This field experiment begins to build a theoretical framework for exploring the effects of media characteristics on subjects' understanding and integration of information. Students in two eighth-grade science classes wrote term papers with one class using a print encyclopedia and the other an electronic encyclopedia to conduct their research. A…

Designed to evaluate the use of microcomputer-based labware (MBL) in junior high school science, the Computer as Lab Partner Project examined classroom experience of using MBL; system features used and curriculum designed; classroom procedures, processes, and interactions; gains and benefits of MBL use; and potential difficulties in MBL…

This field study examined learning effects attributable to instructional design characteristics when eighth-grade science students used a print encyclopedia or a videotex version of the encyclopedia to write term papers. Results suggest that specific effects of instructional design characteristics of a delivery system are of a limited nature. (MBR)