Following up on an earlier issue of The Curriculum Journal (Vol. 16, No. 1), this article focuses on learning outcomes in the context of video games. Learning outcomes are viewed from two theoretical frameworks: Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation and the CRESST model of learning. These are used to analyse the outcomes claimed in journal articles that report empirical work, indicating the usefulness of the frameworks, and the necessity to consider the role of affective learning. The article ends with some comments on the relationship of instructional design to effective games and learning outcomes.

Classification of Learning Outcomes: Evidence from the Computer Games Literature.

The study addressed two limitations of previous research on factors related to teachers' integration of technology in their teaching. It attempted to test a structural equation model (SEM) of the relationships among a set of variables influencing preservice teachers' use of technology specifically to support student-centered learning. A review of literature led to a path model that provided the design and analysis for the study, which involved 206 preservice teachers in the United States. The results show that the proposed model had a moderate fit to the observed data, and a more parsimonious model was found to have a better fit. In addition, preservice teachers' self-efficacy of teaching with technology had the strongest influence on technology use, which was mediated by their perceived value of teaching and learning with technology. School's contextual factors had moderate influence on technology use. Moreover, the effect of preservice teachers' training on student-centered technology use was mediated by both perceived value and self-efficacy of technology. The implications for teacher preparation include close collaboration between teacher education program and field experience, focusing on specific technology uses.

Investigating models for preservice teachers' use of technology to support student-centered learning

The purpose of this study is to critically examine teachers’ and their students’ views about technology integration in schools focusing on the following questions:1. What are students’ perceptions about technology integration in schools?2. What are teachers’ views about using technology in teaching and learning?3. What do teachers say about the “oversold, underused” phenomenon of technology in schools?Data were collected from 15 secondary mathematics and science teachers and 450 secondary students. The results suggest that teachers’ attitude towards technology uses in schools tends to be negative, while student attitudes can be summarized as enthusiastic. Most importantly, the fearfulness of being replaced by computers contributes to the “oversold, underused” phenomenon.

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Student and Teacher Views about Technology: A Tale of Two Cities?

This review of gender and gameplay research over the past three decades documents a set of persistent methodological repetitions that have systematically impeded its progress since the inception of this trajectory of research. The first is, in fact, a refusal to consider gender at all: Conflating gender with sex impedes possibilities to identify nonstereotypical engagements by girls and women. Second is the persistent attempt to identify sex-specific âpatternsâ of play and play preferences âcharacteristicâ of girls and women mainly to support and promote these in the name of âgender equity,â whether in womenâs involvement in the game industry as designers, in the development and marketing of âgames for girls,â or the access and uses of digital games for education, training, and entertainment. Third, it is found that âgenderâ is an issue in research studies only long enough to dismiss it as a significant variable, which in turn makes any deeper critical interrogation unproductive.

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Gender, Simulation, and Gaming: Research Review and Redirections

This chapter contains sections titled: Scope, Methodology, Theoretical Underpinnings: Gender and Feminist Education Studies, Why Involve Girls in IT Careers?, Educational Policies Affecting Girls' Participation in IT Careers, Formal and Informal Educational Settings, Use of Computers at School and Home, Influences beyond the Classroom, Summary, Reasons Explored for Underrepresentation of Girls in Computing, Acknowledgments

The State of Research on Girls and IT

Technology in Support of Middle Grade Mathematics: What Have We Learned?.

The increasing use of computer technology in schools has brought with it concerns about equity of access to this new resource. Research has documented gender, social class, and racial inequalities in access to computers, and has linked computer access and experience to success in computer-related courses. This study examined the effects of home computer access and computer course enrollment on mathematically weak high school students' success in applying computers as a learning resource in a pre-algebra course. The course featured regular use of teacher-designed spreadsheet activities that engaged students in mathematical investigation and problem solving. Enrollment in a computer course was a significant predictor of success during students' early experiences in applying computers for mathematical problem solving. Home computer access was related to initial success for females, and the advantage of enrollment in a computer course was greater for females who had access to home computers than for those who...

Computer Course Enrollment, Home Computer Access, and Gender: Relationships to High School Students' Success with Computer Spreadsheet Use for Problem Solving in Pre-Algebra

Dynamic computer environments can facilitate students' active participation in the construction of mathematical concepts and techniques—a long-standing goal among educational reformers. This paper analyzes techniques developed by students in an open-ended computer activity, examines learning styles of inventive students, and discusses use of student-generated mathematical techniques in developing new software to (1) cultivate mathematical inventiveness in more students and (2) encourage students to relate their own techniques to more general mathematical ideas. New software was designed to provide an informal, interactive introduction to functions and related algebraic ideas. A fundamentally constructivist approach was supplemented with coaching available upon student request. Each type of function was targeted with a sequence of challenges, hints to support the challenges, and games for synthesis and application. Students combined algebraic techniques to construct functions and manipulated the functions to cause specific behaviors in their graphs. The software succeeded in accommodating diverse student learning styles, initiating students into use of a wider variety of techniques, and inducing students to take an interactive approach to constructing mathematical knowledge.

Using Students' Mathematical Inventiveness as a Foundation for Software Design: Toward a Tempered Constructivism.

Order Out of Chaos: A Spreadsheet Excursion into a Mathematical Frontier

Recent literature about educational reform has emphasized problem solving as a focus of school mathematics. In particular, problem solving has been characterized as a nonroutine activity in which students develop their own approaches to problems, select their own tools, and pursue investigations of their own design. Although there is abundant evidence that technology is used productively for mathematical problem solving, there are relatively few reports of spontaneous, learner-initiated use of technology as one of many options for approaching a problem. As with other problem-solving techniques, it is important for students to be able to (a) recognize when computer-based solution methods are appropriate, (b) select from a variety of software tools applicable to a given problem situation, and (c) combine a variety of appropriate technological and nontechnological tools to investigate different aspects of a problem. This article reports work with K–12 teachers to establish a learning environment that...

Sharon Dugdale

Papers

Technology in Support of Middle Grade Mathematics: What Have We Learned?.

Computer Course Enrollment, Home Computer Access, and Gender: Relationships to High School Students' Success with Computer Spreadsheet Use for Problem Solving in Pre-Algebra

Using Students' Mathematical Inventiveness as a Foundation for Software Design: Toward a Tempered Constructivism.

Order Out of Chaos: A Spreadsheet Excursion into a Mathematical Frontier

Mathematical Problem Solving and Computers: A Study of Learner-Initiated Application of Technology in a General Problem-Solving Context