Considerable attention has been focused recently on the development of thinking skills among pre-college students. Advocates of computer-based education have suggested that computerized file-management programs can enhance thinking skills, especially those involving the identification, retrieval, organization and evaluation of information required for effective problem solving. Employing a randomized block design, a two-treatment experiment to test this claim was devised, involving fourteen paired classrooms and 665 seventh- through twelfth-grade students. The treatments and treatment materials were adapted from commercially produced social studies curriculum data bases. The computer-using/structured-activities treatment group achieved significantly higher mean scores than the non-computer-using/non-structured-activities group on a 14-item power test of selected information-processing skills (effect size = .27). The difference persisted when verbal ability and grade level were controlled. Suggestions for further research are proposed, and implications for instructional methodology, curriculum development, and conceptions of pre-college computer literacy are discussed.
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