Serious criticisms of research on IT in education have been published recently in both the UK and the USA. Researching IT in Education aims to provoke thought and discussion among practising researchers by considering a range of approaches to undertaking quality research. Establishing priorities and directions for future research in the sub-discipline of IT in education, the book is structured around five foci:

• theory
• history
• research directions
• methodology
• research topics.

This book argues for the enormous power of IT to enable fundamental research that both refines and develops theory and practice in education. High quality research that advances knowledge and educational practice in this area will generally require longer timelines and more complex data collection and analysis methods. The authors draw attention to the value of theoretical frameworks used in mainstream educational research and highlight the early theoretical work on the subject of IT in education.

Researching IT in Education is the only book in its area to focus on methodological and research design issues. The individual chapters are contributed by expert researchers and leaders in the field from ten countries, thus providing an unusually broad but coherent international set of perspectives for the issues examined in the book.

This book will benefit anyone interested in or undertaking research on IT in education, including academics, research students, teachers and policy-makers.

Serious criticisms of research on IT in education have been published recently in both the UK and the USA. Researching IT in Education aims to provoke thought and discussion among practising researchers by considering a range of approaches to undertaking quality research. Establishing priorities and directions for future research in the sub-discipline of IT in education, the book is structured around five foci:

• theory
• history
• research directions
• methodology
• research topics.

This book argues for the enormous power of IT to enable fundamental research that both refines and develops theory and practice in education. High quality research that advances knowledge and educational practice in this area will generally require longer timelines and more complex data collection and analysis methods. The authors draw attention to the value of theoretical frameworks used in mainstream educational research and highlight the early theoretical work on the subject of IT in education.

Researching IT in Education is the only book in its area to focus on methodological and research design issues. The individual chapters are contributed by expert researchers and leaders in the field from ten countries, thus providing an unusually broad but coherent international set of perspectives for the issues examined in the book.

This book will benefit anyone interested in or undertaking research on IT in education, including academics, research students, teachers and policy-makers.

Programming Languages for Beginners The central idea of this thesis is the relationship between the development of natural language and the design of programming languages for beginners. Dartmouth Basic was designed to be as English-like as possible, whereas Logo was designed as a new way of talking about Mathematics. Two main theories of language development are used: those of Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky. The implications of choosing each theory are explored. Logo's syntax accords with Piaget's Constructivism, but if Chomsky's Selectivist theory is followed the syntax would develop very differently. The linguistic ideas are explored in the context of robotics. A group of post-graduate teachers built robots constructed with Lego bricks, motors and sensors, controlled by a programmable RCX block. Two programming systems were used: MicroWorlds Logo and Tufts Mindstorms: Logo programs are written in words, MindStorms using a graphical programming system. The differences are compared in terms of language, language development, Computer Science and educational considerations. The teachers added considerable classroom experience and practice to the conclusions.