In the Australian mathematics curriculum, Year 12 students (aged 16-17) are asked to solve conditional probability problems that involve the representation of the problem situation with two-way tables or three-dimensional diagrams and consider sampling procedures that result in different correct answers. In a small exploratory study, we…

On each of 10 trials, 80 college students were presented with a different set of five anagram tasks varying in complexity. Half the subjects rated the tasks for the amount of interestingness and half for the amount of pleasantness. (Editor/RK)

The purpose of this paper was to examine what effect active community service, incorporated in an urban studies program, would have on students' attitudes toward school. Seven different categories of student attitudes were analyzed. (Author/RK)

This article has demonstrated the value of intuitive-reflection social science instruction at the introductory college level. Personal experience suggests that much the same results would occur among high school students. (Author/RK)

In a study to determine whether a male/female difference existed in the type of software preschool children selected and preferred (drill and practice or problem solving), results indicate no preference by sex was expressed; rather, there was an overwhelming preference for problem solving software by both males and females. (MBR)

This study sought to describe graduate students' opinions of selected learning activities encountered in large-group, teacher-led instructional contexts. The subjects, 40 graduate students of instructional technology at a major western university, completed a questionnaire. The instrument asked subjects to rate each of ten alternative learning…

This study was conducted to determine whether students would use a computer-presented organizational/memory tool as an aid in problem solving, and whether and how locus of control would affect tool use and problem-solving performance. Learners did use the tools, which were most effective in the learner control with feedback condition. (MBR)

This study of third graders examined whether qualitatively distinct cooperative computer environments (using LOGO and curriculum-based instruction in writing) engender social experiences that enhance motivation and self-concepts as learners; and the extent to which differences in motivation and self-perception accounted for differences in…

Discussion of instructional design models focuses on a study concerned with developing effective instruction in heuristic-based problem solving for computer programing. Highlights include distinctions between algorithms and heuristics; pretests and posttests; revised instructional design procedures; student attitudes; task analysis; and…

Describes a study that investigated preservice elementary teachers' decisions about teaching strategies and their attitudes toward mathematics and computer-related technologies in a constructivist-centered methods course which included the use of problem-solving multimedia. The effectiveness of these strategies in developing more positive…

Describes a pilot study of computerized adaptive testing in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program's tenth-grade mathematics problem-solving and applications subtests. Comparisons are made to pencil-and-paper tests, and student reactions as determined by a posttest survey are discussed. (LRW)

Reports on a study of the influence of problem-solving computer software on the attitudes of secondary school students toward mathematics while using computer-assisted instruction. Student performance on pretests and posttests are compared, gender differences are discussed, and implications for mathematics instruction are suggested. (10…

Presents an analysis of the learning outcomes pertaining to one unit of the undergraduate television distance-education course, Information Technology, in the computer science program at University Laval (Quebec, Canada). Investigates the relative effects of television distance education versus tradition classroom teaching on learning…

This comparison of the effects of LOGO use with the use of teacher-directed problem-solving instruction, and with conventional mathematics instruction, focused on the problem-solving ability, basic skills achievement, and attitudes of junior high school learners. Students (N=97) in five seventh grade mathematics classes were systematically…

Describes a study that investigated the effects of computer programing activities, supplemented with problem-solving strategy instruction, on programing skills and on learner attitudes toward computers and toward problem-solving skills. The instruction of elementary students in LOGO and junior high students in BASIC is described, and further…