Moursund, Dave
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This collection highlights some of the research undertaken by Dave Moursund, Professor Emeritus, Teacher Education, College of Education. For more complete information, visit the author's personal web site.
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Item Open Access The Technology Coordinator(International Society for Technology in Education, 1992) Moursund, David G.This book is for people who are currently TCs, or who are thinking about obtaining one of these positions. It is also for school administrators who are exploring the possibility of creating TC positions and hiring TCs. The book analyzes TC responsibilities and suggests needed qualifications. It also examines the nature of many current TC positions; several interviews with TCs are included. In addition, this book explores a number of ideas about school restructuring. The emphasis is on restructuring for the Information Age.Item Open Access Computers in Education for Talented and Gifted Students: A Book for Elementary and Middle School Teachers(D. Moursund, 2006-03-30) Moursund, David G.This book explores various roles of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in talented and gifted (TAG) education. The three goals of this book are: To help improve the educational opportunities and education of TAG students. To increase the general knowledge of teachers about the field of computers in education. To explore some possible changes designed to improve our educational system. Many of the ideas in this book are applicable to all students, not just TAG students.Item Open Access Brief Introduction to Roles of Computers in Problem Solving(D. Moursund, 2004-12-13) Moursund, David G.This document provides a relatively short overview of a large and complex field—problem solving and roles of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in problem solving. The document has two main audiences and purposes: 1. It is intended for use in non-ICT courses for preservice and inservice teachers. There, it provides background needed as the courses focus on their main content areas. Within these non-ICT content areas, a course will emphasize both lower-order and higher-order skills. Instruction in both components of a discipline is intended to increase expertise in posing, representing, and solving the problems of the discipline. 2. It is intended for use in workshops for inservice teachers, school administrators, and teachers’ aides. Here the intent is to improve education by helping educators understanding the steadily increasing power of ICT to empower students in posing, representing, and solving complex problems.Item Open Access School Administrator’s Introduction To Instructional Use Of Computers(D. Moursund, 2005-01) Moursund, David G.This booklet has two purposes: 1. To acquaint educational policy' makers with some of the current roles and potential applications of computers in the curriculum. 2. To encourage educational policy makers to initiate actions that will lead to proper and effective instructional use of computers in their school systems. This booklet is organized as a sequence of questions and answers designed to give an overview of the field of computers in education, with emphasis on instructional uses of computers.Item Open Access Computers and Problem Solving: A Workshop for Educators(D. Moursund, 2004-11) Moursund, David G.Note to readers: This booklet is written in the first person, and it is somewhat like a transcript of a workshop session. This is a workshop on roles of computers in problem solving and possible effects these roles will have on education.Item Open Access PRECOLLEGE COMPUTER LITERACY: A PERSONAL COMPUTING APPROACH(D. Moursund, 1983) Moursund, David G.It is generally agreed that all students should become computer literate, but no definition of computer literacy has gained widespread acceptance. This booklet defines computer literacy in a manner that can guide educators as they work to implement universal computer literacy through precollege education. This booklet is an updated and expanded version of a paper, "Personal Computing for Elementary and Secondary School Students," prepared by David Moursund for a computer literacy conference held in December 1980 in Reston, Virginia. The conference was organized by the Human Resources Research Organization and the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium. The purpose of the conference was to help participants gain an increased understanding of the meaning of computer literacy and what can be done to help students become computer literate. This booklet is intended for curriculum specialists, elementary and secondary school teachers, media specialists, teachers of teachers and others concerned with curriculum in precollege education. It defines and discusses computer literacy for elementary and secondary school students. The approach is via an analysis of personal computing and the aspects of computers that can have a direct impact on students. Students can be personally involved with computers through computer assisted learning, computer assisted problem solving, the study of computer and information science and through the use of computers for entertainment. Students can learn how computers are affecting the world of business, government and industry-and thus, how computers will be part of their future. Each of these aspects of personal computing contributes to the definition of a set of goals for computer literacy in elementary and secondary schools. The resulting overall goal is for a working knowledge of computers-that is, knowledge that facilitates the everyday use of computers by students. This knowledge lays a firm foundation for future learning about computers and for coping with the inevitable changes that will occur in this technology.Item Open Access Computational Thinking and Math Maturity: Improving Math Education in K-8 Schools(D. Moursund, 2006-05-03) Moursund, David G.This book is motivated by the problem that our K-8 school math education system is not as successful as many people would like it to be, and it is not as successful as it could be. It is designed as supplementary material for use in a Math Methods course for preservice K-8 teachers. However, it can also be used by inservice K-8 teachers and for students enrolled in Math for Elementary and Middle School teachers’ courses.Item Open Access Introduction to Information and Communication Technology in Education(D. Moursund, 2005-01-01) Moursund, David G.Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a major challenge to our educational system. This book is designed for use by PreK-12 preservice and inservice teachers, and by teachers of these teachers. It provides a brief overview of some of the key topics in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. I wrote this book to help serve the needs of my students in a course titled Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age.Item Open Access High Tech/High Touch: A Computer Education Leadership Development Workshop(D. Moursund, 2004-12) Moursund, David G.This book contains materials for the Leadership Development Workshops I have created and facilitated over the past few years. As the book title suggests, I have drawn heavily from the human potential movement. Many of the ideas I use in my workshops are similar to those one is apt to encounter in workshops designed to help participants “grow." The materials are divided into SESSIONS. In a workshop, each SESSION is 1-3 hours in length, depending on the interests of the workshop participants and the overall length of the workshop. In total, this book contains enough materials for a five day workshop.Item Open Access Getting Smarter At Solving Problems: Teacher’s Manual(D. Moursund, 2004) Moursund, David G.Getting Smarter at Solving Problems is specifically designed to be used as a supplementary text in a junior high school or secondary school computer literacy course. This Teacher's Manual is specifically designed to help teachers of such computer literacy courses make appropriate use of the instructional materials. Although this manual is designed for computer literacy teachers, it likely that many other teachers will make use of the text and the Teacher's Manual. Getting Smarter at Problem Solving can be used in a wide variety of learning settings. For example, the text might be used in a course on problem solving or as supplementary material in a social studies course. Also, the text has been used extensively in graduate courses for teachers. This Teacher's Manual is aimed at two distinct audiences. One audience is inservice teachers who face the day to day challenge of helping a wide range of students to become more computer literate. The other audience is educators, both inservice and preservice, who want to know more about how we can help students to become better prepared for life in an Information Age Society which is placing more and more demands on people's ability to solve problems.Item Open Access Getting Smarter At Solving Problems: Preliminary Edition(D. Moursund, 2004-12) Moursund, David G.Getting Smarter at Solving Problems is specifically designed to be used as a supplemental text in a secondary school Computer Literacy course. When used in that format, the book contains sufficient materials to be used two days a week or part of each day in a semester-length course. However, Getting Smarter at Solving Problems can also be used in a wide variety of other settings. It can be used in a "Modern Problems" class in the social studies; it can be used in a course on problem solving; it can be used in a math course. In all cases the emphasis is on problem solving in general, and roles of computers as an aid to problem solving. This book is based on the following two premises. The premises are strongly supported by the research literature. 1. Through the appropriate study of the discipline of problem solving, a student can get better at solving both school problems and non-school problems 2. Computers are a powerful aid to problem solving. A student can get better at solving certain types of problems by learning to make appropriate use of computers as an aid to solving the problems.Item Open Access Introduction to Using Games in Education: A Guide for Teachers and Parents(D. Moursund, 2006-06-06) Moursund, David G.The word game means different things to different people. In this book, I explore a variety of board games, card games, dice games, word games, and puzzles that many children and adults play. Many of these games come in both non-electronic and electronic formats. This book places special emphasis on electronic games and the electronic versions of games that were originally developed in non-electronic formats.Item Open Access Planning, Forecasting, and Inventing Your Computers-in-Education Future(D. Moursund, 2005-06-01) Moursund, David G.The focus in this book is on two aspects of improving our educational system: 1. Improving the quality of education that K-12 students are receiving. 2. Improving the professional lives of teachers and other educators. This book is mainly designed for preservice and inservice teachers and other educators. If you fall into this category, you will find that this book focuses on your possible futures of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. It will do this by: Helping you make and implement some ICT-related decisions that will likely prove very important to you during your professional career in education. Helping you to increase your productivity and effectiveness as you work to improve the quality of education being received by your students. A second audience for this book is individuals and stakeholder groups that represent schools, school districts, and other educational organizations. This book is designed to help such audiences carry out long-range strategic planning for ICT in their organizations. The goal is to help improve the productivity and effectiveness of our education system as it works to improve the quality of education of the students it serves.Item Open Access Improving Math Education in Elementary Schools: A Short Book for Teachers(D. Moursund, 2005-01-01) Moursund, David G.This short book addresses the problem that our elementary school math education system is not as successful as many people would like it to be, and it is not as successful as it could be. It is designed as supplementary material for use in a Math Methods course for preservice elementary school teachers. However, it can also be used by inservice elementary school teachers and for students enrolled in Math for Elementary Teachers courses. One of the big and unifying ideas in this book is procedures and procedural thinking. From the point of view of the elementary school math teachers, a major goal is to help students learn some math procedures and learn how to think in terms of using these procedures to solve problems. The same idea lies at the core of the field of computer and information science.Item Open Access Teacher’s Guide to Computers in the Elementary School(D. Moursund, 2005-01) Moursund, David G.January 2005 reprint of Dave Moursund’s 1980 booklet. This booklet is written for preservice and inservice elementary school teachers. Thus we will assume that you fall into one of those categories and speak directly to your needs. We will assume that you have used a calculator; it is desirable that you also have had some hands-on experience with a computer. A half hour's interaction with a computer will add substantial meaning to what follows. Many elementary schools have access to computers for instructional purposes. In the next few pages we describe a hypothetical interaction between a fourth grade student and a computer. The computer might be a self-contained microcomputer, costing $1,500 or less. Or the student may be interacting with a very large computer via telephone line to a terminal in the classroom. As you walk into the fourth grade classroom you see a student just sitting down in front of a TV set with a typewriter keyboard. You look over the student's shoulder at the TV display screen.Item Open Access Effective Inservice for Integrating Computer-as-Tool into the Curriculum(D. Moursund, 2005) Moursund, David G.Reprint of April 1989 book. Part 1 contains general background information that underlies the tool use of computers in schools. In essence, it is a short computers in education course specifically designed for computer integrated instruction inservice facilitators. If you have a solid background in the field of computers in education, you will be able to skip much of this pan of the book. Part 2 focuses on what is known about effective inservice, and in particular about inservice for computer-integrated instruction. Most readers will find that this is the heart of the relevant material in the book. Part 3 contains instrumentation for needs assessment, formative evaluation, and summative evaluation of an inservice. It focuses on the importance of needs assessment, formative evaluation, and summative evaluation in an inservice.Item Open Access Collected Editorials(D. Moursund, 2005-01) Moursund, David G.This is a reprint of a 1985 book. The 1985 book contains some of the history of the organization that eventually became the International Society for Technology in Education, and of the publication that eventually became Learning and Leading with Technology. It also contains a complete collection of the first editorials (and editorial-like messages) that I wrote for the Oregon Computing Teacher and The Computing Teacher. In 1995, the name of The Computing Teacher was changed to Learning and Learning with Technology. I served as editor-in-chief from the beginning of the Oregon Computing Teacher through the publication of the March 2001 issue of Learning and Leading with Technology.Item Open Access Some Personal Thoughts About Research on Using Games in Education(D. Moursund, 2006-07-06) Moursund, David G.There is a huge amount of literature available on the Web about the topic of games in education. However, most of it is testimonial, rather than solid research. As I was writing my book, I spent a lot of time reading and browsing the available literature, paying special attention to the research. I talked to a large number of teachers and other people who are interested in the field. In addition, I drew upon my many years of experience in the field of education. However, I did not conduct any empirical research in the field of games in education. Thus, this book is based on an analysis and synthesis of research and practitioner knowledge. This paper was originally presented July 6, 2006 at NECC 2006 in San Diego.Item Open Access Brief Introduction to Educational Implications of Artificial Intelligence(D. Moursund, 2006-04-24) Moursund, David G.This book is designed to help preservice and inservice teachers learn about some of the educational implications of current uses of Artificial Intelligence as an aid to solving problems and accomplishing tasks. Humans and their predecessors have developed a wide range of tools to help solve the types of problems that they face. Such tools embody some of the knowledge and skills of those who discover, invent, design, and build the tools. Because of this, in some sense a tool user gains in knowledge and skill by learning to make use of tools. This document uses the term “tool” in a very broad sense. It includes the stone ax, the flint knife, reading and writing, arithmetic and other math, the hoe and plough, the telescope, microscope, and other scientific instruments, the steam engine and steam locomotive, the bicycle, the internal combustion engine and automobile, and so on. It also includes the computer hardware, software, and connectivity that we lump together under the title Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of the field of computer and information science. It focuses on developing hardware and software systems that solve problems and accomplish tasks that—if accomplished by humans—would be considered a display of intelligence. The field of AI includes studying and developing machines such as robots, automatic pilots for airplanes and space ships, and “smart” military weapons. Europeans tend to use the term machine intelligence (MI) instead of the term AI. The theory and practice of AI is leading to the development of a wide range of artificially intelligent tools. These tools, sometimes working under the guidance of a human and sometimes without external guidance, are able to solve or help solve a steadily increasing range of problems. Over the past 50 years, AI has produced a number of results that are important to students, teachers, our overall educational system, and to our society. This short book provides an overview of AI from K-12 education and teacher education points of view. It is designed specifically for preservice and inservice teachers and school administrators. However, educational aides, parents, school site council members, school board members, and others who are interested in education will find this booklet to be useful. This book is designed for self-study, for use in workshops, for use in a short course, and for use as a unit of study in a longer course on ICT in education. It contains a number of ideas for immediate application of the content, and it contains a number of activities for use in workshops and courses. An appendix contains suggestions for Project-Based Learning activities suitable for educators and students.