In this article, the author introduces Birka, a strategic trading game for high school economics students in either regular or advanced placement classes. For the game, students assume the role of Vikings who have returned to the medieval outpost of Birka to trade the loot from villages they have plundered. Playing cards represent the loot:…

A pilot study at a local school explores a virtual world during English lessons. The objective of applying a Vygotskian experimental design to the study is to investigate the potential of software, interaction and integration related to problem-solving defined as text composition in a foreign language. Focus of research and practices is on the…

This article describes the possibilities offered by the online assessment system Etude to achieve the benefits of formative assessment. In order to find out the way this works in practice, we carried out an experiment with the use of Etude for formative assessment in the course on collaborative report writing. Results show that online formative…

At the end of a lecturing period examinations are used to take a snapshot of the level of knowledge of a student. It is essential that this snapshot be taken at the right moment. Particularly when a student fails, it is important to make sure that it is because his level of knowledge is not adequate, not because, for example, he had a severe…

A bioprocess engineer should have at least a set of basic design skills. Bioprocess design is a complex cognitive skill, which should be trained in every year of an academic Bioprocess-Engineering curriculum. However, there is little existing learning material to support the initial training of design skills early in the curriculum. For this…

Objective: To lead a brief training session over a distance-learning network. Type of speech: Informative. Point value: 20% of course grade. Requirements: (a) References: Not specified; (b) Length: 15 minutes; (c) Visual aid: Yes; (d) Outline: No; (e) Prerequisite reading: Chapters 12-16, 18 (Bailey, 2002); (f) Additional requirements: None. This…

This paper extends and develops theories of mathematical learning to provide a framework for the analysis of classroom video data of students working at a computer in a task aimed at increasing understanding of multiple representations of quadratic functions. Student interactions are coded using novel software tools in the process of analysis, and…

Given the current forms of economic production and corporate markets, the liberating and democratic potential of digital information is counteracted by the concentration of media ownership, as well as by policy, legislation, and the development of proprietary forms of technology. The notion of "intellectual property" produces artificial scarcity…

For college students and faculty in any program of study, the Web is a vast resource of material. Information on almost any subject is just a click away. Tools to help organize and use the information are plentiful, and for the most part free. However, the availability of material on the Internet can be both a blessing to faculty and a dilemma.…

This article discusses issues in measuring lexical diversity, before outlining an approach based on mathematical modelling that produces a measure, D, designed to address these problems. The procedure for obtaining values for D directly from transcripts using software (vocd) is introduced, and then applied to thirty-two children from the Bristol…

This paper describes the use of Kid Pix-graphics software for creative activities of young children--in the context of early algebra as determined by the mathematics core curriculum of New York state. It shows how grade-two appropriate pedagogy makes it possible to bring about a qualitative change in the learning process of those commonly…

The objects-first strategy to teaching programming has prevailed over the imperative-first and functional-first strategies during the last decade. However, the objects-first strategy has created added difficulties to both the teaching and learning of programming. In an attempt to confront these difficulties and support the objects-first strategy…

In this article, the author details the use of electronic mail server in their school. In their school district of about 7,300 students in suburban Philadelphia (Abington SD), electronic mail list servers are now being used, along with other methods of communication, to disseminate information quickly and widely. They began by manually maintaining…

This article is concerned with how learning communities are transformed as they evolve from traditional learning epistemologies towards constructivist orientations and pedagogies. Adopting activity theory as a framework, the article discusses how transformations take place through a two-way process of appropriation (learning from one another as a…

The "newSLATE" environment provides a Web-based infrastructure for language learning. Its design and implementation were driven by the difficulties of non-Roman-script text handling. The software features a cross-platform approach to non-Roman text input and handling and a novel method for automatically generating online quizzes from study…