Conceptual change is a popular, contemporary conception of meaningful learning. Conceptual change describes changes in conceptual frameworks (mental models or personal theories) that learners construct to comprehend phenomena. Different theories of conceptual change describe the reorganization of conceptual frameworks that results from different…

The main focus of this article is the representation of the third dimension. The sample is sixty adolescent 14-year-olds. Our research is concerned with the study of the drawings of the same array of 3D objects in three cases: the representation of 3D objects without the presence of models (through verbal instructions), by observation of physical…

Although it has become very common to use World Wide Web-based information in many educational settings, there has been little research on how to better search and organize Web-based information. This paper discusses the shortcomings of Web search engines and Web browsers as learning environments and describes an alternative Web search environment…

The key research question in this small-scale study focuses on the effects that an ICT (information and communications technologies)-based concept mapping intervention has on creativity and writing achievement in 10-11-year-old primary age pupils. The data shows that pupils using a concept mapping intervention significantly improve their NFER…

This paper describes a 10-month trial of a mobile learning organiser, developed for use by university students. Implemented on a wireless-enabled Pocket PC hand-held computer, the organiser makes use of existing mobile applications as well as tools designed specifically for students to manage their learning. The trial set out to identify the…

Today, schools are actively looking for new ways to enable their students to develop storytelling skills. These skills should empower children and young adults to practice collaborative learning on many levels, from reading and writing to painting and project management. In this framework, digital painting provides educators with innovative…

Clearly, writing works differently online. How it is produced, how it is distributed, how it is accessed, how it is read--all of these processes are changed when writing becomes virtual. However, the processes we use to write at "the print interface" and the ways we read print documents are not obsolete by any means--but they certainly…

The notion of collaborating to create open source applications for higher education is rapidly gaining momentum. From course management systems to ERP financial systems, higher education institutions are working together to explore whether they can in fact build a better mousetrap. As Lois Brooks, of Stanford University, recently observed, the…

Imagine a classroom where students look forward to assessments instead of dreading them. In this classroom, students monitor their own learning, receive guidance on how to improve, and can see what all their classmates understand about the topic, too. Now imagine their teacher has tools to find out what individual students already know about a…

In the past, projection systems were large, heavy, and unwieldy and cost $3,000 to $5,000. Setup was fraught with the challenges of multiple wires plugged into the backs of desktop computers, often causing confusion about what went where. Systems were sometimes so difficult to set up that teachers had to spend pre-class time putting them together.…

A pioneering administrator of a campus laptop mandate, the author explains how increasingly sophisticated computer enhancements of the curriculum create more and more learning possibilities and potential, with universal laptop ownership in a wireless environment approaching the fullest use of the available technology.

A comprehensive project in which the students use computational chemistry to investigate a larger chlorine oxide, Cl2O4 is described. The students start the project by reading a scenario and then follow a series of hyperlinks to develop, along with their colleagues, a better understanding of the implications of the presence of Cl2O4 in the…

Computers were invented to help mathematicians perform long and complicated calculations more efficiently. By the time that a computing area became a familiar space in primary and secondary schools, the initial motivation for computer use had been submerged in the many other functions that modern computers now accomplish. Not only the mathematics…

A new concept of effective communication is evolving. This new form of communication, known as new media literacy, incorporates visual, aural, and textual elements as well as a sense of immediacy. New media literacy is closely associated with Net Generation learners and is commonplace among higher education institutions. Larry Johnson, CEO of the…

The advent of wireless and pervasive technologies offers many opportunities for designing learning experiences that encourage children to explore, initiate and reflect. Novel forms of interactions can be developed, that exploit the "physical" and the "digital" in a diversity of ways that move beyond the "desktop" genre of interactions. In this…