After many years of using the mouse and keyboard as the primary means of computer input, people are seeing a strong surge into a new generation of input technologies such as tablet PCs. As more professionals adopt tablet PCs for use in the workplace, there is a subsequent increased demand for tablet PC instruction in the classroom. Examples of…

The research presented in this paper reaches towards a better theoretical understanding of how students in higher education currently take notes, how this process is evolving in the digital age to include information assimilation, and the kinds of support students need to be successful with their changing academic tasks. To gain insight into these…

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! Digital cameras, young inquisitive scientists, give it a try! In this project, students create an open-ended question for investigation, capture and record their observations--data--with digital cameras, and create a digital story to share their findings. The project follows a 5E learning cycle--Engage, Explore,…

Encouraging students to share their ideas, design mechanisms for testing ideas, and make conclusions about the validity of their ideas on the basis of evidence collected can enhance teaching about friction. The authors focus on teaching science content and science processes in a holistic manner so that students develop enduring understandings of…

Also known as the read/write or participatory Web, Web 2.0 includes such tools as blogs, podcasts, forums, wikis and social networks. It gives users the ability to take in information and create, organize and connect with others interested in the same topics. Web 2.0 is revolutionizing education because students and educators can easily and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a pedagogical method used in a design studio as part of a curriculum-greening process to encourage reflection on the complexity of sustainability and sustainable design. Online reflective journals were used in two semesters of a sustainable design studio to develop students' awareness and…

This article discusses how new and familiar computer technology tools can be used in a communicative language classroom. It begins by outlining the benefits and challenges of using such technology for language teaching in general, and it describes some sample activities that the author has used. Readers are shown how to implement various computer…

We examine whether the array representation can support children's understanding and reasoning in multiplication. To begin, we define what we mean by understanding and reasoning. We adopt a "representational-reasoning" model of understanding, where understanding is seen as connections being made between mental representations of concepts, with…

Pam Wright highlights the role of technology in providing situated learning opportunities for preservice teachers to explore the role commercial computer games may have in primary education. In a study designed to assess the effectiveness of an online unit on gaming incorporated into a course on learning technologies, Wright found that thoughtful…

The Maine Science Corps is a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12 ) program. Through this program, the University of Southern Maine's (USM) virology and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) research group provides high school teachers and students in rural areas with…

There is currently widespread interest in exploring the opportunities to develop learning that can be delivered in three-dimensional multiuser virtual environments (3-D MUVEs). In this paper, I argue for the need to conduct research into the emerging cultures of use in 3-D MUVEs, focussing on the example of Second Life. Drawing on social and…

In this article we propose that the grammar of schooling [Tyack, D., & Tobin, W. (1994). "The 'grammar' of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change?" "American Educational Research Journal, 31"(3), 453-479.] is responsible not only for the well-known and world-wide difficulties in integrating ICT into formal educational settings, but also for…

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA; 2000) requires an Internet filtering and public awareness strategy to protect children under 17 from harmful visual Internet depictions. This study compared high school students who went online with the CIPA restriction and college students who went online without the restriction in order to…

We present results from a randomized study of a well-defined use of computers in schools: a popular instructional computer program for pre-algebra and algebra. We assess the program using a test designed to target pre-algebra and algebra skills. Students randomly assigned to computer-aided instruction score 0.17 of a standard deviation higher on…

Many professionals in instructional education have experienced a relatively new potential virtual learning environment, called Second Life (SL). This article will connect the virtual world to the essential next step in our learning and communicating approach, electracy. Initially, humans utilized an oral mode to communicate, followed by literacy…