This article proposes that in addition to training teams of students to succeed in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, the contest and the preparation for competition can be successfully used as a framework to teach an auxiliary skill set to undergraduate STEM majors through workshop-style modules. The skills emphasized are collaboration across…

Our paper describes a solution we found to a still existing need to develop mathematical modeling courses for undergraduate biology majors. Some challenges of such courses are: (i) relatively limited exposure of biology students to higher-level mathematical and computational concepts; (ii) availability of texts that can give a flavor of how…

The present article considers a fundamental question in evaluation research: "By how much do program effects vary across sites?" The article first presents a theoretical model of cross-site impact variation and a related estimation model with a random treatment coefficient and fixed site-specific intercepts. This approach eliminates…

On October 14, 2013 the Mathematics Education Department at Teachers College hosted a full-day conference focused on the Common Core Standards Mathematical Modeling requirements to be implemented in September 2014 and in honor of Professor Henry Pollak's 25 years of service to the school. This article is adapted from my talk at this conference…

Policymakers and education scholars recommend incorporating mathematical modeling into mathematics education. Limited implementation of modeling instruction in schools, however, has constrained research on how students learn to model, leaving unresolved debates about whether modeling should be reified and explicitly taught as a competence, whether…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which undergraduate full-time and adjunct faculty members in the health and science programs at community colleges in Southern California utilize the seven principles of good practice as measured by the Faculty Inventory of the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate…

Educational reform is most likely to be successful when teachers are knowledgeable about the intended reform, and when their concerns about the reform are understood and addressed. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is an effort to establish a set of nationwide expectations for students and teachers. This study examined teacher understanding…

We detail a student project that incorporates the story of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, which, between the summer of 1918 and the spring of 1919, infected one-fifth to one-half of the world's population and killed more U.S. soldiers fighting in World War I than the war itself. The project uses Susceptible, Infected, Recovered, and Dead (SIRD)…

This paper presents and tests a general model to predict emergent exchange patterns and power differences in reciprocal exchange networks when individual actors follow the norm of reciprocity. With an interesting qualification, the experimental results reported here support the power-dependence approach (Emerson 1972a, b): those who acquire the…

BASED ON EMPIRICAL DATA ACCUMULATED FROM TWELVE JUNIOR COLLEGES UNDER THE 2-SEMESTER CALENDAR, THE MODEL DEVELOPED IN THIS STUDY CAN BE USEFUL IN PREDICTING CHANGES IN PLANT USE UNDER THE 4-QUARTER CALENDAR. THIS CALENDAR REVISION HAS FOUR CONSTRAINTS--(1) THE SENIOR INSTITUTIONS IN THE STATE HAVE ADOPTED IT, (2) THE STUDENT'S CHOICE OF QUARTER IN…

A modified gravity model for predicting regional recreation travel is constructed and tested on data describing ski trips in California. (MM)

Develops a general revenue model that incorporates the feedback and interaction between major federal, state, and local revenue sources. The model is applied to California for the 1965-75 period and the results are applied to an analysis of the property tax limitation initiative. Available from Stanley J. Bowers, Executive Director, NTA-TIA, 21…

Empirical estimates of production frontiers and average production functions performed for selected public elementary school districts in California support the hypothesis of an optimal school size model. Some policy implications of the results are briefly analyzed. Appended are 16 references. (MLF)

Examines data from California from the 1850 opening of the prison system to 1970. Finds no evidence to support the hypothesis that, for a given society over time and in the absence of major societal upheaval, the proportion of people subjected to punishment by the state closely approximates a constant. (Author/GC)

This paper formulates a comprehensive model of resource allocation in a local public school district. The theoretical framework specified could be applied equally well to any number of local public social service agencies. Section 1 develops the theoretical model describing the process of resource allocation. This involves the determination of the…