Discusses electronic spreadsheets and how they can be useful as a classroom tool for mathematical calculations and creating text matrices. Provides examples of electronic spreadsheets for plotting genealogy, comparing types of crocodilians, compiling data for "mystery liquids," and charting the differences and similarities among three…

Proposes a three-tiered model of online teaching, consisting of low-level information dissemination, Web-enabled course supplements, and Web-engaged activities. Discusses how existing online course management systems generally do not support the full range of Web-engaged activities currently possible. Highlights stand-alone tools which do so and…

Describes teachers' use of education technology for instructional purposes in their classrooms and schools, the availability of this technology, teachers' training and preparation for using this technology, and the barriers to their using it. Data, most of which are from the Fast Response Survey System, indicate that about half of teachers with…

The computer tools for interactive mathematical activity (TIMA) were designed to provide children a medium in which they could enact the mathematical operations of unitizing, uniting, fragmenting, segmenting, partitioning, replicating, iterating and measuring. TIMA were developed in the context of a constructivist teaching experiment focused on…

Describes a research and development project whose main focus is the use of Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) in mathematics classrooms and the didactical possibilities linked with its use. Focuses on the possibilities and problems of cooperation between theory and practice and between mathematics educators and teachers. (Author/MM)

Notions of competency have dominated the computer education literature, and have underpinned Competency-Based Training (CBT) in information technology at all levels of education and training. The emergence of counter-narratives underpinned by the capability movement, have as yet had minimal impact on practice in computer education. New discourses…

Computer animation-simulation models of complex processes and events, which are the method of instruction, can be an effective didactic device. Gaining deeper knowledge about objects modelled helps to plan simulation experiments oriented on processes and events researched. Animation experiments realized on multimedia computers can aid easier…

Examines an isolated hydrogen atom in its ground state contained within a spherical shell. Demonstrates that by using a mathematical package and a simple shooting process, accurate values of a variety of the properties of compressed hydrogen can be obtained simply and quickly with a few lines of code. (Author/KHR)

Visitors to the Peck School this year would see a very different scene than two years ago. The school has expanded its laptop program to include younger students, begun construction on two new buildings, and revamped the daily schedule. Laptops are moving into the lower grades, with younger students at a ratio of two students per computer and…

The runtime creation of pedagogically coherent learning content for an individual learner's needs and preferences is a considerable challenge. By selecting and combining appropriate learning assets into a new learning object such needs and preferences may be accounted for. However, to assure coherence, these objects should be consumed within…

There was a time when the chalkboard was revolutionary. Before it came along, teachers would walk from student to student, drawing problems on individual slates. Now interactive whiteboards promise to reinvent instruction again. Many teachers are now discovering the benefits of using whiteboards. This article presents several strategies on how…

Children with spelling difficulties are limited in their participation in all written school activities. We aimed to investigate the influence of word-prediction as a tool on spelling accuracy and typing speed. To this end, we selected 80 Grade 4-6 children with spelling difficulties in a school for special needs to participate in a research…

Of late, digital game-based learning has attracted game designers, researchers and educators alike. Immersion in the virtual 3D environment of a game may have positive effects on K-12 students' cultivation of self (Dodge et al., 2006). Currently, two opposing views related to game-based identity formation are presented in the literature: the…

Most educators, parents, and policymakers think of "online learning" as a subset of distance learning (where the students and teacher are geographically separate), in which content delivery and communication are achieved primarily through the use of computers connected by the Internet. However, online learning can be either distance…

NIER (National Institute of Educational Research, 2004) survey revealed that the most common attitude of Japanese high school students to mathematics is that "it is not useful in daily life but must be learnt for entrance examinations". It was also clarified that only 3.2 percent of mathematics teachers use computers in their classes.…