Prepared by the manager of a virtual reality (VR) laboratory at North Carolina's Haywood Community College, the three papers collected in this document are designed to help instructors incorporate VR into their classes. The first paper reviews the characteristics of VR, defining it as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional…

This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the…

As technology developments seek to improve learning, researchers, developers, and educators seek to understand how technological properties impact performance. This paper delineates how a traditional science course is enhanced through the use of simulation projects directed by the students themselves as a means to increase their level of knowledge…

This simulation allows students to pretend to go to a one-room schoolhouse in the last half of the 19th century. Students work to earn points in order to graduate from Apple Valley School. A sense of history is developed as students learn about a "school of long ago" and compare it to today's schools. Role play, writing activities, and critical…

This simulation allows students to experience how their ancestors felt when they decided to emigrate to this country. The basic activity is a core simulation in which students role-play either an immigrant or an immigration processor at Ellis Island in 1900. The amount of time available determines additional enhancement options offered in the…

This document introduces simulation as a field of endeavor that has great potential for education research, development, and training. Simulation allows education developers to explore, develop, and test new educational programs and practices before communities, educators, and students are asked to participate in them. Simulation technologies…

Three critical procedural skills in emergency medicine were evaluated using three assessment modalities--written, computer, and animal model. The effects of computer practice and previous procedure experience on skill competence were also examined in an experimental sequential assessment design. Subjects were six medical students, six residents,…

This paper reports on a project where three-dimensional (3D) online gaming environments were exploited for the purpose of academic communication and learning. 3D gaming environments are media and meaning rich and can provide inexpensive solutions for educational purposes. The experiment with teaching and discussions in this setting, however,…

This interactive curriculum has been developed to teach students about one of their most important rights as citizens, trial by jury. Knowledge about this right is critical since most of today's students will be called to serve on juries at some point in their lives. The curriculum's goal is to help students understand the history and value of…

This first issue of the new "Pacific Educational Research Journal" offers articles covering diverse subjects and using diverse research methods. The new journal represents a rejuvenation of a previous publication to address educational issues specific to the Pacific region. Ethnic groups specifically addressed include Hawaiians,…

ToonTalk is an animated interactive world inside of which one can construct a very large range of computer programs. These programs are not constructed by typing text or arranging icons, but by taking actions in this world. Robots can be trained, birds can be given messages to deliver, and so on. This paper describes the design and preliminary…

Provided is a review of a high school/college level computer program (for Apple microcomputers) which consists of six simulations designed to introduce students to simple harmonic motion. Includes a discussion of the six simulations and such information as time needed, probable classroom use, source, and current cost. (JM)

Outlines some general considerations relating to gaming and simulation for educational purposes. Provides an example of a simulation and some examples of commercially available materials. Includes a short bibliography related to this topic. (DS)

Discusses the purposes of the Assistance to States for State Equalization Plans Act, recounts its legislative history, describes its equity guidelines, and highlights the state plans and research studies flowing from the act. (Author/JM)

A student may be so unlike other students that his/her aptitude test score fails to be a completely appropriate measure. We consider the problem of using the student's pattern of multiple-choice aptitude test answers to decide whether his/her score is an appropriate ability measure. (Author/CTM)