Computers as Interactive Representational devices for Declarative domains

Coded experience and effective semiotic systems, organizations of patterns of signs that comprise a system of meaning, have proved essential for the propagation of knowledge. In education, communication via semiotic systems forms an important role in guiding children toward the effective use of information and techniques, and it is important that children be able to decode a given representation competently. As semiotic devices, computers have additional power in that not only can they externally present representations, but they can also internally manipulate them. Three areas have been identified where their use may enhance learning: the representation of complex structural domains, the navigation of a lexical space depicting the relationships between words, and the display of a hypertext structure in an authoring tool. Three systems were designed to investigate the use of interactive schematic representations for these learning activities and include browsing the representation of a structured domain, navigating the lexical space, and accessing the structure of a story in an interactive fiction authoring tool. The aspect of these systems that distinguishes them from other computer educational systems which use schematic representations is the fact that what is represented is declarative subject matter, rather than the basis for a simulation tool or a procedural exercise. (Contains 14 references.) (AEF) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. *********************************************************************** Computers as Interactive Representational devices for Declarative domains