This manual is the third of a three-text microcomputer service and repair series. This text is designed to assist instructors in teaching service and repair procedures for floppy disk drives, printers, and monitors. The manual contains five units. Each instructional unit includes some or all of these basic components: performance objectives,…

Provides background material on logic programing and presents PROLOG as a high-level artificial intelligence programing language that borrows its basic constructs from logic. Suggests the language is one which will help the educator to achieve various goals, particularly the promotion of problem solving ability. (MVL)

Describes a study of undergraduates that was conducted to describe differences in anxiety in students entering two computer courses (i.e., a problem-solving and programing course and a software applications course) and to assess changes in anxiety levels attributed to each course. Further research is suggested. (19 references) (LRW)

Presents the underlying ideas of the Software Cost Reduction (SCR) approach to requirements specifications. Results of applying this approach to the teaching of programing to high school students indicate that students perform better in writing programs. An appendix provides two examples of how the method is applied to problem solving. (MDH)

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses, as they facilitate structured problem-solving and cooperation. However, most closed laboratories have been designed and implemented without embedded instructional research components for constant evaluation of the laboratories'…

Norms govern the criteria by which students decide what is good and what is not good, and align their learning trajectories accordingly.We found that the high-school students' norm is to produce working, but not necessarily error-free, programs and to argue for their correctness solely on the basis of a few executions. Therefore, they prefer…

Two problem-solving IBM 1130 computers were installed in two New Orleans high schools for a project designed to enrich the mathematics, science, and physics curricula, to provide student motivation through individualized instruction, to develop course materials, to develop programing skills, and to encourage broader computer use in schools. Four…

A description is provided of a computer system designed to aid in the analysis of student programing work. The first section of the report consists of an overview and user's guide. In it, the system input is described in terms of a "dribble file" which records all student inputs generated; also an introduction is given to the aids…

Describes a Danish program designed to provide future teachers with practical knowledge about information technology and the ability to assess the impact on schools and society. Discusses promoting the use of computers across the curriculum, Operation SKINFO (School in Information Society), video broadcasts, and problems that were encountered in…

"Gedankensimulation" is a term adapted from Einstein's "thought experiments" to indicate mentally created simulations that can help conceptualize ideas. Presents seven examples of simulations that can be utilized to solve problems or illustrate concepts in probability and statistics. Problem contexts include games of chance,…

Describes two experiments, one with undergraduates and one with high school students, that tested instructional strategies for teaching computer programing. The cognitive styles of impulsivity and reflection are examined, completion strategy versus generation strategy is tested, and results support a preferential model rather than a compensatory…

To explore the problem of designing an automated system for instruction in programing, and to study the problem-solving behavior of students, computer programs written by 40 college students as part of a CAI course in Algebraic Interpretive Dialogue were analyzed. The self-contained course consisted of 50 tutorial lessons; the analysis covers…

Proposes using computer programing teaching problem solving. Describes the problem-solving technique of Top-Down Design, discusses its application to LOGO, and provides examples of programs using LOGO. (MDH)

Presents an analysis of the learning outcomes pertaining to one unit of the undergraduate television distance-education course, Information Technology, in the computer science program at University Laval (Quebec, Canada). Investigates the relative effects of television distance education versus tradition classroom teaching on learning…

Our department has redesigned its electrical engineering and computer engineering programs completely by adopting a learning methodology based on competence development, problem solving, and the realization of design projects. In this article, we show how this pedagogical approach has been successfully used for learning compiler design.