Using animated visualization tools has been an important teaching approach in computer science education. We have developed three visualization and animation tools that demonstrate various information security concepts and actively engage learners. The information security concepts illustrated include: packet sniffer and related computer network…

Argumentation is an important skill to learn. It is valuable not only in many professional contexts, such as the law, science, politics, and business, but also in everyday life. However, not many people are good arguers. In response to this, researchers and practitioners over the past 15-20 years have developed software tools both to support and…

The present study attempted to investigate whether young learners who were new to knowledge building approaches could work towards advancing both individual and collective knowledge, and whether knowledge building could be beneficial to both high-achieving and low-achieving students. Findings reported in this paper are from one and a half-year…

Contains illustrations

Confusion of instructional objectives with the evidence of their attainment has been a problem with behavioral objectives. Objectives of understanding, becoming familiar with, etc., should be stated as such, along with a sample of behavioral evidences of their attainment. (BD)

Factors to consider in choosing media: instructional design, logistics, equipment, material, and teacher preferences. (BD)

Discusses the mystical aura attached to the notion of a systems approach to instruction, briefly reviews some of the instructional systems which have been advanced, and suggests a method for successful implementation of the process. (LS)

Makes recommendations for appropriate types of learning activities and incentive systems, and discusses the role of the teacher in an ideal instructional environment. (RT)

Systems approach" and instructional system" are defined, differentiated, and related. (LS)

Discussion of instructional design (ID) focuses on design processes in other fields. Topics addressed include a definition of design; the relationship of design to other processes; ID as a type of designing; two views of ID; and how ID processes occur, based on a review of the literature. (49 references) (LRW)

Investigated the use of rapid prototyping methodologies in two projects conducted in a natural work setting to determine the nature of its use by designers and customers and the extent to which its use enhances traditional instructional design. Discusses design and development cycle-time reduction, product quality, and customer and designer…

Outlines the development of design science and describes the concept of design space. Discusses rules of good design, rules of good instructional design, goals of education and instructional design, the concept of situatedness, and the developments of an instructional design science, both in Europe and in the United States. (Author/LRW)

Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) exemplifies a class of pedagogical approaches aimed at having students become reasoners and sense-makers in various content domains. While the pedagogical practices among these approaches vary to some degree, they tend to overlap in philosophy and general pedagogical style. Hence issues confronted by those…

This article extends and strengthens the knowledge in pieces perspective (diSessa, 1988, 1993) by applying core components to analyze how 5th-grade students with computational knowledge of whole-number multiplication and connections between multiplication and discrete arrays constructed understandings of area and ways of using representations to…