Reports research findings of an experimental design in which cooperative-learning strategies were applied to closed-lab instruction of computing concepts. SimCPU, a software package specially designed for closed-lab usage was used by 171 high school students of four classes. Results showed that collaboration enhanced learning and that blending…

Describes a tool for building software systems which replace the role of the examiner during a typical Italian academic exam in technical/scientific subjects. Such systems are designed to exploit the advantages of self-adapted testing for reducing effects of anxiety, and of computerized adaptive testing for increasing assessment efficiency.…

Describes methods used by the South Carolina State Library to make its library, both the workstations and the Web site, more accessible to visually and physically handicapped patrons. Discusses choosing new hardware and software, renovating the workstations, and becoming more aware of user needs; and lists resources for Web accessibility…

Describes the development of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System's live, online chat reference service, a pilot project for public libraries in Suffolk County (New York). Topics include chat software selection; a virtual reference collection; marketing; funding; staffing; evaluation; expanded hours of service; email; and extracting data from…

Examines the use and effectiveness of software to help students pass the mathematics portion of the Ohio Ninth Grade Proficiency Test. Results indicated that administrative support, teachers' instructional style, teachers' perceived priority of learning about computers and software, computer availability and access, technical assistance, and…

In this article we describe a mathematical microworld for investigating car motion on a racing course and its use with a group of grade 12 students. The microworld is concerned with the mathematical construction of courses and functions which describe car motion. It is implemented in the computer algebra system, Maple[R], which provides the means…

At the Orange County Public School District in Orlando, Florida, assessing reading skills among the youngest students used to be quite a process. Relying on rudimentary products such as paper and pencils, the strategy hinged on the bubble sheets teachers administered to students once a year. After teachers scored the exams, they sent them to the…

The argument examined in this paper is that music--when approached through making and responding to coherent musical structures, facilitated by multiple, intuitively accessible representations--can become a learning context in which basic mathematical ideas can be elicited and perceived as relevant and important. Students' inquiry into the bases…

This study investigated the effects of computer-assisted comprehension practice using a researcher-developed computer program, Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading (CACSR), with students who had disabilities. Two reading/language arts teachers and their 34 students with disabilities participated. Students in the intervention group…

This investigation was designed to determine the influence of metaphorical priming on students' comprehension of issues and concepts pertaining to the U.S. Constitution when students studied the subject matter in a problem-based hypermedia instructional system. Sixty-five high school seniors studied the system for 5 days after receiving relevant,…

See how several educators are exploring the potential of technology in their classrooms. Citing several Web sites that provide and catalog primary source documents, two teachers show how classrooms can use digitized documents as historians and scholars do. An English teacher in Israel uses technology to engage students as foreign ambassadors. One…

Correlational data and regression analysis provide the school counselor with a method to describe growth in achievement test scores from elementary to high school. Using Microsoft Excel, this article shows the reader in a step-by-step manner how to describe this growth pattern and how to evaluate interventions that attempt to enhance achievement…

Two-level data sets are frequently encountered in social and behavioral science research. They arise when observations are drawn from a known hierarchical structure, as when individuals are randomly drawn from groups that are randomly drawn from a target population. When the covariance structures in the group level and the individual level are the…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether kindergarten children with specific language impairment (SLI) could develop phonological awareness skills through computer intervention and whether speech manipulation (i.e., slowing speech rate and enhancing transitions) in instruction produced additional learning. Method: The…

This paper reports a test on the feasibility and educational value of probeware and associated instructional materials in middle school science education. We addressed feasibility through consideration of costs, teacher professional development, and instructional design. In order to test our approach, we developed 2 middle school science…