ABSTRACT
Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) is characterised by a flow of rapidly changing, very detailed, information with the computer playing a prominent role as mediator. The association in teachers’ minds of programmed learning with CAL has already been lamented, because, CAL is more than just a means of administering programmed texts. The use of simulations is a powerful CAL technique which exploits some of the unique features of the computer as an aid to learning. Genetic effects in successive generations can be simulated with the computer very rapidly, so that the student can examine a large number of complex genetic variations and generations in a single lesson. The use of the educational computer to assist the student in his manipulation and testing of ideas and hypotheses is one of the most exciting forms of CAL, but also perhaps the most difficult to explain and comprehend.
