As school boards nationwide are forced to wield the budget ax-extracurricular activities are often the first items to go. Sports, art classes, and even field trips are increasingly rare. Still, children are curious--and so some schools are turning to virtual means to take students out of the classroom. This article briefly discusses virtual…

A BioLogica trial in six U.S. schools using interpretive approach is conducted by the Concord Consortium that examined the student motivation of learning genetics. Multiple data sources like online tests, computer data log files and classroom observation are used that found the result in terms of interviewees' perception, class-wide online…

A step-by-step plan for creating a digital story grounded in sound theory and research about how adolescents expand their literacy is presented. Students were found to be selective about effects while putting the story first, choosing those that drove the story farther as opposed to those that mimicked what might be seen in films or television.

The term 'distance education' has traditionally been used to refer to education in which teachers and learners are separated by time and space. As technologies used for distance education have become more learner-centred, providing learners with more control over their learning, the term has also come to imply this process. This paper deals with…

This study is an examination of an Internet-based tutorial that teaches the concept of positive reinforcement. An experimental group of 50 students studied an online tutorial about positive reinforcement, and a control group of 50 students studied an online tutorial in biological psychology. Students in both groups took an 8-item pretest and…

This article provides suggestions for developing a laboratory-based research methods course using computers. We describe important considerations for creating this type of course including selecting software, choosing experiments, and teaching students with different levels of computer skill. We also include 3 model projects that required…

This article describes a simple computer program which graphically demonstrates both Type I and Type II statistical errors.

Conventional wisdom says that people should not buy anything in education until research is seen. The following questions should be asked: (1) Does that particular technology enhance learning? (2) Does that piece of software increase test scores? and (3) Do those machines reduce absenteeism? Of course the answer is always yes. No vendor is going…

A new study shows that students aged 6 to 17 who have access to the Interact at home are growing afore and more dissatisfied with the access to the Net available to them at school. Grunwald Associates, a California market research firm, released the results of their survey, "Children, Families and the Internet," on December 4. Seventy-six percent…

Reports on the experience of teachers from 10 different secondary schools using information and communication technology (ICT) in science instruction. Discusses the teachers' thoughts on the materials they used, problems and advantages of using different applications, and necessary conditions for successful teaching outcomes. (Author/NB)

In recent years, research has progressed steadily in regard to the use of computers to recognize and render sign language. This paper reviews significant projects in the field beginning with finger-spelling hands such as "Ralph" (robotics), CyberGloves (virtual reality sensors to capture isolated and continuous signs), camera-based…

This article provides a description of an affordable, smart classroom system that was built for the Technology Department at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. In the hope that other educators might find his department's experience useful, this author, David Domermuth (the department's coordinator of manufacturing) describes the system,…

In the third wave of computing, people will interact with multiple computers in multiple ways in every setting. The value of ubiquitous computing is enhanced and reinforced by another trend: the transition to a Web 2.0 world. In a Web 2.0 world, applications and data reside on the Web itself. Schools are not yet approaching a ratio of one…

Through numerical investigations, various examples of the Duffing type forced spring equation with epsilon positive, are studied. Since [epsilon] is positive, all solutions to the associated homogeneous equation are periodic and the same is true with the forcing applied. The damped equation exhibits steady state trajectories with the interesting…

Computer technologies for learning environments have been introduced with great expectations for improved learning outcomes. However, the great improvements have not materialised; some of these extant studies are examined. Of all the explanations for these disappointing results, the least examined are the affordances of the computer tools. This…