Students need to know how to find and use information, yet only 31 percent of information searches succeed. Google and Wikipedia are not the only providers of answers, although they are often students' first stops for information. Everyone knows how to open a browser, but can teachers assume they know how to search effectively for information? In…

WebTOP is a three-dimensional, Web-based, interactive computer graphics system that helps instructors teach and students learn about waves and optics. Current subject areas include waves, geometrical optics, reflection and refraction, polarization, interference, diffraction, lasers, and scattering. Some of the topics covered are suited for…

Contains an illustration and text to aid in describing the DynaPulse 200M Education Edition microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL), which combines interactive software with curriculum and medical instruction to teach students about the cardiovascular system. Review includes key features of the software, cost, and ease of use. (ZWH)

ExCELS is a program that supports teachers interested in the use of computer interfacing at the secondary school level. This paper describes an ExCEL-based course developed for science education majors, presents an overview of interface apparatus and how it is used in schools, and gives examples of experiments performed. (LZ)

Describes an experiment to study the motion of a rocket-propelled vehicle over the entire duration of the engine burn using a video system with a frame-by-frame playback and a Sonic Ranger for ultrasonic position movements. Enables students to study the impulse-momentum principle and the effects of a time-varying force. (JRH)

The Oklahoma Association of Teacher Educators 2009 Journal includes the following four peer reviewed articles: (1) The Changing Role of Grandparents (Fred D. Hammond, III, Terry E. Spigner, Charolette Myles-Nixon, and Pauline Holloway); (2) Pedagogical Agent Instructional Design Challenges (Jon Martens); (3) Differences in Relatedness across…

Computers are routinely used to control experiments in modern science laboratories. This should be reflected in laboratories in an educational setting. There is a mismatch between the power that can be delivered by a computer interfacing card or a TTL logic circuit and that required by many practical pieces of laboratory equipment. One common way…

This book is about the Computer Clubhouse--the idea and the place--that inspires youth to think about themselves as competent, creative, and critical learners. So much of the social life of young people has moved online and participation in the digital public has become an essential part of youth identities. The Computer Clubhouse makes an…

Describes the National ADC0804, an inexpensive and readily available integrated ADC converter that can convert an analog voltage to an 8-bit signal. Includes schematic drawings. (DDR)

Provides ideas and outcomes for nine computer laboratory experiments using a commercial eight-bit analog to digital (ADC) interface. Experiments cover statistics; rotation; harmonic motion; voltage, current, and resistance; ADC conversions; temperature measurement; single slit diffraction; and radioactive decay. Includes necessary schematics. (MVL)

Presents a distillation experiment that uses temperature sensors connected to a computer in place of thermometers, and enables the whole class to view the data on a monitor and interpret and discuss the data in real time. (JRH)