James L. Poirot

No Access, No Use, No Impact: Snapshot Surveys of Educational Technology In K-12

Abstract There is general agreement that computing technologies have not had a significant impact on teaching and learning in K–12 in the U.S., even though billions of dollars have been spent in purchasing, equipping, and supporting the technology. Some critics of school technology use this situation to push their position that technology is not appropriate for children. Others put the failure on the backs of classroom teachers. However, based on the data we collected administering the Snapshot Survey in districts large and small around the country to approximately 4,000 K–12 classroom teachers, the reason that technology has not had an impact on teaching and learning is that students have, for all intents and purposes, not actually used the technology. Furthermore, the reason for this non-use lies not at the feet of the teachers, but rather in the very real lack of access to the technology. Having one computer in the classroom is not access, nor will it lead to significant student use. Frankly, technology can’t have an impact if children have not had the opportunity to access and use the technology.

Position Location: Triangulation Versus Circulation

Position location algorithms, using data from electronic surveillance systems have, for the most part, been based upon statistical analysis of the points of intersection of the lines of bearing. These triangulation ion algorithms may well minimize the effect of random measurement errors on the location estimate, but few existing algorithms account for systematic (bias) errors. An algorithm based upon intersecting circles which eliminates certain types of systematic error is presented with simulation data utilized to compare the position location estimates obtained from both triangulation and circulation algorithms.

The Effect of Computer Science Instruction on Critical Thinking Skills and Mental Alertness

AbstractProblem-solving ability is a necessary precursor to success in most professions, as well as in everyday living. Many research studies dealing with programs aimed at teaching critical thinking skills indicate that while there is some success when critical thinking skills are taught directly, there is little transfer of the problem-solving skills learned in one discipline to problem solving in another discipline. This study examines the effect of completion of an introductory level computer programming course on students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Computer education in the secondary school: Problems and solutions

The phenominal demand for computer education has placed heavy burdens on most educational institutions. University computer science departments all over the country are hard pressed to supply faculty and facilities for the “masses” of students desiring an education in computer science. Secondary schools have experienced this same demand on the part of the students. Even though the problems that these demands cause are equivalent in many respects to those in universities, solutions at the secondary level are not as easy or as speedy.

Integration: The new operative what the experts say

The integration of computing technology into the classroom has been and continues to be a pressing problem of widespread concern. This paper examines the status of educational computing in the United State by interviewing experts in the field. Eight individuals were chosen for interviews based upon their accomplishments in the field of educational computing. These choices provided input from experts in seven key states and from the National Science Foundation. Experts were asked to give their personal impressions, estimates and concerns in response to a series of questions. Questions related to computer utilization, computing curriculum and state requirements for students in their respective states. In addition, respondents were asked about the extent and importance of teacher training programs. Trends in educational computing that each expert projected were also identified. Finally, each was asked to identify one positive and one negative effect that the utilization of computers has had open education.

Classroom Attrition in Computer Science

Students drop out of university courses for a multitude of reasons. Whatever the cause, the costs of an unsuccessful attempt to complete a course are significant to student and university alike. This paper examines student attrition in computer science classes with the hope of identifying common causes and ultimately reducing the number of students dropping computer science courses. Survey data were analyzed to determine if reasons for dropping differed for various groupings of students including undergraduate/graduate, male/female, computer science major/non‐major, and service/non‐service courses.

Implementing a University level computer education course for preservice teachers

The long recognized problem of teacher retraining in computing has received considerable attention over the past several years. For the computer to be introduced in the classroom, teachers in the field had to be retrained to teach with and to teach about this new technology. The retraining of teachers, however, is not the only problem that needs to be addressed. We need to be serving the needs of teachers who are now being prepared to go into the classroom, that is, the preservice teacher, so that he or she is not immediately faced with a retraining need upon graduation. The elementary school teacher (and all teachers for that matter) receive their preservice training at the University level. It is imperative that the graduates of our universities receive an adequate background in the utilization of the computer in the classroom prior to their graduation. It is unfortunate, however, that even though computing technology is pervasive in the pre-college market, the training of elementary school teachers at the university level in computer utilization is lagging far behind. Why is the university system failing in its efforts to prepare teachers for computing technology? That question and other issues will be addressed here. Problems range from those at the global university level down to those involving the actual content of courses being taught. In between are problems to be faced by the College of Education, by the department offering computer education coursework, by faculty teaching the developed course, and by those charged with providing the laboratories for the prospective teacher. We concentrate on issues that are more politically related and not so much on the curriculum content, realizing that the content of the training course work is driven in large part by the content of pre-college level curricula and by hardware advances. We leave these issues to later work, pending results of other developmental efforts.

Proposed curriculum for programs leading to teacher certification in computer science (panel session)

Would a school system allow a person with only an eighth-grade education to become an English teacher? Would a self-taught math teacher be given full responsibility for the high school math program? The answers to these questions are obvious to everyone: to become a subject-matter specialist school teacher, one must demonstrate competency by fulfilling state certification requirements. Yet these same school systems, which have well-defined qualification standards for English teachers and math techers, today often assign full responsibility for the computer studies/computer science program to teachers who are self-taught or whose formal training is equivalent to an eight-grade education in the subject. While it is easy to understand the prachical constraints that make these things necessary at the present time, it should also be easy to see that this unusual situation clashessharply with the practice in all other subject areas. A task group of the Association for Computing Machinerys Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee has been formed to study the issue of teacher certification for computing teachers. This panel will discuss proposed curriculum and solicit reaction from interested attendees.

A proposed computer education curriculum for secondary school teachers

A 1983 study investigated the certification of high school computer science teachers. A major portion of the study was devoted to the identification of those computer science courses most appropriate for such teachers and, therefore, for certification programs. This paper presents the results of the study and proposes a computer education core curriculum based on those results.