This paper outlines the use of the "Writing with Symbols 2000" software to facilitate emergent literacy development. The program's use of pictures incorporated with text has great potential to help young children with and without disabilities acquire fundamental literacy concepts about print, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, vocabulary…

A recent survey of 74 building-level school administrators in Indiana challenged many of the assumptions regarding 1:1 laptop initiatives and how 1:1 access would affect teaching and learning. It also revealed disturbing realities regarding instructional practices of teachers, as well as efforts to improve school technology integration. The intent…

Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. Recent technical advances in multiplayer, user-created virtual worlds have significantly expanded the capabilities of user interaction and development within these…

Engagement is crucial for 21st-century students, and nowhere more so than at the middle school level. Middle school is a time of transitions for students--from a single, self-contained classroom with one teacher who knows every student well, to six or even eight classrooms in which teachers see more than 100 students every day; from a pedagogy…

To apply students' savvy internet skills in the science classroom--as well as capture their interest in science and investigation, and provide opportunities for authentic research--introduce them to real-time data from ocean-observing systems. Students can use data from these ocean-observing systems to discover the winds and waves from storms or…

Data analysis plays a prominent role in various facets of modern life: Schools evaluate and revise programs on the basis of test scores; policymakers make decisions on the basis of information gleaned from polling data; supermarkets stock shelves on the basis of data collected at checkout lanes. Data analysis provides teachers with new tools and…

Many children learn easily by watching others, imitating actions, and cuing into subtle social cues. However, some students with disabilities have trouble acquiring these social skills. These children require a more intensive intervention to make gains in the social area. For students who have difficulties initiating and maintaining interactions,…

Podcasting allows audio content from one or more user-selected feeds or channels to be automatically downloaded to one's computer as it becomes available, then later transferred to a portable player for consumption at a convenient time and place. It is enjoying phenomenal growth in mainstream society, alongside other Web 2.0 technologies that…

New modes of everyday communication--textual, visual, audio and video--are already part of almost every high school and college student's social life. Can such social networking principles be effective in an educational setting? In this article, the author describes how the students at his school, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), are provided…

With the rise in the number of types of digital media and the time youth spend on these platforms, researchers theorize that interacting with digital media can provide significant motivation for youth to participate, create, and become active learners. The Consortium on Chicago School Research, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T.…

As 3D digital game-based learning (3D-DGBL) for the teaching of literature and history gradually gains acceptance, important questions will need to be asked regarding its method of design, development, and deployment. This article offers a synthesis of contemporary pedagogical, instructional design, new media, and literary-historical theories to…

When asked what they would find most helpful to enable them to use technologies more in their teaching, most teachers say "give me examples, in my subject area" and "point me to relevant people I can discuss these issues with". Web 2.0 technologies--with their emphasis on sharing, networking and user production--seem to offer a…

Focuses on electronic mail and some of the many exciting developments that reading and language teachers are exploring around Australia, including: (1) Computer Pals across the World; (2) Sharing in a Global Classroom; (3) The Sadadeen Telegraph; and (4) a list of activities for electronic mail. (RAE)

Asserting that the Internet2 network has transformed research, teaching, and online campus life, discusses how some colleges are wary of the cost, both of joining and of keeping pace with its technological advances. (EV)

Reviews the growth of computer uses in education; discusses the increasing rate of change in society and the need for schools to provide students with information skills and the ability to build personal conceptual models; and considers the role of technology in schools, including expanding the learning community and developing authentic…