This paper frames children's mathematics as mathematics. Specifically, it draws upon our knowledge of children's mathematics and applies it to understanding the prime number theorem. Elementary school arithmetic emphasizes two principal operations: addition and multiplication. Through their units coordination activity, children construct two…

Think alouds are valuable tools for academicians, test developers, and practitioners as they provide a unique window into a respondent's thinking during an assessment. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight novel ways to use think alouds as a means to gather evidence about respondents' thinking. An intended outcome from this special…

Peer-mediation in a school environment, when carried out correctly, can benefit not only the parties of the conflict, but also their environment, including the school, the team, the family and the mediator. A serious same has been designed and a prototype developed for the training of minors and young adults as mediators. The core of the game is a…

In this digital ITEMS module, Dr. Jacqueline Leighton and Dr. Blair Lehman review differences between think-aloud interviews to measure problem-solving processes and cognitive labs to measure comprehension processes. Learners are introduced to historical, theoretical, and procedural differences between these methods and how to use and analyze…

Eye tracking has become an increasingly popular research methodology among language researchers to examine online cognitive processing of second-language (L2) speakers and bilinguals. As the scope of eye-tracking research expands, there is a need to ensure that the methodology is used properly, so as to safeguard the validity of research findings…

Although Diagnostic Classification Models (DCMs) were introduced to education system decades ago, it seems that these models were not employed for the original aims upon which they had been designed. Using DCMs has been mostly common in analyzing large-scale non-diagnostic tests and these models have been rarely used in developing Cognitive…

Despite its central place in the mathematics curriculum the notion of mathematical proof has failed to permeate the curriculum at all scholastic levels. While the concept of mathematical proof can serve as a vehicle for inculcating mathematical thinking, studies have revealed that students experience serious difficulties with proving that include…

Cognitive interviewing (CI) is a method to identify sources of confusion in assessment items and to assess validity evidence on the basis of content and response processes. We introduce readers to CI and describe a process for conducting such interviews and analyzing the results. Recommendations for best practice are provided.

The essential objective of the present examination was to build and institutionalize a Neurocognitive Attitude Scale (NAS) for the science understudies in optional level. The underlying draft of NAS was comprised of 16 neurostatements, of which thirteen things were positive and staying three things were negative. The neurostatements were readied…

Examinees' thinking processes have become an increasingly important concern in testing. The responses processes aspect is a major component of validity, and contemporary tests increasingly involve specifications about the cognitive complexity of examinees' response processes. Yet, empirical research findings on examinees' cognitive processes are…

U.S. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges are, effectively, appointed for life, with no built-in check on their cognitive functioning as they approach old age. There is about a century of research on aging and intelligence that shows the vulnerability of processing speed, fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory to…

In this Brief Report, we share the main findings from our line of research into embodied cognition and proof activities. First, attending to students' gestures during proving activities can reveal aspects of mathematics thinking not apparent in their speech, and analyzing gestures after proof production can contribute significantly to our…

In this article, we highlight the need for a precisely defined construct in score-based validation and discuss the contribution of cognitive theories to accurately and comprehensively defining the construct. We propose a framework for integrating cognitively based theoretical and empirical evidence to specify and evaluate the construct. We apply…

The seven articles in this special issue are concerned with the challenges of assessing complex aspects of cognition in the domains of mathematics, reading, history, and science. Each describes the design of assessments and their interpretive use, with a particular focus on assessments closely tied to classroom instruction. Individually and…

Over the last several decades, researchers have studied many and varied aspects of rater cognition. Those interested in pursuing basic research have focused on gaining an understanding of raters' thought processes as they score different types of performances and products, striving to understand how raters' mental representations and the cognitive…