Teaching and learning database design is difficult for both instructors and students. Students need to solve many problems with feedback and corrections. A Web-based specialized expert system was created to enable students to create designs online and receive immediate feedback. An experiment testing the system shows that it significantly enhances…

Based on artificial intelligence research, the frame based system for reasoning described in this paper is one of the components of an intelligent decision support system for an information system on petroleum resources and use which is being designed by the Information Methodology Research Project as the first step in the development of a…

The approach to problem solving which is presented has two components--closeness and reformulation. The closeness measure is a cognitively-based heuristic function. It incorporates the notion of what cognition notices as the structural difference between two situations. The problem-solver attempts to close the structural gap, and once this is done…

The new mechanism, PUSS, enables experience of any complex environment to be accumulated in a predictive model. PURR-PUSS is a teachable robot system based on the new mechanism. Cumulative learning is demonstrated by a detailed example. (Author)

Outlines a new approach to the design of learning machines which can be taught how to solve problems in industrial automation and other fields; and describes PURR-PUSS, a working system embodying this approach. The two key features of the system are "multiple context" and "novelty"; their contribution to the teachability of…

Once touted as the wonder programming language of the classroom, Logo is now a hotbed of controversy. Various issues related to the controversy are examined in an interview with Seymuor Papert, coauthor of the language. (JN)

Expert systems are briefly reviewed and applications in special education diagnosis and classification are described. Future applications are noted to include text interpretation and pupil performance monitoring. (CL)

Briefly introduces the programming languages of artificial intelligence and presents information on some of the new versions of these languages available for microcomputers. A tutorial for PROLOG-86, a new microcomputer version of PROLOG, is given. Information on other microcomputer versions of these programs and a bibliography are included.…

The ability of computers to understand phrases and sentences has implications for future trends in counseling. Examples of computer-person interaction are given. (Author)

Describes traditional legal information retrieval systems--Juris, Lexis, Westlaw--and several new rule-based, knowledge-based, legal knowledge reasoning, and analytical legal information systems--Waterman and Peterson's Legal Decisionmaking System, Hafner's Legal Information Retrieval System, McCarty's TAXMAN, and the deBessonet representation of…

Human expert problem-solving in science is defined and used to account for scientific discovery. These ideas are used to describe BACON.5, a machine expert problem solver that discovers scientific laws using data-driver heuristics and "expectations" such as symmetry. Implications of BACON.5 type research for traditional science education…

Interest in cognitive science resulted from social trends that occurred in society due to the postindustrial revolution. A discussion of the key ideas of the cognitive sciences is offered. (DF)

Developments in artificial intelligence have relevance for the education of severely/profoundly retarded persons by enhancing the learning of facts, principles, skills and concepts and by providing opportunities (via more portable equipment) for applications in a wide variety of settings. (CL)

Surveys some of the intelligent computer assisted instruction programs that have been authored and differentiates them from traditional computer assisted instruction. (Author)

Considers three powerful techniques--heuristics, context trees, and search via backward chaining--that a knowledge engineer might employ to develop an expert system to automate performance engineering, i.e., the branch of instructional technology that focuses on the problems of business and industry. (MBR)