High-tech tools can be integrated to serve a number of purposes in the mathematics classroom, with different purposes being appropriate for different learning goals. We focus specifically on the various purposes for interactive simulations (sims). This study followed three experienced middle-school mathematics teachers integrating PhET sims into…

This paper describes how beginners of Icelandic as a foreign and second language responded to playing the first scene in Virtual Reykjavik, a video game-like environment where learners interact with virtual characters--Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs). This game enables learners to practice speaking and listening skills, to learn about the…

This paper presents the prototype of a foreign language learning space, based on the construction of an integrated formal/informal learning environment. Before the background of the continued innovation of information technology that places conventional learning styles and educational methods into new contexts based on new value-standards,…

Games for crisis management offer an interesting complement to traditional training. Experiments on their usage show that games can be promising tools able to address some of the limitations of traditional training. Also our first assessment with a board game for panic management shows that this particular kind of game could be useful for soft…

To ensure the quality of digital simulation game, we utilized the usability evaluation heuristic in the design and development processes of e-café operational management game-based learning material for students. The application of usability evaluations during this study is described. Additionally, participant selection, data collection and…

This paper reports on the different gesture types employed by twenty-three Year 10 students as they endeavoured to explain their understanding of rate of change associated with the functions resulting from two different computer simulations. These gestures also have application to revealing students' understanding of functions. However,…

Notwithstanding their potential for novel approaches to language teaching and learning, Virtual Worlds (VWs) present numerous technological and pedagogical challenges that require new paradigms if the language learning experience and outcomes are to be successful. In this presentation, we argue that the notions of presence and affordance, together…

Organizing and implementing telecollaboration projects in foreign language curricula is not an easy endeavour (Belz & Thorne, 2006; Guth & Helm, 2010), as pedagogical, organizational and technical issues have to be addressed before cross-cultural interaction sessions can be carried out (O'Dowd & Ritter, 2006). These issues make many teaching…

Recent research on hypothesis testing strategies (the strategy a person uses to determine the correctness of a specific hypothesis) has produced contradictory results. The three strategies available have been labeled confirmatory, neutral, and disconfirmatory. Some research has found that a confirmatory testing style predominates, while other…

This study examined how first-year law students developed a civil rights case using an open-ended interactive videodisk ("Litigation Strategies"), which uses a visual and textual database to complement the traditional curriculum by simulating the experience of a junior partner in a law firm. An implementation and formative evaluation…

This document explains the use of Eliza, a widely known computer program that reacts to the user by simulating the responses of a psychotherapist, as a teaching aid in undergraduate clinical psychology courses. The methods for conducting the exercise, for integrating it into the course syllabus, and for evaluating its impact on students are…

Some diverse fields in which the effects of mental representations have been noticed are first discussed, largely through illustrations of differing problem-solving experiences. Then the LAKOS Project (Logical Analysis of Cognitive Organizational Structures) at the University of Osnabruck is described. A central concern is the specification of a…

Interactive, multimedia software involving a simulated subject has been created to help trainees develop interview and interrogation techniques using personal computers, because practice interviews are not always realistic and are too expensive. New and experienced law enforcement agents, among others, need such extensive training in techniques…

The Water and Molecular Networks (WAMNet) Project uses graduate student written Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) computer simulations of the molecular structure of water to assist high school students learn about the nature of water. This study examined: (1) preconceptions concerning the molecular structure of water common among high…