The Effect of Main Idea Practice Using Computer Assisted Instruction and Desktop Publishing.

A practicum took place in a summer remedial program for students with learning problems and specifically focused on five middle school students and how, with computer use and computer assisted instruction, the students increased their ability to recognize main ideas. The students in the target group, with the skills learned in the summer school remedial program, created and word processed articles for the school newspaper. The five targeted students also converted the articles into a school newspaper using a comprehensive, simple desktop publishing program. The one practicum objective that was not met was that the five students would demonstrate an improved skill of main idea recognition. Only two of the five students met the objective. Findings suggest that the summer remedial program should continue to produce a newspaper. The professional-looking, attractive, and informative newspaper made all the students in the summer program very proud. The parents' excitement at seeing their children's contributions to the newspaper was obvious. (Contains 21 references and 2 tables of data. Appendixes present a daily computer lab schedule, software evaluation forms, student lesson results report, pretest/posttest instrument, a help sign, skill sheet inventories, and the newspaper.) (Author/RS)