Computer-Based Learning Environments and Problem Solving

Most would agree that the acquisition of problem-solvingability is a primary goal of education. The emergence of thenew information technologiesin the last ten years hasraised high expectations with respect to the possibilitiesof the computer as an instructional tool for enhancingstudents' problem-solving skills.This volume is the first to assemble, review, and discussthe theoretical, methodological, and developmental knowledgerelating to this topical issue in a multidisciplinaryconfrontation of highly recommended experts in cognitivescience, computer science, educational technology, andinstructional psychology.Contributors describe the most recent results and the mostadvanced methodological approaches relating to theapplication of the computer for encouraging knowledgeconstruction, stimulating higher-order thinking and problemsolving, and creating powerfullearning environments forpursuing those objectives. The computer applications relateto a variety of content domains and age levels.

In this volume a select group of experts present new work on the application of computers in integrated learning environments to enhance higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. A multidisciplinary confrontation of approaches to the topic is presented.

I. Encouraging Knowledge Construction.- Formal education versus everyday learning.- Images of learning.- An architecture for collaborative knowledge building.- How do Lisp programmers draw on previous experience to solve novel problems?.- Analysis-based learning on multiple levels of mental domain representation.- Modeling active, hypothesis-driven learning from worked-out examples.- Fostering conceptual change: The role of computer-based environments.- Computers in a community of learners.- II. Stimulating Higher-Order Thinking and Problem Solving.- Teaching for transfer of problem-solving skills to computer programming.- Cognitive effects of learning to program in Logo: A one-year study with sixth-graders.- The role of social interaction in the development of higher-order thinking in Logo environments.- Effects with and of computers and the study of computer-based learning environments.- Facilitating domain-general problem solving: Computers, cognitive processes and instruction.- Conceptual fields, problem solving and intelligent computer tools.- III. Creating Learning Environments.- Augmenting the discourse of learning with computer-based learning environments.- Scientific reasoning across different domains.- A rule-based diagnosis system for identifying misconceptions in qualitative reasoning in the physical domain "superposition of motion".- The provision of tutorial support for learning with computer-based simulations.- Learning and instruction with computer simulations: Learning processes involved.- Two uses of computers in science teaching: Horizontal motion simulation and simulation building.- Direct manipulation of physical concepts in a computerized exploratory laboratory.- Multimedia learning environments designed with organizing principles fromnon-school settings.