Multimedia can significantly improve education, but only to the extent that their impact is perceived and planned for. Planning mig t be accomplished in a comprehensive, multimedia development laboratory, organized around methodology and functions rather than equipment or facilities. Such a laboratory might plan, supervise, evaluate, and influence…

An integrated framework for individualized instruction in vocational and technical education could consist of five components, including the student, teacher, environment, instructional content, and mediation. In this review, research and development materials identified through a computer search of materials in the Educational Resources…

A literature search, made to provide a data base for a proposed nationwide educational telecommunications system, reviews and summarizes existing literature in the field. Educational telecommunications is divided into eight categories: instructional television, educational radio, telephone instruction, dial access information retrieval systems,…

Presents reviews of six computer software programs for teaching science. Provides the publisher, grade level, cost, and descriptions of software, including: (1) "Recycling Logic"; (2) "Introduction to Biochemistry"; (3) "Food for Thought"; (4) "Watts in a Home"; (5) "Geology in Action"; and (6)…

Provides a list of evaluation services currently producing critical reviews of educational software. Includes information about The Apple K-12 Curriculum Software Reference, The Educational Software Preview, The Educational Software Selector, MicroSIFT, and Only The Best: The Discriminating Guide for Preschool-Grade 12. (TW)

Describes the design of an electronic performance support system (PSS) that was developed to help sales and support personnel access relevant information needed for good job performance. Highlights include expert systems, databases, interactive video discs, formatting information online, information retrieval techniques, HyperCard, computer-based…

Discusses producing effective instructional software using a balance of course content and technological capabilities. Describes six phases of an instructional development model: discovery, design, development, coding, documentation, and delivery. Notes that good instructional design should have learner/computer interaction, sequencing of…

Describes software programs available to social studies teachers. Focuses on FutureFone, a simulation of a telephone system of the year 2000 featuring online services likely to be widely available then, including geography, news, and history of the 1990s. Emphasizes that the program is designed to develop inductive analysis. (DK)

Describes a project aimed at examining the problems involved in a large scale integration of computerized simulations into the present structure of physics teaching in Israeli high schools. Assessment by students, teachers, and the project team indicated general satisfaction with the project. Discusses difficulties of implementing computer-based…

Suggests that intuition and visualization are effective methods of introducing engineering principles to pre-engineering students. Describes the development of computer simulation software as part of a "Pre-Engineering College On Disk" course. The computer game helps students visualize the relationship between shell trajectory and its…

Explorer is an interactive environment based on a constructivist epistemology of learning that integrates animated computer models with analytic capabilities for learning science. The system includes graphs, a spreadsheet, scripting, and interactive tools. Two examples involving the dynamics of colliding objects and electric circuits illustrate…

Describes ways that students with special needs are being included in regular classrooms through technology. Highlights include school-to-work programs; student electronic journals; adaptive technology; science activities using computer simulations; a reverse inclusion model; mainstreaming; and programs with senior citizens. (LRW)

Background: Many of the agent-based products available to education today have been largely confined to games and instructional media that are often produced commercially by non-instructional professionals. Most of them lack customizability and are difficult to integrate into individual subject curriculum. With more agent authoring tools available…

This study of student groups working with the Chelsea Bank computer simulation concentrates on the extent to which students are involved in activities related to the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) categories and to knowledge about work place practices. Studying students using the Chelsea Bank simulations offers the…

This project originated with the desire to offer general biology students a laboratory experience which emphasizes scientific thinking rather than a review of lecture content. To create investigative laboratories without many of the practical problems of their implementation, this project uses a combination of "methods modules" for…