Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 32 Number 3

Edited by Dr. David J. Ayersman, Mary Washington College, and Dr. W. Michael Reed, New York University

formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

David H. McKinnon
Charles Sturt University, Australia

C. J. Patrick Nolan
Massey University, New Zealand

Kenneth E. Sinclair
University of Sydney, Australia

Abstract

An integrated curriculum project in New Zealand generated educationally interesting but paradoxical results regarding student motivation and attitudes toward computer use. Students mastered and used a range of computer applications, becoming enthusiastic users to the point of regarding the computer as indispensable as pens and pocket calculators. Performance of three cohorts of students in the nationwide school certificate examination showed that project students performed significantly better than peers in the parallel traditional school program. Yet student attitudes toward computers became significantly less positive during their junior high school careers. This article illuminates and explains the paradox through comparative analysis of the relevant findings. It examines implications for the design and implementation of curriculum programs that will involve student use of and control over many and diverse forms of compelling computer applications, from CD-ROMs to the Internet.

Contributors

David H. McKinnon is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia. His main academic and research interests are curriculum development, education with computers, science education, and the education of the gifted and talented. He has conducted research, has published locally and internationally, and is currently involved in a research project involving the evaluation of a model of distance education delivery on the Internet.

C. J. Patrick Nolan is the director of the Educational Research and Development Centre and associate professor of education at Massey University, New Zealand. His main academic interests are curriculum development, education with computers, experiential learning, and school development and administration. He has conducted research, published locally and internationally, and directed New Zealand development projects in all four areas of interest.

Kenneth E. Sinclair is the acting dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney, Australia. His main academic and research interests lie in education with computers and the education of the gifted and talented. He has conducted research, has published locally and internationally, and is currently involved in a project examining future information needs of schools and how these can be developed into useable computerized information systems.

Address: Dr. David H. McKinnon, School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst NSW 2795 Australia; dmckinnon@csu.edu.au.

A PDF file of the full articles is available. Contact: jrte@iste.org. Please specifiy Volume and Issue number and article name.

Copyright © 2000, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.