The development of the Visual-Perceptual Chemistry Specific (VPCS) assessment tool is based on items that align to eight visual-perceptual skills considered as needed by chemistry students. This tool includes a comprehensive range of visual operations and presents items within a chemistry context without requiring content knowledge to solve…

It is well established that the memory strength of studied items is more variable than the strength of new items on tests of recognition memory, but the reason why this occurs is poorly understood. One account for this old "item variance effect" is based on single-process theory, which proposes that this effect is due to variability in how well…

Although factor analysis is the most commonly-used method for examining the structure of cognitive variable interrelations, multidimensional scaling (MDS) can provide visual representations highlighting the continuous nature of interrelations among variables. Using data (N = 8,813; ages 17-97 years) aggregated across 38 separate studies, MDS was…

This study evaluated the concurrent validity of estimated Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales-Third Edition (WAIS-III) index scores using various one- and two-subtest combinations. Participants were the Canadian WAIS-III standardization sample. Using all possible one- and two-subtest combinations, an estimated Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), an…

Implicit measures can be defined as outcomes of measurement procedures that are caused in an automatic manner by psychological attributes. To establish that a measurement outcome is an implicit measure, one should examine (a) whether the outcome is causally produced by the psychological attribute it was designed to measure, (b) the nature of the…

Purpose: The study aim was to develop a measure of self-reported quality of life (QoL) for people with mild to moderate dementia based on their views--the Bath Assessment of Subjective Quality of Life in Dementia (BASQID). Design and Methods: We developed the measure through multiple stages. Two field tests of the measure (ns = 60 and 150)…

A sample of chronic postconcussive patients with and without overt malingering signs was compared with objectively brain-injured patients (total sample=106) on common episodic memory and malingered amnesia measures. Findings validate commonly cited malingering measures and new methods of classifying malingering in real-world clinical samples. (SLD)

A correspondence exists between a simplified data collection method employing results from a post test for graphic skills in kinematics, and a rigourous validation method. Examination of test responses for discrepant instances yielded further information of value. Hierarchical patterns of learning and remembering are identical. (Author/CP)

Curriculum-Based Assessment for Instructional Design (CBA-ID) provides data used to ensure an appropriately challenging learning task. One aspect of appropriate challenge measured by CBA-ID, called the acquisition rate (AR), involves the amount of new information a student could acquire and retain during initial learning. Previous research…

Diagnosis of dementia in adults with intellectual disabilities requires documentation of clinically significant declines in memory and other cognitive skills, as well as changes in everyday and emotional functioning. To improve diagnostic accuracy in adults with Down syndrome, the authors examined conditions often associated with dementia, as well…

One potential approach to the authentic assessment of what students know and can do in science is concept mapping. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes (concepts). The external concept map constructed by the student is interpreted as representing…

This document presents the proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of this conference is "Navigating Currents and Charting Directions." The theme reminds us that, although we are constantly pushed to account for the quality and impact of our research, we…