Use Of Computers In Classroom Research Articles

Computerized Adaptive Testing for Cognitively Based Multiple-Choice Data.

Cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) are latent class models that hold great promise for providing diagnostic information about student knowledge profiles. The increasing use of computers in classrooms enhances the advantages of CDMs for more efficient diagnostic testing by using adaptive algorithms, referred to as cognitive diagnosis computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT). When multiple-choice items are involved, CD-CAT can be further improved by using polytomous scoring (i.e., considering the specific options students choose), instead of dichotomous scoring (i.e., marking answers as either right or wrong). In this study, the authors propose and evaluate the performance of the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) index as an item selection method for the multiple-choice deterministic inputs, noisy "and" gate (MC-DINA) model. Attribute classification accuracy and item usage are evaluated under different conditions of item quality and test termination rule. The proposed approach is compared with the random selection method and an approximate approach based on dichotomized responses. The results show that under the MC-DINA model, JSD improves the attribute classification accuracy significantly by considering the information from distractors, even with a very short test length. This result has important implications in practical classroom settings as it can allow for dramatically reduced testing times, thus resulting in more targeted learning opportunities.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Computers on the Cognitive Development of Low-Income African American Preschool Children

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: The current study examined the impact of daily classroom computer use on the cognitive development of preschool children in 14 urban Head Start classrooms. The sample consisted of 208 predominantly African American low-income children with a mean age of 48.8 months. A quasi-experimental design was used in which 7 classrooms had computers and 7 classrooms served as the control. Assessments were made at baseline and at 6, 12, and 18 months. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to assess differences between the computer and control groups on cognitive developmental trajectories. Children in the computer condition displayed significantly greater increases in quantitative development than did children from the control condition. Practice or Policy: Children’s access to computers at home and at school has become increasingly prevalent. However, there is still a substantial disparity in access to technology between different socioeconomic groups. The preschool years may offer a promising opportunity to close this gap in access; however, little is known about the impact of computers on the developing minds of children, particularly those from low-income African American families. Findings from the current study suggest that daily use of computer centers in the Head Start classroom may benefit quantitative outcomes for young children.

The dominator: Classroom computer use by young primary school children

The dominator: Classroom computer use by young primary school children

Computers and productivity: Evidence from laptop use in the college classroom

This paper evaluates the effect of classroom computer use on academic performance. Using a quasi-experimental design and administrative data, we find that computer use in college classrooms has a negative impact on course grades. Our study exploits institutional policies that generate plausibly random variation in laptop use within the classroom. Compared to students who are not affected by computer policies, students who are induced to use computers in class perform significantly worse and students who are influenced not to use computers perform significantly better. We find that the negative effects of computer use are concentrated among males and low-performing students and more prominent in quantitative courses.

Recognition as support for reasoning about horizontal motion: a further resource for school science?

Background: Even infants can recognize whether patterns of motion are or are not natural, yet an acknowledged challenge for science education is to promote adequate reasoning about such patterns. Since research indicates linkage between the conceptual bases of recognition and reasoning, it seems possible that recognition can be engaged to support reasoning.Purpose: Noting the theoretical and practical significance of showing that recognition can support reasoning, the reported research aimed to examine the possibility in relation to horizontal motion.Sample: The research was conducted with 167 children (mean age = 9.51 years) from Years 4, 5 and 6 of an English-medium school located in Lisbon, Portugal.Design and methods: Individual pre-tests were administered to all participants to assess initial reasoning about the direction and speed with which rolling balls travel after collision. Reasoning was assessed in the sense of both predicting and explaining. Thereafter, about two-thirds of the sample worked with software that, via simulations of the incorrect patterns that were typically predicted (and comparison with simulations of correct patterns), engaged recognition as feedback on reasoning. The remaining children became an untutored control group. Replicating characteristic computer use in classrooms, half of the software sample worked as singletons with adult guidance available on request and half worked in pairs without the option of guidance. A few weeks later, all participants were post-tested following pre-test procedures.Results: Pre- to post-test change amongst the children who worked with the software exceeded pre- to post-test change within the control group, and this was observed with both predictions and explanations. The differences were strongest amongst the children who worked as singletons, even though they seldom requested adult support.Conclusions: Although issues remain to be addressed before the approach can be optimized, its viability as support for reasoning has been demonstrated, and this may have relevance beyond horizontal motion.

Changing teachers, changing students? The impact of a teacher-focused intervention on students' computer usage, attitudes, and anxiety

An important purpose of integrating computer use into everyday classroom instruction is to help students approach technology as a learning tool. Effective classroom integration is dependent not only on access to computers but also teachers' implementation of computing into learning. Successful implementation, in turn, depends largely on teachers' beliefs about classroom computing. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a teacher-focused technology intervention on students' attitudes toward and use of computers as learning tools. Teachers' attitudes, anxiety, and classroom computer use are explored as mediators of this relationship. Data were collected during a technology intervention in fourth and fifth grade classrooms in an urban public school district. Results suggest that the technology intervention itself had a positive effect on students' attitudes toward and use of computers for educational purposes. There was no evidence, however, that teachers' use or attitudes had any mediating effect on this relationship. These results suggest that it is possible to increase students' attitudes toward computer use through intense interventions aimed at their teachers. Future research should further investigate the mechanisms through which this relationship exits.

Supporting Conceptual Change in School Science: A possible role for tacit understanding

When students reason during school science, they often refer to conceptions that are derived from out-of-school experiences and are poor proxies for science orthodoxy. However, for some areas of science, these conceptions represent only a proportion of students' full conceptual knowledge, for tacit understanding exists that is superior to the understanding displayed when reasoning. Noting that tacit understanding is engaged when events are judged as natural or non-natural, the paper is concerned with software that: (a) requires direction and speed of falling objects to be predicted, i.e. a typical science reasoning task that engages conceptual knowledge; (b) presents simulations of predicted motion in the expectation that its naturalness or non-naturalness would be recognised. An evaluation study is reported where children aged 8–12 years worked with the software in contexts that typify computer use in classrooms, i.e. individually under adult guidance (n = 44 children) or in pairs with a classmate (n = 48 children). They were observed while they did this. Reasoning about object fall was assessed via change from individual pre-tests administered prior to software usage to individual post-tests administered a few weeks afterwards. The children who worked with the software showed greater pre- to post-test gains in conceptual understanding than control children (n = 47 children), who lacked software experience. The gains were especially marked for the children who worked in pairs. The approach taken is contrasted with traditional approaches to conceptual change in school science, e.g. strategies that rely upon classroom experiments.

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES ON COMPUTER - A STUDY ON PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, INDIA

The purpose of this research is to investigate and understand how students are using computer. The activities that a student undertakes with the help of computers which might be fulfilling some academic or non academic purpose, is of great interest. It will help in understanding the limitations and potentials offered by the technology for use of computer in classroom. This paper brings out the three major kinds of activities that students undertake with computer; self learning activities, Information collection tasks and communication and group activities. The study further analyses the effect of demographics i.e. gender, age and faculty (department) of students on the activities with computer. The results show that gender has no impact on the activities of students with computer. The age impacts only the activities related to Information collection by using computer where as the faculty of student significantly impacts all the activities viz. self learning activities, Information collection tasks and communication and group activities. The findings from this research can be used in designing future e-learning initiatives and development e-learning tools

Análisis de la motivación en un contexto 2.0 de trabajo colaborativo

Se denomina ya con naturalidad a los jóvenes actuales como “nativos digitales”. Asistimos a las primeras generaciones de ciudadanos que tienen en la electrónica y en la informática un recurso permanente en su devenir cotidiano. Sin embargo, el aula parece ser, en muchos sentidos, reducto de siglos pasados. El uso del ordenador en la clase no está generalizado y la utilización de las tecnologías se reduce, con frecuencia, a utilizar una plataforma CMS para dejar o consultar documentación, sin que se observen muchas posibilidades de interacción; el teléfono móvil está infrautilizado y las redes sociales están dando sus primeros pasos de manera aún un tanto dubitativa en el ámbito estrictamente académico.Sin embargo, la llamada web 2.0 ofrece en estos momentos, entre sus aportaciones más relevantes, una aproximación a la motivación distinta de lo que se ha conocido, especialmente en el aprendizaje de un idioma. En este contexto, se presentan los resultados de un estudio, con dos grupos de estudiantes, en los que se analizó la motivación, mediante encuestas y a través de los mecanismos que ofrece la red social utilizada para seguir la asignatura.

Factors affecting teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use

The present study aims at investigating which factors are relevant to induce teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use. Survey data were collected from 361 teachers at comprehensive schools. Based on a systemic view of technology use in schools, different individual teacher characteristics and school contextual factors were examined. Results from a four-step hierarchical regression reveal that student-centered classroom computer use could be significantly predicted by certain contextual factors: the type of school (secondary modern and high school), the existence of an ICT school policy plan, as well as by the individual teacher characteristics of belief in constructivist pedagogy and their frequency of classroom computer use. The final regression model accounted for approximately 31% of the variance in the outcome measure for these factors.

The development of a constructivist socio cultural model of professional development from 1970s to 2011

SCI-LINK: A Model of Professional Development, had its earliest beginnings in the mid-1970s. A brief overview of this constructivist, sociocultural model is described, as referenced through many papers written as the model 'expanded' over time and incorporated other programs. SCI-LINK is a fluid model. Certain of its various projects and component parts have been addressed in publications spanning 1978 to the present. These components have focused on information requested by teachers about new environmental topics such as acid rain, air quality, water quality, harmful algal blooms, mosquito borne diseases, urbanization; on new technology applications such as geographic information systems (GIS), the Internet, use of computers in classrooms; or on personal development such as What is a leader? What exemplifies a good teacher? How can I take charge of my own growth and development? The SCI-LINK model is 'based on a conceptualization of professional development as the empowerment of individuals through a process in which they are given the tools and the opportunity to construct their own knowledge and meaning in a supportive social context." (HOWE; STUBBS, 1998¹, p.179).

Computer Teachers’ Attitudes toward Ethical Use of Computers in Elementary Schools

This descriptive study explores the elementary school computer teachers’ attitudes and awareness regarding ethical computer use in classrooms and the differences in teachers’ attitudes and awareness in terms of demographic variables including gender, teaching experiences, pre-service/in-service education about ethical computer use. In order to measure computer teachers’ attitudes, awareness, and teaching practices regarding computer ethics, an adopted version of Cyberethics Questionnaire (CEQ), originally developed by Yamano (2004), was used in this study. The CEQ was administered to 150 teachers working for elementary schools in Hatay, Turkey. After incomplete and erroneous forms were discarded, a total number of 141 questionnaires completed by 60 female and 81 male computer teachers were considered for analysis. Results show that the opinions of male and female teachers are significantly different.

Information and communication technologies in science education

The advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT) provide significant opportunities to improve teaching and learning. The use of ICT in science education offers even more advantages due to the attractive premises to simulate and interactively explore and test experiments which would be too expensive or too dangerous in real settings (for example in nuclear physics). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the research field of technology based learning by presenting several findings obtained during a multinational educational project (Comenius) regarding the use of computer in classroom, in science education, in Romania, Spain, Poland, Greece and Finland.

Food biotechnology and education

It is clear that the future of our children will be marked by the development of two scientific disciplines: computing and biotechnology. Regarding the first, during recent years considerable progress have been done in many countries around the globe aimed at enhancing the teaching in these subjects and, at the same time, encouraging the use of computers in classrooms. On the contrary, training in biotechnology is absent in many secondary schools of the planet. This formative deficiency generates citizens whose opinion on the marketing of biotechnological products is easily manipulated by both defenders and opposers of biotechnology. This situation is of particular relevance when the item in question is food biotechnological applications that provoke an intense social debate and more specifically the so-called genetically modified foods (GM foods). In this article we report a survey carried out with 500 young Spanish consumers in order to discover their attitudes to GM foods. The work has been focused on the study of the perception of GM foods and their labelling. The results indicate that they are moderately receptive to GM foods but like to be informed through labelling. However, the most important conclusion of the survey is the lack of sufficient knowledge about food biotechnology and genetic engineering on the part of young Spaniards. It is therefore very important that an unbiased presentation of the scientific basis of biotechnology should be introduced in secondary education. In this sense, the project BIOEDUCAR is an important tool to introduce unbiased information about food biotechnology in the Latin America and Spanish secondary schools.

Across the Curriculum with Handheld Computers

Using computer technology to support authentic learning activities produces effective learning environments when two situations occur-the teacher understands how technology tools can be used in delivering instruction and the students have access to the tools anywhere and anytime. The use of handheld computers in classrooms hints at the possibility of providing computer access for every student in classrooms across the country; and with teachers developing a repertoire of activities based on activity structures designed to deliver instruction that seamlessly integrates technology into a variety of learning situations, students everywhere can participate in learning environments that support interactive, creative, and learner-centered scholarship. This article describes the use of activity structures to seamlessly integrate handheld computers into instructional designs that promote these types of learning environments.

Implementing Partnerships Across the Curriculum with Technology

As the number of computers accessible to students and teachers has increased, there has been a growing emphasis on integrating technology across the curriculum. Even though schools increasingly invest in new technologies, the actual use of computers in classrooms remains limited. This paper examines a model developed to guide the implementation of a Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology (PT3) project and its capacity to promote improvement of teachers’ ability to integrate technologies into their instructional practice. The essential conditions, identified by ISTE, provided the foundation on which this model was developed. Emphasis was placed on access, professional development, support, incentives, and assessment, with the remaining conditions embedded within. The findings indicate that the model was effective in improving teachers’ technical skills and their ability to integrate technology into instructional practice.

Evaluation of a Handheld Data Collection Interface for Science Learning

Despite a rise in the use of handheld computers in classrooms, meaningful learning with personal digital assistant (PDA) technology remains poorly studied. We report results from an evaluation of customized handheld data collection software, the BioKIDS Sequence, which was used during an 8-week biodiversity curriculum unit by 5th and 6th grade students in southeastern Michigan. We provide new information on design decisions and usability of our customized software; discuss learner use and preferences; and report rates of data accuracy. Most students were able to enter simple animal observations using an icon-driven, largely linear interface. The interface helped expand the types of data students were aware of, and allowed them to view and review their entries and flag them as uncertain, factors important in supporting accurate data collection. Other BioKIDS research indicates students were subsequently able to see simple patterns in their data to guide the formulation of future hypotheses, questions, or conclusions. The BioKIDS Sequence and PDA technology therefore represent a meaningful use of technology to support scientific reasoning.

Teachers, Not Technicians: Rethinking Technical Expectations for Teachers

Despite many efforts at the national, state, and local levels to promote the use of computers in K-12 classrooms, over the past 20 years, the impact of the computer on teaching and learning has been minimal. In this article, we examine how one school district has advanced the use of computers in the classroom by focusing first on curriculum rather than on technology. While national and state technology standards for teachers, as well as educational technology textbooks, tend to start with computer hardware and how to troubleshoot it, teachers in the district described here spend very little time on hardware or troubleshooting. Instead, as a result of district choices with regard to technology, support, and training, teachers are able to bypass the hardware and troubleshooting and move quickly to more productive and inventive uses of technology in the classroom. Our research offers a paradox for furthering the use of computers in classrooms —if we take away expectations for technical skills and allow teachers to focus on developing curriculum, evaluating learning materials, and thinking about how to provide better learning opportunities for their students, teachers are likely to use technology more effectively and creatively in their teaching.

Teachers, Not Technicians: Rethinking Technical Expectations for Teachers

Despite many efforts at the national, state, and local levels to promote the use of computers in K-12 classrooms, over the past 20 years, the impact of the computer on teaching and learning has been minimal. In this article, we examine how one school district has advanced the use of computers in the classroom by focusing first on curriculum rather than on technology. While national and state technology standards for teachers, as well as educational technology textbooks, tend to start with computer hardware and how to troubleshoot it, teachers in the district described here spend very little time on hardware or troubleshooting. Instead, as a result of district choices with regard to technology, support, and training, teachers are able to bypass the hardware and troubleshooting and move quickly to more productive and inventive uses of technology in the classroom. Our research offers a paradox for furthering the use of computers in classrooms —if we take away expectations for technical skills and allow teachers to focus on developing curriculum, evaluating learning materials, and thinking about how to provide better learning opportunities for their students, teachers are likely to use technology more effectively and creatively in their teaching.

Ethics and the Computer: Children's Development of Moral Reasoning about Computer and Internet Use

With increasing computer use in classrooms, there has been a growing concern of the resulting moral dilemmas that may emanate from their use. Though theorists have conducted extensive research on children's moral development, there has been little attempt to situate this within the digital domain. It is the purpose of this article to examine children's moral reasoning in relation to their use of computers and the Internet. This study reports on interviews conducted with 48 third-grade and fifth-grade students about moral dilemmas involving computer and Internet use. Scenarios involving computer use were developed and compared to Damon's dilemmas which involved moral reasoning about everyday situations. The results indicated that children's moral understandings fell into the expected developmental levels. Significant differences were found between children's moral reasoning in everyday situations compared to those involving computer and Internet use. However, gender differences were not consistently detected for all computer and Internet scenarios. These findings are discussed in light of Turiel's (1983) postulated domain dependence of moral reasoning and the gender differences found so prevalent in children's computer use. We conclude with considerations for school's policies regulating Internet use and potential training programs.