Investigates the growing popularity of computerized economic modeling as a computer-assisted instructional aid and the associated educational benefits. Provides an overview of current modeling, simulation, and econometrics programs and attempts to identify trends in computer-assisted instruction in economics. (Author/GEA)

Describes the application of case analysis to a learner-centered microcomputer-based instructional model. Topics discussed include the use of computer-based case analysis with adult students; case planning; and two sample cases, one a decision-making model and one a technical model. (21 references) (LRW)

The interact simulation environment has the potential to overcome problems associated with simulations by improving the lack of cost effectiveness, providing online guidance to students, and tailoring the supporting material to suit a wide range of contexts. Results show a flexible teaching and learning environment allows for teacher creativity.…

Use of games in computer-based training (CBT) can enliven material, encourage discovery and experiential learning, and make visceral connections for learners. However, humor can offend or wear thin, and games can be perceived as playing rather than as learning. (JOW)

The Educational Object Economy (EOE) emerged from research on end-user authoring tools for multimedia software and, by 1997, developed into a library of over 2000 freely available interactive simulations for learning. The organization's original goals and its ongoing interest in alternative methods of software authoring led to continuing…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a Socratic animated agent on user performance in a computer-based CD player disassembly simulation. Vocational Education students were randomly assigned to one of two versions of the simulation. One version offered text-based feedback in the form of statements; the other one featured an…

New capabilities in "TinkerPlots 2.0" supported the conceptual development of fifth- and sixth-grade students as they pursued several weeks of instruction that emphasized data modeling. The instruction highlighted links between data analysis, chance, and modeling in the context of describing and explaining the distributions of measures that result…

The turbulent business environment requires business expertise from ever-larger personnel groups. The required business know-how is a combination of knowledge and several different skills, and it should provide the learners with an overall view of the functioning of a business organization as a whole. Moreover, while work is increasingly becoming…

The Virtual Patient, an interactive multimedia learning resource using a critical care clinical scenario for postgraduate nursing students, was developed to enhance flexible access to learning experiences and improve learning outcomes in the management of critically ill patients. Using real-time physiological animations, authentic content design…

Teaching and learning are highly social activities. Seminal psychologists such as Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bandura have theorized that social interaction is a key mechanism in the process of learning and development. In particular, the benefits of peer interaction for learning and motivation in classrooms have been broadly demonstrated through…

This snapshot introduces a computer-based representation and activity that enables students to simultaneously "see" the combinatorial space of a stochastic device (e.g., dice, spinner, coins) and its outcome distribution. The author argues that the "ambiguous" representation fosters student insight into probability. [Snapshots are subject to peer…

One of the simulation engines of an open-source program called the Molecular Workbench, which can simulate thermodynamics of chemical reactions, is described. This type of real-time, interactive simulation and visualization of chemical reactions at the atomic scale could help students understand the connections between chemical reaction equations…

This supplementary volume presents appendixes A-E associated with a 1-year study which determined what secondary school students were doing as they engaged in the Chelsea Bank computer software simulation activities. Appendixes present the SCANS Analysis Coding Sheet; coding problem analysis of 50 video segments; student and teacher interview…

Money, banking, and macroeconomic textbooks traditionally present the topics of money, the creation of demand deposits by depository institutions, and the Hicksian-Keynesian Theory of Income and Interest separately, as if they were unrelated. This paper presents an integrated approach to those subjects using computer programs written in BASIC, the…

This digest discusses the nature of interactive videodiscs and their educational applications, provides information about educational uses of videodisc technology, and presents lists of videodisc-related organizations, books, and periodicals. A general description of a reflective optical laser videodisc is presented, as well as the equipment…