Academic Computing (SIGAC, 1 paper, 9 abstracts); (2) Computer-Based Training (SIGCBT, 8 papers, 12…

Computer models have definite limitations regarding the representation of biological systems, but they do have useful applications in reducing the number of animals used to study physiological systems, especially for educational purposes. This guide lists computer models that simulate living systems and can be used to demonstrate physiological,…

This practicum was designed to address a problem in a teacher education program where case study experience for education students to learn to diagnose learning disabilities was limited and difficult to provide due to such problems as course scheduling, transportation in a rural area, and identifying appropriate children for study. Participants…

This annotated bibliography is based on a literature search which was commissioned to complement the report on a conference hosted by Dartmouth University (New Hampshire) in October 1988. An introductory essay describes the conference, which brought together 30 educators from a wide variety of institutions for 3 days to reflect on the…

This paper reviews the current role of microcomputers as either a cognitive or sensory prosthesis, and evaluates their potential for meeting the learning needs of exceptional students. In the area of declarative learning, computers are used for drill and practice, tutoring, and "intelligent' tutoring. In the area of procedural learning,…

This ERIC Digest presents a brief description of some applications and findings of the microcomputer in science classrooms. It is suggested that microcomputer simulations are at least as effective as hands-on experiences for some cognitive outcomes and may in fact enhance these outcomes when the simulations are sequenced to follow hands-on…

Presents a multifaceted method for teaching engineering mechanics to satisfy several desiderata. This approach includes design projects, group work, basic competency exams, computational environments for simulating and visualizing phenomena, multimedia instructional tools, hands-on experiences, and student presentations. Describes the materials…

Programs described are a community college medical clerical individualized instruction program; minicourses in a junior high technology education class; simulation in a high school accounting course; telecommunications skills in a vocational-technical school; information processing in high school business education; vocational library media…

The author analyzes properties of mutual information between dichotomous concepts and test items. The properties generalize some common intuitions about item comparison, and provide principled foundations for designing item-selection heuristics for student assessment in computer-assisted educational systems. The proposed item-selection strategies…

The construction of a very fast network backbone between all Scottish universities, in conjunction with the formation of a common core curriculum for Scottish medical schools teaching child health, has provided the schools with an opportunity to provide collaborative, computer assisted learning (CAL) across the World Wide Web, delivered by a…