The present study proposes a Bayesian approach for estimating and testing the operation-specific learning model, a variant of the linear logistic test model that allows for the measurement of the learning that occurs during a test as a result of the repeated use of the operations involved in the items. The advantages of using a Bayesian framework…

We report 3 experiments investigating novel sorts of inference, such as: A or B or both. Therefore, possibly (A and B). Where the contents were sensible assertions, for example, "Space tourism will achieve widespread popularity in the next 50 years or advances in material science will lead to the development of antigravity materials in the…

Participatory sensing is a data collection method in which communities of people collect and share data to investigate large-scale processes. These data have many features often associated with the big data paradigm: they are rich and multivariate, include non-numeric data, and are collected as determined by an algorithm rather than by traditional…

Scientific modelling is a key practice in which K-12 students should engage to begin developing robust conceptual understanding of natural systems, including water. However, little past research has explored primary students' learning about groundwater, engagement in scientific modelling, and/or the ways in which teachers conceptualise and…

Previously, we analyzed the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation in terms of a resources-based model that allows for clustering of questions so as to provide useful information on how students correctly or incorrectly reason about physics. In this paper, we apply model analysis to show that the associated model plots provide more information…

Aim/Purpose: To identify and rectify the learning difficulties of online learners. Background: The major cause of learners' failure and non-acquisition of knowledge relates to their weaknesses in certain areas necessary for optimal learning. We focus on e-learning because, within this environment, the learner is mostly affected by these…

Elementary students should have opportunities to develop scientific models to reason and build understanding about how and why plants depend on relationships within an ecosystem for growth and survival. However, scientific modeling practices are rarely included within elementary science learning environments and disciplinary content is often…

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) expects all Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees to conduct an evaluation of their programs. Experience with earlier rounds of TIF grants has shown that evaluations can provide valuable information for managing and improving TIF-supported activities, as well as evidence that these activities have had a…

Purpose: Whilst beneficial, the use of evidence to improve teaching and learning in schools is proving difficult to achieve in practice. The purpose of this paper is to shed new light on this issue by examining the applicability of a model of rational behaviour as relates to the notion of evidence-informed practice (EIP). Specifically, exploring…

This paper addresses some methodological issues concerning traditional linear approaches and shows the need for a paradigm shift in education research towards the Complexity and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems (NDS) framework. It presents a quantitative piece of research aiming to test the nonlinear dynamical hypothesis in education. It applies…

The demand for distance education has been increasing at a rapid pace all around the world. This, in turn, places a special importance on the need for the development of more distance education systems. However, there is an alarming rise in the number of distance education students that drop out of the system without asking for any help. The…

Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) is a student-centered bystander education program developed by Community Matters to reduce bullying/mistreatment and enhance school climate. A two-part program evaluation was designed to assess the efficacy of the program's logic model and its impact on school-level discipline indicators. For the first part, a…

Meaning in statistics is fundamentally related to contexts, which poses the challenge to teach statistics in contexts, taking everyday reasoning as the basis from which to develop statistical reasoning. I investigate how 13 teachers-as-learners in an introductory statistics course co-structure their situation models toward a shared real model that…

Inductive learning is impossible without overhypotheses, or constraints on the hypotheses considered by the learner. Some of these overhypotheses must be innate, but we suggest that hierarchical Bayesian models can help to explain how the rest are acquired. To illustrate this claim, we develop models that acquire two kinds of…

This project was designed to test Mayer's multimedia theory in an elementary school to improve students' mathematics learning for low-income children. The study designed and developed two multimedia mathematics experiments in 3rd grade: 9's multiplication experiment and geometric solids experiment. The two experimental lessons were implemented in…