Computers And Exploratory Learning

Computers are playing a fundamental role in enhancing exploratory learning techniques in education. This volume in the NATO Special Programme on Advanced Educational Technology covers the state of the art in the design and use of computer systems for exploratory learning. Contributed chapters treat principles, theory, practice, and examples of some of the best contemporary computer-based learning environments: Logo, Boxer, Microworlds, Cabri-Géomètre, Star Logo, Table Top, Geomland, spreadsheets, Function Machines, and others. Emphasis is on mathematics and science education. Synthetic chapters provide an overview of the current scene in computers and exploratory learning, and analyses from the perspectives of epistemology, learning, and socio-cultural studies.

Contrary to the belief that computers isolate users, Karen Littleton and Paul Light demonstrate that learning with computers is often a collaborative and social activity. Learning with Computers brings together a significant body of research that shows how working with others at the computer can be beneficial to learners of all ages, from the early school years to the highest levels of education. It also investigates factors such as gender that explain why some interactions are not as productive as others.

In this revolutionary book, a renowned computer scientist explains the importance of teaching children the basics of computing and how it can prepare them to succeed in the ever-evolving tech world. Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers. Technology changes every day, but the basic ways that computers can help us learn remain. For thousands of teachers and parents who have sought creative ways to help children learn with computers, Mindstorms is their bible.

Most would agree that the acquisition of problem-solving ability is a primary goal of education. The emergence of the new information technologiesin the last ten years has raised high expectations with respect to the possibilities of the computer as an instructional tool for enhancing students' problem-solving skills. This volume is the first to assemble, review, and discuss the theoretical, methodological, and developmental knowledge relating to this topical issue in a multidisciplinary confrontation of highly recommended experts in cognitive science, computer science, educational technology, and instructional psychology. Contributors describe the most recent results and the most advanced methodological approaches relating to the application of the computer for encouraging knowledge construction, stimulating higher-order thinking and problem solving, and creating powerfullearning environments for pursuing those objectives. The computer applications relate to a variety of content domains and age levels.

A book for anyone who wants to learn programming to explore and create, with exercises and projects to help the reader learn by doing. This book introduces programming to readers with a background in the arts and humanities; there are no prerequisites, and no knowledge of computation is assumed. In it, Nick Montfort reveals programming to be not merely a technical exercise within given constraints but a tool for sketching, brainstorming, and inquiring about important topics. He emphasizes programming's exploratory potential—its facility to create new kinds of artworks and to probe data for new ideas. The book is designed to be read alongside the computer, allowing readers to program while making their way through the chapters. It offers practical exercises in writing and modifying code, beginning on a small scale and increasing in substance. In some cases, a specification is given for a program, but the core activities are a series of “free projects,” intentionally underspecified exercises that leave room for readers to determine their own direction and write different sorts of programs. Throughout the book, Montfort also considers how computation and programming are culturally situated—how programming relates to the methods and questions of the arts and humanities. The book uses Python and Processing, both of which are free software, as the primary programming languages.

First Published in 1994. This book is about modelling in education. It is about providing children with computer tools to enable them to create their own worlds, to express their own representations of their world, and also to explore other people's representations - learning with artificial worlds. This title is best suited for the classroom teacher who has used some modelling, and now wishes to seriously consider the role of modelling within their curriculum.

Hypermedia technology needs a creative approach from the outset in the design of software to facilitate human thinking and learning. This book opens a discussion of the potential of hypermedia and related approaches to provide open exploratory learning environments. The papers in the book are based on contributions to a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held in July1990 and are grouped into six sections: - Semantic networking as cognitive tools, - Expert systems as cognitive tools, - Hypertext as cognitive tools, - Collaborative communication tools, - Microworlds: context-dependent cognitive tools, - Implementing cognitive tools. The book will be valuable for those who design, implement and evaluate learning programs and who seek to escape from rigid tactics like programmed instruction and behavioristic approaches. The book presents principles for exploratory systems that go beyond existing metaphors of instruction and provokes the reader to think in a new way about the cognitive level of human-computer interaction.

This book examines the implications of computer-generated learning for curriculum design, epistemology, and pedagogy, exploring the ways these technologies transform the relationship between knowledge and learning, and between teachers and students. It argues that these technologies and practices have the potential to refocus on the human factors that are at the center of the learning process.