Four criteria are discussed as important conditions of successful applications in Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW). They are equality, mutual influence, new competence, and double-level language. The criteria originate in the experience of the International Co-operative Movement. They are examined and illustrated withreference to eight contemporary CSCW applications: meeting scheduling and support; bargaining; co-authoring; co-ordination; planning; design support and collaborative design.

This article reports pretest and posttest results of the infusion of engineering principles and design into an existing ninth-grade integrated science class. The results indicated that more knowledge of engineering makes attitudes of high school students more favorable toward engineering. The results of infusing engineering topics into an existing science curriculum were also compared with an earlier study of a formal 3-week engineering unit taught to ninth-grade students in another high school. The results of that comparison indicated that a formal (...) unit on engineering was more successful in improving student attitudes toward engineering than the infusion of engineering topics into an existing science unit. The article also presents information on a capstone engineering course for preservice and in-service science and mathematics teachers. That course was designed with collaboration from the colleges of engineering and education with the goal of increasing the interest of high school students in careers in engineering. (shrink)

The paper presents a general critique of the use of conceptual frameworks in design, illustrated by the well known synchronous/asynchronous, co-located/non-co-located framework. It argues that while frameworks are a necessary and inevitable starting point for design, the business of tailoring and adapting them to specific situations need not be ad hoc.Triggering artefacts are a way of systematically challenging both designers' preunderstandings and the conservatism of work practice. Experiences from the Great Belt tunnel and bridge project are used to illustrate howtriggering (...) artefacts change themodality of designing for change. (shrink)

The responses of a convenience sample of 83 secondary preservice and preeducation students in three university classes were compared to each other and to a national sample of 1,492 adults on a national poll of science knowledge. The results of the data analyses using simple ANOVA and two-tailed t tests indicated that preservice secondary science teachers in a secondary science methods class are significantly more science literate than preeducation majors and the na tional sample. They were not significantly more science (...) literate than preservice and in-service science teachers in an environmental science methods class. Chemistry majors were significantly more science lit erate than other science and health majors. Additional comparisons between males and females, graduates and undergraduates, and older and younger (younger than 28) students indicated males, graduates, and older students are significantly more science literate than females, undergraduates, and younger students. (shrink)

Predictions made by the “incentive hope” hypothesis account for overconsumption in unpredictable food environments. However, when applied to uncertain gambling situations, there are several areas where this theory falls short. Most notably, it has trouble explaining why, in slot machine gambling, players are motivated by extended play to spend time trying to resolve uncertainty, rather than hoarding monetary gains.

Selected elementary (Grades 4 through 6) and secondary (Grades 7 through 12) science textbooks were examined for their treatment of engineering and technology relative to the national science and mathematics standards in the areas of connections to technology and society.Elementary textbooks were found to have significant connections between science concepts and technology and society; however, the treatment was often superficial and/or indirect.Activities were mostly teacher-directed with little opportunity for designing, making, and testing things.Connections to mathematics concepts were rare.Secondary textbooks made (...) use of extensive technology in lab work and provided students with many connections between science concepts, technology, and society.They did a better job of presenting mathematics concepts in word problems, and some engineering and design projects were fostered.The major concern found with both elementary and secondary texts was the glaring lack of solid connections to mathematics. (shrink)

This study used case studies from three science teachers to compare three groups of students studying Grade 8 physics using Robolab instead of traditional lab materials. The three teachers represented an English as a second language class, a regular class with many English language learner students, and a Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement class of afterschool volunteer students. The teachers responded to nine questions regarding issues such as how robotics addresses the middle school physics standards, promotes inquiry learning and science literacy (...) in students, increases applications and connection of science to everyday life, and provides the scaffolding for more discussion of everyday English and science academic language through the use of robotics materials and lab groups. The results indicated that robotics can promote inquiry, make physics more interesting, and help students learn and practice new words in English, among others. (shrink)

Many high schools offer students the opportunity to take advanced placement (AP) courses in many subjects including science and mathematics. Studies have shown that students who take these classes are more likely to succeed in college and that failure in engineering education is strongly correlated to deficiencies in mathematics and science. This article presents the background of AP classes and their impact on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career choices of college students. The results of this study confirm that (...) students who take AP classes in calculus and the sciences are more likely to select majors in careers such as engineering, science, mathematics, and the medical field. In this study, both minority and nonminority students who were taking AP calculus and/or science courses in high school selected STEM careers at a higher rate than other careers and males selected engineering at a higher rate than females. Females selected science and mathematics and the medical field at a higher rate than males. Furthermore, the size and location of the high school, profession of parents, and socioeconomic level of parents all affect the number of AP classes offered in high schools as well as which ethnic groups primarily take them. (shrink)