Nowadays, intelligent tutoring systems are considered an effective research tool for learning systems and problem-solving skill improvement. Nonetheless, such individualized systems may cause students to lose learning motivation when interaction and timely guidance are lacking. In order to address this problem, a solution-based intelligent…

Cognitive scientists investigate mental models (how humans organize and structure knowledge in their minds) so as to understand human understanding of and interactions with the world. Cognitive and mental model research is concerned with internal conceptual systems that are not easily or directly observable. The goal of this research was to…

This classroom guide is intended to inspire and expand teachers' thinking about effective assessment in project-based learning (PBL). The tips listed in this guide are organized to follow the arc of a project. First comes planning, then the launch into active learning, and then a culminating presentation. Reflection is the final stage, and it's…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, using a randomized experimental design, the efficacy of TERC's "Using Data" program to change teacher behavior and improve student learning outcomes. The "Using Data" intervention provides professional development and technical assistance to teachers to help them use data…

This article reports on a two year project in which educational psychologists offered consultation to groups of teachers, to help them find solutions to school-based problems. Teachers were drawn from within individual schools and from across a number of schools. Typically, teachers were trained by educational psychologists in group consultation…

How can teachers be helped, at relatively little expense, to improve their professional practice? This problem was addressed in "Improving Formative Assessment in Vocational Education and Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy Programmes"--the IFA project. Adopting a specific problem-based methodology as part of an action research…

With national attention on scaling up the implementation of Response to Intervention, problem solving teams remain one of the central components for development, implementation, and monitoring of school-based interventions. Studies have shown that problem solving teams evidence a sound theoretical base and demonstrated efficacy; however, limited…

Formative computer assisted assessment has become increasingly attractive in Higher Education where providing useful feedback to large numbers of students can be difficult. However, the nature of such assessments has often been limited to objective questions such as multiple-choice. This paper reports on the development and initial trialling of a…

In recent years, a growing political emphasis has been placed upon the development of transformative assessment-driven reform in schools. There is global consensus on the value of assessment activities that are carefully designed to be consistent with desired learning outcomes, and which coherently connect learning theory, the curriculum,…

This study used innovative assessment practices to obtain and document broad learning outcomes for a 15-hour game-based curriculum in Quest Atlantis, a multi-user virtual environment that supports school-based participation in socio scientific inquiry in ecological sciences. Design-based methods were used to refine and align the enactment of…

The philosophy and assumptions of the Multi-Attribute Utility-Bayesian Decision Theoretic model (MAUT-Bayesian model) are presented. The evaluator uses the MAUT-Bayesian model along with the knowledge of the decision-maker's, and perhaps the evaluator's own values to decide what data should be collected. Appropriate data are presented to the…

One form of Regional Educational Agency (REA) is the Educational Cooperative, which was under field development for several years by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory, Inc. (AEL) and the United States Office of Education. The program included an evaluation effort, and the general design, instrumentation, and comprehensive bibliography for that…